Ridiculous security breach @ La Guardia

[davethelimey]

[I did check if this was a duplicate, I don't think it is but have an apology on standby if I'm wrong]

How, with all of the security, scanners, red alerts, September 11 etc, does this keep f***ing happening?

Woman Gets Past N.Y. Airport Security With Stun Gun, Knife
Officials Call Incident 'Honest But Odd Mistake'

POSTED: 2:30 p.m. EST January 25, 2004

DENVER -- Transportation security officials are calling it "an honest but odd mistake."


A woman passed through security screening at New York's LaGuardia Airport with a stun gun and knife in her purse. She realized she was carrying the items while on a flight to Denver after a short layover in Detroit.


A Spirit Airlines representative said the woman realized she wasn't supposed to have those items with her -- and called the flight attendant over.


The pilot alerted Denver International Airport and police met the plane at the gate. The woman was taken into custody for questioning and later released without charges.


The Transportation Security Administration said it will investigate the security slip.

It seems that the only thing you need to do now to beat security is not brag about it :mad: :mad: :mad:

[Old Man Rotor]

I guess the Security Scanner Staff were not arrested????

Course not!!

[ezyBoh]

I passed through JFK on Monday night, at check-in I was asked none of the questions that you are asked when you check-in at a UK airport. My bag was just taken off me and labelled.

On passing though the security scanners, none of the staff seemed interested and were only actually concerned that I'd taken my belt off to be placed in the plastic tray.

The 'security' at the Statue of Liberty was more intense and practicle. The Americans seem to criticise the security of others, and ground flights (AF and BA) but seem unable to get their own house inorder.

[RRAAMJET]

I passed through LGA that day as crew - the news was already on the radio in NY - and I asked the head screener at my checkpoint "how could this happen?".

He went nuts...started yelling at me in front of the pax. Yes, really. He said something of the order of: " we don't answer questions to pilots - you can't ask about those things."

I said to him, "Why not? I need to know if you think my flight is safe."I have to answer questions about aviation related failures in my airline to the pax as best as I can all the time - apparently the TSA feel they are above any scrutiny whatsoever.:mad:

Some of them are very good (generally in the NW, such as Portland). Some of them are absolutely inept...I won't identify which in case undesirables are reading this thread.

I do think the pilots' Unions over here should start doing unofficial checks on TSA screeners, to help pressure them to put their house in order. They already mostly despise aircrew, anyway...:*

[av8boy]

I do think the pilots' Unions over here should start doing unofficial checks on TSA screeners...
I think "unofficial" is a bad idea. The law's not on your side and the fallout could be personally painful for the aircrews involved. Don't misunderstand... I agree with the sentiment. However, to me this is something that cries out for an official approach.

For the love of all things holy as well as your career, be careful "discussing" these issues with screeners. Regardless of the legitimacy of your complaint (and I agree, it is a huge issue), when you get their backs up against the wall you cannot win at the checkpoint.

Dave

[A and C]

Dont talk to these low life as any meaningfull descusion with them is pointless.
If they see you as a threat then one of them will say that they suspected you had been drinking and the police will get called and you will have to do the whole test thing despite being clearly a "set up ".

Just take the pi$$ in a subtle way and if you see something that you dont like report it via official channels.

Security is to important to be left the politicians and the waisters that see it as the latest way to make a fast buck by employing lowlife at a pitance and charging the industry a fortune , but even a hint of descent is so un-PC that you can forget rational treatment from anybody !.

The trouble is that these people are so busy making a fast buck that real security is of no interest to them.

[Check 6]

RRAAMJET, you were making an inquiry at the bottom of the chain of command. You should address your questions to the TSA Director or Asst. Director of that airport.

I recently went through DFW as a SLF. When walking between AA terminals my wife and I noticed two TSA officers at security posts: one was reading a romance paperback, and the other was doing a cross-word puzzle. At no time did we observe them looking up to observe what was going on around them. Very unprofessional.

I sent an e-mail to the DFW TSA Security Director. It turned out he was out of town, but the Asst. Director immediately responded to my e-mail asking for more details.

I passed more info on, he responded and thanked me, and asked for my phone number so he could call me to thank me for pointing out this problem.

I responded that a phone call was not necessary, as I felt that he would deal with the problem. He replied that the problem had been addressed already. I have given the exact date/time so the individuals could be identified.

I have also sent a more positive e-mail to TSA at KSTL telling them how professional and courteous their TSA officers were.

Asking a TSA officer at a security checkpoint policy questions is like asking the Valet Parking Attendant at a five star restaurant for a recipe.

[davethelimey]

Nicely put Check 6.

But it shouldn't be that way - security personnel at airports are more than valet boys at restuarants, or at least they should be. They need to be paid properly, trained properly and motivated. Firing immigrant workers at airports post-911 was clearly not a wise move, if all we're left with is a bunch of gomers with their thumbs up their collective a*ses.

[Check 6]

DTL, I did not mean to imply that TSA Officers are Valet Parking Attendants, only making a point that if you have policy questions or concerns, speak with management.

I agree that we need professionals doing these jobs. It appears that in the rush to hire thousands of TSA officers immediately post-9/11 some less than professional people slipped through.

Having said that, there were also many very professional folks hired by TSA and a little praise to them is deserved, as well as criticism to those who are less than professional.

Cheers,

Check 6

[davethelimey]

Check - whether you mean to imply that security personnel are the valet boys of aviation or not, the fact is that vast swathes (by no means all) are. Although I'm sure the majority are conscientious workers, those that aren't put the airport, planes, passengers and, now, civilians on the ground at risk.

[kaikohe76]

Just though I would drop this one in as a matter of interest and as there has been much discussion on this subject.
Couple of weeks ago I travelled EGCC, EGLL, CYYC, EGLL, EGCC and I was not looking forward at all to the pax security checks involved. I must admit, on this occassion my fears appeard to be unfounded. At each airport (even EGCC!!) I found the pax screening carried out in a thorough, professional and courteous manner, almost made me relax and I was happy to cooperate with the officers involved. At CYYC I was asked to undo my belt buckle as it is brass and kept ringing the bells. Even this specific check was completed very thoroughly with the slight addition of a little humor. Never any chance of my jeans falling down unfortunately with my waist size!!
Overall I was very impressed, please keep it up.

[Danny]

Kaikohe, all that the above shows is that the 'screening' you went through was 'pleasant' and designed to stop you or anyone else carrying a weapon past that point. At no stage were you assessed for risk of malicious intent. Once past those security 'screenings', had you any malicious intent you would be easily able to purchase any number of items that could be used as weapons.

The whole charade of airport security as you see it and have pointed out above is nothing more than eye candy for the travelling public and a newly built empire for some politicians to enhance their over inflated egos with their own importance and pomposity. The security screening we have at airports at the moment is a sham and the original post on this thread goes to show exactly why some form of pax profiling is more important that the compulsory confiscation of paper clips. As was proved on 9/11, it was the intent and not the actual weapon that was more dangerous.

Let's all continue to put our collective heads in the sand and let the imbecillic politicians and their bureaucratic civil servants dictate policies on security when it is fairly obvious to any of us who work in the industry that the results of their actions are little more than farce and ineptitude. :*

[Avman]

Absolutely bang on Capt PPRuNe. Why do we all bury our heads in the sand and allow these inept politicians to continue dictating these imbecillic policies? I suppose it's because we aviation professionals are too busy doing a real day's (or night's) work! You're right of course, we should somehow collectively make ourselves heard but it needs someone with the knowhow and, above all, the time. Don't forget that the idiots who drum up all these farcical policies do so as part of their job (I use the term advisedly), in their working time, and get paid for it to boot. Any opposition campaign that we may want to mount will be in our own (very precious) free time and at our cost.

Any volunteers out there? :cool: