Surely, though, shouldnt the question here be "how did he get on board, through home base security, with a stash of ammunition?" (Or did I miss the explanation of this one?).
Every year one or two colleagues seem to have an incident with something accidentally brought to work.
For whatever reason, many coworkers who are gun enthusiasts choose to use the same duffel bag for shooting at the range and going on a trip. Inevitably, bullets and even guns end up going though security, usually, but not always, found on the first inspection.
Often there is little publicity other than a note in the chief pilot's bulletin saying be more careful out there.
hmmm....no FORDEC in that decision..just leave them stashed in the flight deck, and advise the outgoing crew...
And let the other crew deal with it in the USA?
Maybe that's how it would be done back in the day but you would be putting a lot more careers on the line than yours if you did that now and you got caught in my opinion.
I certainly agree that in the modern blame game workplace honesty is often not the best policy if you can avoid raising the issue at all. As time goes on I'm less likely to file safety reports and do detailed logbook write-ups after seeing the company and feds increasingly second guess operational decisions from the comfort of a cubicle.
He'd be in more trouble carrying a banana into Australia and would probably get a bigger fine I suspect.
Quite possibly.
In the very few cases I've been briefed on in recent years, the threatened punishments for accidentally bringing guns and ammo to work have varied considerably.
One coworker says he was given a solemn company hearing, and was afraid he would lose his job (temporarily of course, he's in the union). At the end the chief of airline security shook his hand, thanked him for his honesty and said his testimony would help close loopholes in the screening process. He was returned to the line with no loss of pay.
Another colleague had her case resolved months later with a letter from the TSA and a phone conference with union and TSA lawyers and an administrative law judge. She had to pay a $1300 fine, had a sealed judgment and no criminal record from what she said.
A third acquaintance somehow got local law enforcement involved and was facing felony weapons charges. He felt uncomfortable with the union legal representation and hired his own lawyer. After paying tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees all charges were eventually dropped.
It will comfort the flying public to know that those of us who are FFDO's are screened just like other crewmembers to make sure we are not carrying scissors while transporting our H&K .40 caliber.
