Here's a fairly balanced update article:
Published Thursday
March 6, 2003
Incident is sign of pilots' frustration
BY HENRY J. CORDES
[OMA] WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER
Pilot's comments cause stir at Eppley
Whether remarks by an American Airlines pilot that led to his arrest Wednesday at Eppley Airfield constituted a threat to a security officer is something that will be decided by the legal system.
But there is one point beyond dispute: Pilots and their crews are extremely frustrated that they are subjected to the same level of searches, probing and other security measures that any airline passenger is.
"They don't want to be screened, and that's part of the issue," said Don Smithey, Eppley's chief administrator. "That's been pretty public ever since there's been screening."
That frustration may well be a key issue behind what transpired at the federal Transportation Security Administration checkpoint at Eppley, said Marty Conboy, Omaha city prosecutor.
The pilot, 36-year-old Kent A. Raney of suburban St. Louis, had passed through the checkpoint, but members of his flight crew were still being searched.
It was just over a half-hour before the flight's scheduled departure, meaning the crew was probably running late, Smithey said.
Raney became upset over the screening process and made comments to federal security screeners.
He then asked an Eppley police officer who was manning the checkpoint to accompany him to the cockpit so he could show the officer something. The officer declined.
Conboy said Raney then told the officer he had an ax in the cockpit and could chop off the officer's head if he wanted to. That was the comment that ultimately led to the pilot being detained and ticketed for disorderly conduct.
Conboy said he will decide by next week whether Raney's words and actions were worthy of a disorderly conduct charge.
One of his considerations will be whether Raney intended to threaten the officer or was just making a point about the irony that the flight crew was being searched when it has access to a fire ax in the cockpit.
"Whether that was a threat or just a statement, I don't know," Conboy said. "For two employees in any other business, this probably never would have seen the light of day. But this is a very serious business."
Indeed, even if such a statement was made in frustration, Smithey said, it was bound to create problems, given the level of security around airports these days.
"If anyone made that remark around the checkpoint, something had to be done," he said.
Smithey said there has been talk in Washington about creating special badges for flight crews and subjecting them to a different level of security. But the Transportation Security Administration has declined to do so, saying its mandate from Congress is to screen everyone.
The issue could come to a head soon, now that pilots by congressional mandate will be authorized to carry firearms.
Even if the pilot was frustrated with the current security policies for flight crews, the screeners in Omaha were just doing their jobs, Smithey said.
"The federal rules are the federal rules," Smithey said. "If he has a problem, it can't be resolved in Omaha."