US Airport Security - an oxymoron
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Around
Age: 56
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Excuse me, this is probably too close to reality to work. But many of these totally idiotic practices of taking shoes off in front of passengers is bound to leave a flight crew member, especially a very senior captain, with deep mental scars from the loss of face and what have you. This is the US, right ? Hot shot lawyer ? Sueing the bastards for an "unspecified amount" for mental damages would be my answer.. .. .I am ground staff, breeze with ease through airports and onto supposedly secure areas. Could bring a ton of armour piercing bazookas, enough TNT to turn a 747 into razor blades not to mention a phlanax of small arms without ever getting searched. To my knowledge nobody ever did a background check of me or my peers, and we are "trusted employees" ? Pleasssee.. .. .This is a PR exercise and unless a group of pilots stand up against it, incompetent politicians will run the show and it will continue to degenrate. It is either ALL staff who MUST be checked, or none at all. Certainly, in my opinion, flight crews should be the last in line to suffer these pedantic checks.. .. .Oh and by the way, why is it that all this hokus-pokus mainly involves passenger carrying flights ? No, not because freighters are unusable as guided missiles, but rather because there is no PR value in frisking freight dogs turning up in the middle of the night when the airports are deserted of passengers. Stick it to them ladies and gentlemen.
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: USA
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Gee Flip Flop...obviously a ground pounder. Pilot files big suit for the mental distress...looses his medical because of all the mental distress (he just said he was severely mentally distressed by filing suit)....no medical, no fly...no fly no job. end of story.. .. .A fair part of the current "security" stupidity is promulgated by the law enforcement community and by big shot political types who want the favorable(?) publicity. Hopefully things can become more rational when the spotlight is shone somewhere else. If Osama's boys (and girls) are going to do something more what makes everyone think it will be airplanes? What about ships, freight containers, electronic attacks? Or necessarily anything to do with transportation.. .. .If us poor Yanks were really lucky we could fly places like LHR with it's air tight security. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Smile]" src="smile.gif" />. . . . <small>[ 21 March 2002, 14:45: Message edited by: Iron City ]</small>
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: New York
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On my way to a well earned holiday - I was searched 3 times by staff at JFK - when I asked 'semi jokingly' if I looked like a terrorist - I was informed "Sorry sir, but we're not allowed to racially profile and we have to get our quotas up of white guys".. .Well that satisfied my curiosity....meanwhile as I was being searched some guy with a missile launcher could have been wandering onto my plane!!
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: London,,Great Britain
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Just when I was starting to have dreams about mowing down a load of airport 'security' with an Uzi, I operated to PHX and positioned onwards.. .. .The guys there were very pleasant but saw something on an x-ray of my bag which needed clarification. I was politely _asked_ if I could show them what it was (in a private area), and once they had ascertained its identity they wished me a safe onward journey and pointed me towards the correct gate for my flight. Magic.. .. .Why can't they all be like that?
