UK security and air crew

[PPRuNeUser0199]

Just curious but when your on duty I assume the security people leave you alone if you have more then one bag at screening. What if you dead heading in or out of uniform?
thanks

[doubleu-anker]

Aircrew are subject to the same mauling and humiliation as passengers.

As aircrew will never stick together, on anything, it will continue. If crews stood up and said no, the stupidity would cease over night.

Can anyone get their head around a system that allows crews to be searched for weapons, have a 1 inch long screwdriver or tiny nail scissors, for e.g., confiscated yet they allow you to arrive at the cockpit, where there is a fire axe on show?

Ban crash axes!!!??? Now!!!!

[fireflybob]

As aircrew will never stick together, on anything, it will continue. If crews stood up and said no, the stupidity would cease over night.

How right you are! I was employed in the Railway industry for three years. If you had told the Signallers or the Train Drivers that they could not bring more the x fluid ounces of liquid to work with them or have there yogurts/smoothies confiscated off them at security, then I am sure the RMT would have called an immediate strike. The network would have ground to a halt and it would all have been sorted out within 24 hours!

This topic has been well discussed on other threads but trouble is the politicians who agree to these crazy ideas are not subject to these draconian rules on a daily basis the way aircrew are.

[A and C]

It's all part of Browns starlinist state, they now use anti terrorist laws to spy on people to find out if they live in the right catchment area for there childrens school ! So what chance do aircrew have in he face of this oppresion?

It would seem that the British public have got wise to these New Labour control freeks and they have sent a clear message in the recent elections.

Only when we kick out this goverment with a mania for state control of the all aspects of peoples day to day business will some sort of common sence return.

[call100]

It's not just poor old Aircrew. All staff that work airside have to go through it all. There are even restrictions on what you can bring in for your lunch.
As usual though, it is the Aircrew that moan the most.

[fireflybob]

As usual though, it is the Aircrew that moan the most

Maybe there is an element of truth in that but then maybe all airport workers need to get together to reverse these inane rules? Bit like the government wanting to require us all to have yet another ID.

Also as aircrew we visit many different airports and see the rules being applied in different ways.

[Brian Fantana]

"As usual though, it is the Aircrew that moan the most"

Maybe the aircrew do, but - we are stuck in an aluminium tube 6 miles high up in the sky for several hours at a time and cannot just get up and go for a walk through the terminal and buy refreshment from the various shopping outlets that airport staff have the luxury of doing on a lunchbreak or when the shift is quiet.
The security can take my tube of toothpaste, mouthwash, carton of yoghurt, bottle of water or whatever, but as doubleu-anker points out on the wall of the flight deck is fire crash axe!! We also have a bottle of fluid eyewash more than 50millilitres. If a pilot wanted to threaten the safety of an aircraft he has two hands to point the aircraft where ever he so wishes!!
I also agree with fireflybob when he says "Also as aircrew we visit many different airports and see the rules being applied in different ways"
lets have some continuity between the security at airports around the world!!

[A Very Civil Pilot]

I assume the security people leave you alone if you have more then one bag at screening

I think you meant to write 'I assume the security people mercilessly target you'

[call100]

"As usual though, it is the Aircrew that moan the most"

Maybe the aircrew do, but - we are stuck in an aluminium tube 6 miles high up in the sky for several hours at a time and cannot just get up and go for a walk through the terminal and buy refreshment from the various shopping outlets that airport staff have the luxury of doing on a lunchbreak or when the shift is quiet.
The security can take my tube of toothpaste, mouthwash, carton of yoghurt, bottle of water or whatever, but as doubleu-anker points out on the wall of the flight deck is fire crash axe!! We also have a bottle of fluid eyewash more than 50millilitres. If a pilot wanted to threaten the safety of an aircraft he has two hands to point the aircraft where ever he so wishes!!
I also agree with fireflybob when he says "Also as aircrew we visit many different airports continuity between the security at airports around the world!!

Sorry to burst your bubble. For some of us getting into the terminal for anything is a luxury rarely achieved. Security checks are not only done in the terminal access points.
No one is saying its fair or necessary, only that we all have to go through it more times than aircrew during a working day. I know you have an axe in your cockpit, but that is small potatoes. I go through with a firearm and I am still searched and have to put my equipment through the scan.
Yes it would be nice if all airport worker users got together and took action. However, we know it ain't going to happen. So in the mean time we make the best of a bad situation. what's the point of letting it spoil the rest of your day?..

[doubleu-anker]

call100

"I go through with a firearm and I am still searched and have to put my equipment through the scan."

This is getting worse.

Why are you going through security, if you are allowed a firearm though? Guessing you are a serving police officer and I take my hat off to you. I am not the brightest person around, so could someone explain this to me, if it is not confidential. What is it they are looking for when you go through screening with a firearm, assuming they didn't take it off you? Is it nail files, screwdrivers, too much liquids etc? Maybe they are looking for fake weapons.

Words are beginning to fail me.

[Lafyar Cokov]

...When we were off to start Gulf War II flying out of Brize, the ever intelligent RAF Police and Movers had us put our weapons (Rifles Pistols, Bayonettes,etc) through the X-Ray machines... That was the funniest thing I have ever seen!!!

[fireflybob]

Sounds like a clip from another Airplane movie!

[The Real Slim Shady]

Questioned why an airport worker pushing a large trolley had been screened but the trolley had bypassed x-ray and the scanner.

The answer????

It's too big!!

Who checks all the builders vehicles which are omnipresent at every European airport? Who checks the workers backgrounds? One could go on......

[IRISHPILOT]

Took delivery of an aircraft at Bristol Filton last week, nobody checked our IDs (didn't have any anyway), passports (DID have them), no Xray, no security gate, no Xray. Just a bus taking everyone to where they wanted to go, no questions asked.

In EMA, they took the bottle of coke off me at the cargo crew entrance. Felt like attacking them with it, so maybe rightly so...

[call100]

Why are you going through security, if you are allowed a firearm though? Guessing you are a serving police officer and I take my hat off to you.

No not Police. I go through security because it's a requirement of access. The firearm is used for bird/wildlife control. The point is that some apparently stupid things are done in the name of Security. However, without actually shutting everything down there are no perfect answers. Given the choice of having it or not having it, then I vote to keep it.
I am not defending the stupidity. I just think it's an occupational hazard foisted on us from central Government and try to see all the funny things that happen.
For instance, having put my effects onto a tray and having it X-rayed, the tray was then subject to a 'random tray check' They confirmed that it was actually a Radio, Mobile phone, Ear defenders in the Tray. I have no idea why I put my Ear defenders in the tray???? Perhaps they think a suicide bomber may want to only blow his head off......
But something to ponder on...If those of us who are subjected to his on a daily basis have no idea what is going to be done each time, then a potential threat would have no idea either......

Who checks all the builders vehicles which are omnipresent at every European airport? Who checks the workers backgrounds? One could go on....

All the contractors are checked as are all their vehicles on entry to the restricted area. They all have CRC checks. We have had workers banned from working on contract building work because of failed checks.

[PPRuNeUser0199]

Ok Ok we can all agree that the way aircrew are handled in some airports or countries is total crap . If the check me that is fine. I do have issues with being told only one bag through security. WTF is the reason for that, WE are not just going one leg and home. we are on the road for days or weeks and " I am sorry i don't care if your operating or positioning you can only bring one bag through"
this is BS thank you.
only happens in the UK.
Get with the program England!!

[earnest]

I have no idea why I put my Ear defenders in the tray???? Perhaps they think a suicide bomber may want to only blow his head off......

Call 100,

It’s because of the new EU rules on health and safety which, as always, are religiously applied in the UK.

Because home-made explosives can make a loud bang, all suicide bombers are now required by law to protect their ear drums by wearing suitable ear defenders before their appointment with Allah. Failure to do so is punishable by a fine or, alternatively, a reduction in the number of virgins waiting in paradise.

You see, contrary to popular opinion, considerable amounts of thought and logic do actually go into making these rules.

[deltayankee]

Perhaps security pester aircrew just as much as civilians because they can't tell the difference between a real crew and someone who just bought the uniform at a fancy dress store. If anyone with stripes on their arm was just waved through then all the bad guys would have stripes on their arms. Remember Frank Abagnale jr. Once I recall there was a panic in Rome when someone stole crew uniforms from a hotel, though in the end they were never used in anger.

[doubleu-anker]

Fair enough. What about when the crew member gets to the cockpit? Who is going to do the check on this guy that he is indeed a pilot?

What about security personal running the checks at the airport cues. Who are checking their authenticity?

Has anyone heard of "common sense"? Not a lot of it around these days I must admit.

[Agaricus bisporus]

Perhaps security pester aircrew just as much as civilians because they can't tell the difference between a real crew and someone who just bought the uniform at a fancy dress store.

But as "security" they should be able to recognise an ID card when they see one, and act accordingly. Sadly they don't.

The REAL problem is that there is no difference between these idiots and someone who has been to a fancy dress store and bought a "security" uniform. That is where the problem lies.


The really scary thing to my mind is that the UK Govt clearly don't rate airside security passes as worth a damn from all the hassle we get, despite their being based on the much-vaunted infalllible "Disclosure Scotland" farce (for those non UK here, it is essentially a cursory criminal record check - not caught = OK!!! - and a personal statement taken on trust that they aren't terrorists- cos HMG knows no one would lie on an official form, they wouldn't dare be such dishonest rotters, would they?)

No sh!t guys, this is how naiive HMG is...and yet they are going to use us paragons (pariahs in "security" search) of social virtue (they know we are beyond safe beyond doubt because of disclosure Scotland...) as guinea-pigs for the introduction of the new "infallible" national ID card that won't be mandatory to carry unless you're aircrew...That is how muddled their "logic" is.

And in the Times today there is a photo of armed Police at an incident in London wearing, oh yes, unmistakably, Nazi Wermacht battle helmets. I kid you not.

Getting the picture?