Airport security and you

[rjcap]

It is absolute stupidity to be confiscating nail clippers and small pocket knives from the toilet kits of airline crew members. This is not "security" but merely a form of, "its better to do something then nothing at all."

Confiscating these items from uniformed flight crew members merely displays a message of stupidity to the flying public.

You can tell I'm pissed off from having my leatherman, miniature swiss army knife ( 1.5" in length) and 2 sets of nail clippers confiscated. All of this while in uniform and as a crewmember (captain) of a revenue flight.

 

[enigma]

Re: Eye on the Ball people!

You must be a little liberal. I bet you believe that Hillary really does know best. Come on man, don't appologize for stupidity. We are being purposefully hassled. Period. Management still controls the security, and they are trying to make us as uncomfortable as possible.

Follow me on this.
The pilot can not get past the gate until the gate agent verifies that he is in fact the correct pilot for that flight.
Once the pilot gets past the gate, he gains access to the stick and rudder, and oh yes, a cutting instrument called a fire AXE.
Most terminals I fly through, post an airline employee at the entrance to security. That person verifies that all persons going into security hold a ticket and a valid picture ID.

"On duty" crewmembers could pass through security if that airline employee who validates ID's and tickets, had the same list that the gate agent uses to verify the correct crew. It could be that simple. It's stupid to waste the valuable time of the screeners and thereby, impede commerce, by screening crewmembers who are legitimately on the way to fly the plane.

besides, we essentially screen crewmembers by affinity anyway. If my FO shows up at the airplane and I've never seen him before, I will ask questions. As I'm sure the FA's will as well. We meet in the crewroom, get introduced, then head for the airplane; by the time we get to the security checkpoint, we know who each other is. It would be virtually impossible for an imposter to join the crew, and thereby gain access to the aircraft.
All that the stupid security that you seem to enjoy accomplishes,is to slow down the system and impede the process of screening the ones who really need to be screened.

Just as you have been "violated", so have I through the security gates. There is one thing to remember folks, those people are trying their hardest to keep the skies safe, they just don't know any other way to do it! They are trying to do their job the best they can and finally taking it serious! I think we need to do the same.

Is it really THAT bad?!?

If you want to complain so much about such a petty thing, (being 10 minutes late, being checked personally with the wand, having your bags checked, etc...) why don't you change your profession to something like .... say .....

A NY Firefighter, or a NY police officer!

We need to be willing to do our part while things get sorted out here. Granted the FAA was behind the times and security checks were anything but secure, but they're trying. We need to be supportive!

Let's keep our eye on the big picture here...... Thousands of people died, can't we respect the memory of those that have given their lives by doing what we can to help prevent this from happening ever again?

Someone mentioned that checking a uniformed flight officer was seemingly ludicrous.... I STRONGLY disagree!! I think NOT checking uniformed flight personnel would be ludicrous! Don't you think that those that intend to do harm would figure that out and try to get through security in that fashion?!?

I don't like getting 'strip searched' any more than the next guy, but I do think it's part of my civil duty.


Sorry if this seems somewhat confrontational, I just get tired of people forgetting the reason for all of this and getting so upset over such petty things when you consider the big picture.


God Bless and Safe Skies!

 

[ifly4food]

Re: Re: Eye on the Ball people!

Come on man, don't appologize for stupidity. We are being purposefully hassled. Period. Management still controls the security, and they are trying to make us as uncomfortable as possible.

I firmly believe that this is the root of the security hassles crews are facing. Particularly the "random" gate checks. Funny how uniformed deadheading crews and non-revs always get "randomly" picked.
Management is trying to intimidate us and are using us as a show for the passengers because they think we can't do anything about it.

The wheels in Washington are in motion to stop this madness.

 

[TurboS7]

Looney

All those guys in Washington better hurry, if things don't change then all us pilot's will go looney, then they will have some real problems.