Fake Pilot in JS on USAir

Kellwolf, TSA may or may not have any fault in this one. He did have ticket and was processed through normal passenger screening. They look harder at state and federal ID's than they do pilot creds. The article also implies his coach ticket was legit as well. There is no way AF could sit in the cockpit of a US Airliner since they are NON CASS.

This comes up year after year at the jumpseat meetings. We as crews must get a lot better at vetting our jumpseaters. It won't take much for the TSA to try and pull the jumpseats again. I have on more than one occasion been asked specifics about my aircraft by crew-members that knew the plane well, as well as other aviation banter that would would easily out an impostor. Don't be sheep and just go through the motions of checking your jumpseater.

Having trouble with a jumpseat in not that unusual. Anyone knows what fun the MD-11 old FE jumpseat can be. You almost need a jumpseat type rating for that thing.
 
Bandit_Driver said:
Kellwolf, TSA may or may not have any fault in this one. He did have ticket and was processed through normal passenger screening. They look harder at state and federal ID's than they do pilot creds. The article also implies his coach ticket was legit as well. There is no way AF could sit in the cockpit of a US Airliner since they are NON CASS.

This comes up year after year at the jumpseat meetings. We as crews must get a lot better at vetting our jumpseaters. It won't take much for the TSA to try and pull the jumpseats again. I have on more than one occasion been asked specifics about my aircraft by crew-members that knew the plane well, as well as other aviation banter that would would easily out an impostor. Don't be sheep and just go through the motions of checking your jumpseater.

Having trouble with a jumpseat in not that unusual. Anyone knows what fun the MD-11 old FE jumpseat can be. You almost need a jumpseat type rating for that thing.
Click to expand...

Oh man, I actually got really good at that FE jumpseat when I was commuting MEM-JFK. I had a couple of CAs comment that I commuted WAAAY too much. I've heard horror stories of people getting access to the JS that shouldn't (like FedEx van drivers), so when I was a CA, I checked all of that. If you had a seat in the back, company ID was good enough for me. If you were sitting up front, I needed the works. Oddly, I haven't had anyone sitting up front since I became an FO again, so I haven't had to check and see if our CAs are lax or not. I'm betting on the "not" given the jumpseat issues we've had in the past.
 
Stay away TSA - the system worked fine. French poof attempted to gain fraudulent access to cockpit, was challenged by the Flight Attendant, and taken into custody baguettes and all.
 
Yeah, it seems as if "the system" worked just fine here. Even though the guy had a valid coach ticket on that flight (gaining him legitimate access to the airplane) he STILL did not get to sit in the cockpit.

Many years ago (like 15-ish years ago) an Eagle FA had a guy come onboard (an ATR) with like 3 or 4 carryons, claiming to be a jumpseater, presenting a 'weird' looking United pilot ID. She thought it didn't look right, the guy looked scruffy, wasn't dressed like a pilot, and had a beard. She sent the guy to the cockpit, but called the pilots on the interphone as he made his way up the aisle (this was an ATR, boarding door in the back, jumpseaters have to walk all the way up the aisle and through cargo to get to the cockpit) and told the guys that there was a jumpseater on his way but that he appeared suspicious. The pilots called ops as he made his way forward, and completely agreed with the FA's assessment. They talked to him and kept him busy long enough for the airport police and company management to get out to the plane and remove the guy. He was arrested, and did not fly anywhere that day. Not sure what ever came of it, but it's pretty damn easy to spot someone who doesn't "belong".
 
According to CNN:

A flight attendant conducting a routine head count entered the cockpit and saw the man sitting in the jump seat behind the captain's seat. He identified himself as an Air France pilot.
Suspicious airline employees, sniffing out a fake, questioned the man.
The flight crew told him he would have to fill out paperwork, but the man didn't have credentials, police said. The captain then told him to leave the area, and ordered him off the plane before it left the gate. The man became irate. The crew called police.
Click to expand...

Now that more is coming out, sounds like the crew did exactly what they should have done....
 
Bandit_Driver said:
I have on more than one occasion been asked specifics about my aircraft by crew-members that knew the plane well, as well as other aviation banter that would would easily out an impostor. Don't be sheep and just go through the motions of checking your jumpseater.
Click to expand...

We were joking about this imposter thing with our SWA jumpseater today.

I noticed an embroidered airTran on his bag as well as the SWA wings & heart logo. I asked if he was originally from the ATN side of things; he was.

He spent the next ten minutes during preflight ranting about merge stuff. I immediately knew he was an authentic airline pilot. :p
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top