Sunfish ground staff have asics already so anyone with a 10 year old drug conviction has already been caught out.
The pilots are saying that allowing one group unfettered, unscreened access to airside and all it entails leaves a security hole you could drive a mosque through.
The reality is that screening pilots IS theatre, as we walk onboard the aircraft with the weapons we need every time we step onboard - our hands.
The fairytale about people holding families to ransom unless they do something nefarious is more likely out of a Liam Neeson film than real life and as a group pilots have much more invested in their careers and by extension more to lose.
Granted there isnt much more to lose than your life if you are a terrorist intent on self destruction, but if we were to look at the demographics of the average modern day terrorist i dont think pilots would fit comfortably within the description.
On the other hand, poorly paid, over worked employees, often contractors who are in effect transient workers, may well be susceptible to radicalisation or manipulation by evil doers.