It depresses me to see those working or interested in aviation buying into the cobblers fed to us by the governments responsible for "security" at airports. Nothing they have done or are doing is going to make any difference to security, see the thread below about the attempted hijacking in Brazil for example. Treating honest passengers and crew as criminals does nothing but upset and hassle us, causing many to avoid flying, and therefore doing severe damage to the airlines. Which is us!
There are sensible steps that can be taken, but the authorities refuse to do them. The aim of the new game is empire building, pure and simple.
Look at what is being done in the US with the new Xray machines in the airport lobbies. Total waste of time, the job can be done much better and without shutting down the airports, which is likely if the Dec 31 deadline is not relaxed. But someone in control has an agenda most likely based on some sort of personal interest, and so the juggernaut rolls on.
In Aus, if you have a laptop you must send it through security with the battery removed and separate. What possible benefit is this giving the security staff? How many laptops have hijacked an airplane? I suspect the same number as have been hijacked by nailfiles...None!
Also in Aus, I now have to show my passport when traveling on duty and wearing an ID card and uniform, not only on arrival, but on departure as well. "What's this for," I asked last week, "Are you doing this for the tax man?"
"No, Mate, it is just to make a photo record." What, does he think I am as stupid as I look?
And how many hijackers have been stopped by security? None, because they are at least as smart as me and I know a dozen ways to beat the system, so why should they be deterred? A bottle of gas (as in Brazil) will not be detected, and a determined hijacker does not even need that; a threat is enough. The shoe bomber was not stopped, even though he was denied boarding once, and the Sep 11 hijackers were not stopped, even though they were singled out for extra security. But I am stopped, every time, because I am flying on a staff ticket.
For years we were asked "Have you packed your own bag, and have you had control of it since?" and we answered as we were expected to, knowing all along how stupid the questions were. Why don't they just ask us if we intend to hijack the airplane and take our word, as they did for so many years before?
And how many of those who have had guns or knives taken from them at security (about half of those actually carried, some say) were subsequently charged with a serious crime such as attempted hijacking? None! How many of the guns and knives that escape detection are used for crimes on airplanes? None!
How can anyone support this insanity?
What makes me most disgusted is the inference that if we give over our rights and freedoms to these incompetent fools we will get safety in return. The next time there is a criminal act on an airplane the security staff who were on duty, and the government that allows them to be there, should be held responsible and if anyone is killed they should all go to jail.
...yeah, sure.