Massey,
We're not talking about what pax try to smuggle through...
The point is that after 5 year CRC checks on UK nationals ONLY working at UK airports (and in the near future DNA records and biometric ID cards) aviation professionals are required to go through the same degrading experience every day, sometimes numerous times.
As an engineer i can think of 100 ways to bring an aircraft down without even considering placing my shoe in the avionics bay or my belt left around the flying control cables. Pilots have the opportunity to drive the aircraft into whatever they want. Cabin crew have the opportunity to visit the flight deck and poison the pilots with their coffee. Why doesn't this happen..? Because we're all professionals. It would be appreciated if the powers that be would recognise this.
The annoying thing is that it is just lip service... how easy would it be to make a molotov cocktail out of a glass duty free bottle of alcohol, a sock and a lighter (or matches) on board if someone wanted to but these items are all available on board accessible to everyone over 18. The list goes on.
D. lamination... excellent article which truely hits the nail on the head (excuse the pun!)