security, restore the balance of power
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Its been well recognised for some time that many delussional pilots think they are exempt from security.
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At least most Brit security guards don't spit at you, take an interest in your home address, or request the loan of a colleague's sidearm in order to murder you when you decide to document their continual harassment of your crew. The situation on Hawai'i appears to be less favorable:
Maui Airport Security Guard Assaults Videographer - YouTube
(Edit: I've been reading the background to this. The video was shot by the CEO of Pacific Wings, a Hawaiian commuter operator. The back story was continual racial harassment of the (white) commuter crews by the local (native Hawaiian) security thugs. Culminated in the head of security handcuffing the CEO and giving him a good kicking in the head for daring to file a formal complaint, an attack for which he was prosecuted, but acquitted in a farcical trial by a 100% native Hawaiian jury.)
Maui Airport Security Guard Assaults Videographer - YouTube
(Edit: I've been reading the background to this. The video was shot by the CEO of Pacific Wings, a Hawaiian commuter operator. The back story was continual racial harassment of the (white) commuter crews by the local (native Hawaiian) security thugs. Culminated in the head of security handcuffing the CEO and giving him a good kicking in the head for daring to file a formal complaint, an attack for which he was prosecuted, but acquitted in a farcical trial by a 100% native Hawaiian jury.)
Last edited by Ranger One; 7th Jul 2012 at 01:06.
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Manhandled in LHR
Where did we let these guys take the ball and run away with it? Once again, passing through the airport security gate at LHR, I beeped, going through the metal detector and then only I did, because the first agent insisted that the removal of my shoes was not necessary. What follows was first, a manhandling that I would only would have wanted would I have had a "rainbow coloured tag" on my luggage which I obviously had not, and I have nothing against people of that sexual orientation but it made me feel really uncomfortable! Then, the MI-5 wannabe agent "x-rayed" my prescription eye drops for some secret reason that he could not share with me and then recommended me to NOT wear my watch for future reference?! Why are these little people on this power trip? Why, do we, as commanders have let them subject us to all this nonsense? I agree with the screening of all people to board the aircraft but lets have some common sense here and lets once and for all stop groping the flight crew and have these "people" stop giving us advise on what or what not to wear! There is little respect left for aircraft commanders and we are partly responsible for it! I for one will try to stop getting trips to the UK!
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You should pop across to T5 one of the days. You will love it if they have a newbie on the x-ray scanner.
It took one hour for me to pass though the metal detector then wait while 'security' then proceeded to empty some other poor sods case then my own crew case of every last piece of its contents. The 'operative' stopped mid sentence from asking me if I was going somewhere nice on holiday as my aircrew ID and stripes were removed from the case.
The thing that surprised me was how absolutely nothing was left in the case, the cause of the false alarm? - A single Lynx shot spray left at the bottom. - Well, i feel safer now anyway. At least the rescan of the case, explosives sweep of said case and liquid test of everything in the magical sealable bag came bag negative. A relief.
Security is one thing lately that as a professional, is really, really, starting to get under my skin!
It took one hour for me to pass though the metal detector then wait while 'security' then proceeded to empty some other poor sods case then my own crew case of every last piece of its contents. The 'operative' stopped mid sentence from asking me if I was going somewhere nice on holiday as my aircrew ID and stripes were removed from the case.
The thing that surprised me was how absolutely nothing was left in the case, the cause of the false alarm? - A single Lynx shot spray left at the bottom. - Well, i feel safer now anyway. At least the rescan of the case, explosives sweep of said case and liquid test of everything in the magical sealable bag came bag negative. A relief.
Security is one thing lately that as a professional, is really, really, starting to get under my skin!
Join Date: Aug 2002
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Try being staff and going through the nonsense every day.
Shoes off...belt off ...car trunk/hood up...no water or "runny foods" .I had my coins x rayed the other day. The machine bleeps on a quota so you are searched again. Couple this with sitting waiting for 20 minutes at 0600 then a couple of hours on radar at the start of the morning rush.
It is NOT conducive to a safety critical environment.
There appears to be NOTHING that can be done. I retire in 2013 and it can't come soon enough.
How would we know? How many have been dissuaded? (my guess is none)
Shoes off...belt off ...car trunk/hood up...no water or "runny foods" .I had my coins x rayed the other day. The machine bleeps on a quota so you are searched again. Couple this with sitting waiting for 20 minutes at 0600 then a couple of hours on radar at the start of the morning rush.
It is NOT conducive to a safety critical environment.
There appears to be NOTHING that can be done. I retire in 2013 and it can't come soon enough.
how many terrorists have been caught by airport security then
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So why did you wear your watch through the metal detector? Pretty simple isn't it, wear metal, get groped!
I don't like passing through the security check, but how many more topics can we open about being 'manhandled'? Do you think the security people like groping your (or a hundred other) sweaty bullocks?
I don't like passing through the security check, but how many more topics can we open about being 'manhandled'? Do you think the security people like groping your (or a hundred other) sweaty bullocks?
I work for an airline, the only time I 'bleep' is when the archway picks me as a random frisk - I have learnt over the years what things set the detector off and remove them as required.
Times have changed and just because you're a captain you don't immediately get my respect. Respect is mutual, you show me some and I'll show some back.
Times have changed and just because you're a captain you don't immediately get my respect. Respect is mutual, you show me some and I'll show some back.
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So, let me get this straight.
Someone who flies for a living, and goes through airport security regularly, does not take ALL metalwork that can be removed from his person and wonders why things go "beep" when he walks through the arch?
One wonders what sort of chip was on the shoulder to make the security drones act in the manner described (which has probably been exaggerated, btw), when it's clear that the arch will go "beep" when you are wearing a large chunk of metal on your wrist which should have been removed in the first case!
Sorry, but I'm with student88. I used to go through these very checks on multiple occasions per day, every day, and I NEVER had an issue with the drones. "Respect" has to work both ways.
then recommended me to NOT wear my watch for future reference?!
One wonders what sort of chip was on the shoulder to make the security drones act in the manner described (which has probably been exaggerated, btw), when it's clear that the arch will go "beep" when you are wearing a large chunk of metal on your wrist which should have been removed in the first case!
Sorry, but I'm with student88. I used to go through these very checks on multiple occasions per day, every day, and I NEVER had an issue with the drones. "Respect" has to work both ways.
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Base - SE UK major airport.
I have never taken my watch off and even when I have beeped I have never been asked to remove it. Recently I've had some numptie wipe his hands roughly all over my uniform jacket as though it were a towel even when it hasn't beeped. How long before we have tubs of vaseline and endoscopes behind a screen? I'm not joking!
Until we started positioning regularly as pax about 3 years ago I never flew without my Leatherman tool which includes a 3 inch blade. In the nine years since Sept 11 it was spotted twice and on both occasions allowed through as it is a tool of the trade. However, this is a shocking indictment on the ability of "security" to spot such things. If I fly 200 days per year thats two spots in 1800 scans. Utterly appalling, imho.
The ludicrous obsession with metal indicates the total absence of reason or logic in this process. The internet is full of ads for ceramic knives, but then knives are no longer a credible threat to security after that daft door was fitted to "negate" that threat...right...?
The obsession with liquids too is totally irrational, esp the morphing of "liquid" to include solid mascara and allowing risotto but confiscating rice pudding as happened to a colleague of mine recently...
A few days ago I watched a contractor take a big toolbox and a 25litre bucket of paint through out security channel, neither were examined, nor are the police festooned with weapons. A TV documentary trying to get actors in fancy dress through security would be a hoot!
Would anyone notice if I lined my flight bag with 2-3mm of plasticene (aka Semtex)? I VERY much doubt it. What does that tell us about the point of all this harassment?
I agree entirely about the excessive intimacy of current search procedures, I have been very close to crying sexual assault on a number of occasions and when I've told the goon to back off I've received no reaction whatsoever, they're obviously taught to ignore such advice. A 999 call will probably change that though.
Anyway, as we all can see this farcical harassment is so utterly pointless as it catches nothing, puts off no one and is only there so if another atrocity happens our craven politicos can slope shoulders and cry in unison, "It wasn't our fault, look at all the draconian procedures we put in place to prevent it, you can't blame us". There are a thousand easier and more practical ways to get nasties onto an aircraft, starting with airport service vehicles which cannot be searched.
Then look at the stupidity of the traffic barriers around our airports, STN with its battleship-built tank-traps - and a hundred yards away the airport is "protected" by a chainlink fence.
Futile, pointless and an utter waste of money - except for the vast and ever growing "security" industry which has a real vested interest in ever increasing this idiocy to big up their business.
Call me a cynic if you like, but am I wrong?
I have never taken my watch off and even when I have beeped I have never been asked to remove it. Recently I've had some numptie wipe his hands roughly all over my uniform jacket as though it were a towel even when it hasn't beeped. How long before we have tubs of vaseline and endoscopes behind a screen? I'm not joking!
Until we started positioning regularly as pax about 3 years ago I never flew without my Leatherman tool which includes a 3 inch blade. In the nine years since Sept 11 it was spotted twice and on both occasions allowed through as it is a tool of the trade. However, this is a shocking indictment on the ability of "security" to spot such things. If I fly 200 days per year thats two spots in 1800 scans. Utterly appalling, imho.
The ludicrous obsession with metal indicates the total absence of reason or logic in this process. The internet is full of ads for ceramic knives, but then knives are no longer a credible threat to security after that daft door was fitted to "negate" that threat...right...?
The obsession with liquids too is totally irrational, esp the morphing of "liquid" to include solid mascara and allowing risotto but confiscating rice pudding as happened to a colleague of mine recently...
A few days ago I watched a contractor take a big toolbox and a 25litre bucket of paint through out security channel, neither were examined, nor are the police festooned with weapons. A TV documentary trying to get actors in fancy dress through security would be a hoot!
Would anyone notice if I lined my flight bag with 2-3mm of plasticene (aka Semtex)? I VERY much doubt it. What does that tell us about the point of all this harassment?
I agree entirely about the excessive intimacy of current search procedures, I have been very close to crying sexual assault on a number of occasions and when I've told the goon to back off I've received no reaction whatsoever, they're obviously taught to ignore such advice. A 999 call will probably change that though.
Anyway, as we all can see this farcical harassment is so utterly pointless as it catches nothing, puts off no one and is only there so if another atrocity happens our craven politicos can slope shoulders and cry in unison, "It wasn't our fault, look at all the draconian procedures we put in place to prevent it, you can't blame us". There are a thousand easier and more practical ways to get nasties onto an aircraft, starting with airport service vehicles which cannot be searched.
Then look at the stupidity of the traffic barriers around our airports, STN with its battleship-built tank-traps - and a hundred yards away the airport is "protected" by a chainlink fence.
Futile, pointless and an utter waste of money - except for the vast and ever growing "security" industry which has a real vested interest in ever increasing this idiocy to big up their business.
Call me a cynic if you like, but am I wrong?
Last edited by Agaricus bisporus; 5th Aug 2012 at 11:16.
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Not this websites favourite newspaper but this article is worth a read on this thread.
London 2012: How grins, not guns, saved the Olympics | Mail Online
London 2012: How grins, not guns, saved the Olympics | Mail Online
The battleship protection at STN is only a result of some twit driving a 4x4 into Glasgow airport and setting fire to it. What ducks me off the most about airports is having to pay £1 to drop off my relatives at LTN, not having to have my liquids in the worlds most restrictive bag or having my bag swabbed for explosives (which it once tested positive for?!).
Last edited by student88; 5th Aug 2012 at 11:19. Reason: too many swear words, got carried away
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google it, quite a few, and probably many more will be put off by these security 'drones'.
In a previous life I was trained in counter terrorist search (military). I managed to get a 6" blade through security at Baghdad airport (as part of training) and I'd rather be felt up than hi-jacked/blown up any day of the week.
P.S. if you're not being man-handled they're not searching you properly!
In a previous life I was trained in counter terrorist search (military). I managed to get a 6" blade through security at Baghdad airport (as part of training) and I'd rather be felt up than hi-jacked/blown up any day of the week.
P.S. if you're not being man-handled they're not searching you properly!
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In most of the more "enlightened" European nations, crew can freely bring liquids through on duty (a somewhat dream scenario for the Ryanair drones in STN I imagine ,who were faced with either buying overpriced water airside or taking the glorified tap water from the crew room. . .what did they call it officially, "filtered water" or something equally salubrious ? is that still the scenario in the UK ? I am happily long gone from there)
Very refreshing to pass through Security in Scandilands & be targeted for a grope by some Blonde lovely. 1st time it happened I gave a funny look & was offered a male searcher" Oh no, fine by me, take your time"
I asked if she ever had any refusals, "Well, sometimes wives refuse on the husbands behalf" she confided 
I think some female CC prefer to take the same-sex option, and this I understand, a few more "worldy" ones use the opportunity as an excuse to sexually harass the "groper" . . . . good on them
It is sometimes a right royal pain in the hole, and I have to say my worst exoeriences have been on that small island I come from between Europe & the Atlantic (the bigger Eastern variety)
Very refreshing to pass through Security in Scandilands & be targeted for a grope by some Blonde lovely. 1st time it happened I gave a funny look & was offered a male searcher" Oh no, fine by me, take your time"
I asked if she ever had any refusals, "Well, sometimes wives refuse on the husbands behalf" she confided I think some female CC prefer to take the same-sex option, and this I understand, a few more "worldy" ones use the opportunity as an excuse to sexually harass the "groper" . . . . good on them
It is sometimes a right royal pain in the hole, and I have to say my worst exoeriences have been on that small island I come from between Europe & the Atlantic (the bigger Eastern variety)