TSA badge WTF?

ChasenSFO said:
Its absolutely ridiculous for them to expect GA pilots to get badged at EVERY airport they want to fly to. Airline crews only have to be badged at one airport, if you pass one government background check thats good enough.
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My company is too cheap to badge us at any airport. We're allowed to be on the ramp in the "footprint" of our airplane to do the pre- and post-flight inspection and that's it. This rule is routinely violated when one of the pilots has to go to the operations office via the ramp to get the flight paperwork because the station personnel cannot be bothered to bring it to the aircraft. We are not even allowed to access our own aircraft without the supervision of a gate agent for "security" reasons.
 
I worked in operations at a local Part 139 airport. We issued the SIDA badges and designated where on the airport they were necessary. Although this was implimented by the TSA each airport decides where the SIDA areas are and issue badges post background checks. I also worked on the Airport Security Plan which any Part 139 is required to have. In the ASP it designates where the SIDA's are. IMHO the TSA is BS. As stated earlier the highschool dropout is the one escorting you to and from where ever you are going. We provided escort for construction crews on our terminal and it is so lame to have to shadow people due to regulations put forth by a cheesy entity as the t s a.

As far as fees go I believe the only cost incurred is for the physical materials of the badge and the background check. Check with airport operations instead of an FBO. You may or may not do better with ops. Worth a shot though. They are the ones making the rules.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Security_Identification_Display_Area
 
Boycott the badges!

However, I did see 3 different sets of Air Wisconsin crews walking in from the remote parking at DCA all the way to a set of jetway stairs and vice versa going out...

My question is, how have we operated airports for the greater part of a half century without any issues and then 9/11 happened and now every GA airport is somehow a security risk?! The TSA is the biggest PITA ever.
RD
 
USMCmech said:
The greatest "security" I ever saw was at BFI in Seattle. I had a UPS badge for DFW, but I didn't have one for BFI.

I had to turn in my drivers liscense to the high school drop out watching the door. he gave me a temporary badge. The supervisor had to escort me out to my plane where I preflighted the airplane. Then when I was done, HE LEFT ME ALONE on the ramp by my plane while he retrieved my DL.

After that, I just flashed my DFW badge at the guard and marched right in like I belonged there.
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I don't recall us having badges out of BFI. I could be wrong, but I never wore anything but the company badger there. Now UPS DFW with there silly temporary badge system is silly. What do I do with it if I'm not making a return trip? I throw it in the trash can.:)
 
Isn't it funny that a vast majority of incidents occur with people who were using proper credentials? The 9/11 hijackers had tickets. Most of the Knobs who have otherwise stolen airplanes had a reason to be there anyway (students, mechanics, drunk pilots on a bender). I don't see this preventing any of those scenarios from occurring.
 
falconvalley said:
Isn't it funny that a vast majority of incidents occur with people who were using proper credentials? The 9/11 hijackers had tickets. Most of the Knobs who have otherwise stolen airplanes had a reason to be there anyway (students, mechanics, drunk pilots on a bender). I don't see this preventing any of those scenarios from occurring.
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That is very true. Doesn't seem like it's going to solve anything....

RD
 
OhioStatePilot said:
I'd be willing to bet they didn't know. Everything I heard is that the TSA kinda sprung this on everyone.
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:crazy:

Negative Negative. It is airport operations that is the keeper of all badges. I hold a SIDA badge at CLT. $100.00 and they called when done. No problem during a recent re-badging.
 
cloudman said:
:crazy:

Negative Negative. It is airport operations that is the keeper of all badges. I hold a SIDA badge at CLT. $100.00 and they called when done. No problem during a recent re-badging.
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I'm not sure I follow you. Airport Operations is the entity on field in charge of badging, but the start of the new GA/Pilot badging requirements was handed down to them by the TSA. All the airport ops didn't just get together and decide to start cracking down on ramp access for certificated pilots!
 
CrippleHawk said:
Airline pilots I see only have their company badges not Airport badges. We still have to escort them to their planes here at IAD (If they are parked at remote parking) if needed.
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All the SFO based OO pilots and flight attendants I've met have SFO SIDA badges. I guess not everyone does it then.
 
The bottom line is that the TSA hates general aviation, in part because they have little, if any, physical control over the tens of thousands of small planes and airports across the country.

It's not about security. It's about control and about justifying their existance and budget.
 
OhioStatePilot said:
I'm not sure I follow you. Airport Operations is the entity on field in charge of badging, but the start of the new GA/Pilot badging requirements was handed down to them by the TSA. All the airport ops didn't just get together and decide to start cracking down on ramp access for certificated pilots!
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:dunno:

In CLT the procedure was all ready in place. The only major TSA change came when they split the field up into 4, I think, areas. One huge nightmare, but it worked in the end.
 
germb747 said:
The bottom line is that the TSA hates general aviation, in part because they have little, if any, physical control over the tens of thousands of small planes and airports across the country.

It's not about security. It's about control and about justifying their existance and budget.
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^^^^ Yeah that!
 
cloudman said:
:dunno:

In CLT the procedure was all ready in place. The only major TSA change came when they split the field up into 4, I think, areas. One huge nightmare, but it worked in the end.
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CLT required badging in non-SIDA/non-movement areas prior to the TSA coming in?
 
falconvalley said:
Isn't it funny that a vast majority of incidents occur with people who were using proper credentials? The 9/11 hijackers had tickets. Most of the Knobs who have otherwise stolen airplanes had a reason to be there anyway (students, mechanics, drunk pilots on a bender). I don't see this preventing any of those scenarios from occurring.
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Most guys that steal planes or avionics actually fly into the airport in one plane, and leave with two....(or parts).
 
KLB said:
I don't recall us having badges out of BFI. I could be wrong, but I never wore anything but the company badger there. Now UPS DFW with there silly temporary badge system is silly. What do I do with it if I'm not making a return trip? I throw it in the trash can.:)
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haha yeah, i fly in there every night and i still have about 6 of those temporary badges.

shhh... its a secret tho.
 
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