Background
I think a little background on the current security charade is in order since most of you were probably not around when these events occurred.
When passenger screening was initiated in the US in the early 1970's all working airline employees, both ground & flight, could bypass the checkpoint by showing their airline ID. This worked well for some 15 years until the following event out of LAX on Dec 7, 1987 (Pearl Harbor Day):
A RECENTLY DISCHARGED USAIR EMPLOYEE BOARDED PSA FLT 1771 AFTER HAVING LEFT A GOODBYE MESSAGE WITH FRIENDS. HE BYPASSED SECURITY AND CARRIED ABD A BORROWED 44 CALIBER PISTOL. A NOTE WRITTEN BY THIS PSGR, FOUND IN THE WRECKAGE, THREATENED HIS FORMER SUPERVISOR AT USAIR, WHO WAS ABOARD THE FLT. AT 1613, THE PLT RPTD TO OAKLAND ARTCC THAT HE HAD AN EMERGENCY AND THAT GUNSHOTS HAD BEEN FIRED IN THE AIRPLANE. WITHIN 25 SECONDS, OAKLAND CTR CONTROLLERS OBSERVED THAT PSA 1771 HAD BEGUN A RAPID DESCENT FM WHICH IT DID NOT RECOVER. WITNESSES ON THE GND SAID THE AIRPLANE WAS INTACT AND THERE WAS NO EVIDENCE OF FIRE BEFORE THE AIRPLANE STRUCK THE GND IN A STEEP NOSE-DOWN ATTITUDE. THE CVR TAPE REVEALED THE SOUNDS OF A SCUFFLE AND SEVERAL SHOTS WHICH WERE APPARENTLY FIRED IN OR NEAR THE COCKPIT. THE PISTOL WAS FOUND IN THE WRECKAGE WITH 6 EXPENDED ROUNDS. FAA RULES PERMITTED AIRLINE EMPLOYEES TO BYPASS SECURITY CHECKPOINTS
After this disaster, Elizabeth Dole, a politico who was then Sec. of Transportation, decreed that no employee could bypass screening at a PASSENGER checkpoint. The result was that the flight crews, who were the potential victims, were required to be screened, while the ground crews continued to use the "downstairs doors" with NO screening.
The only thing more absurd than this situation is the fact that you flight crews have put up with it for the past 23 years....
Last edited by BobM2; 26th Dec 2010 at 16:29.
Reason: spelling