American Airlines Pilot Arrested..

Those little napoleons at the checkpoints think they're god's gift to law enforcement. They seem to have a hard-on for busting pilots.
 
I'll have to go with Neil on this one. Things are considerably better under the TSA but unfortunatley that attitude is still fairly prevelant.

A while back - before 9/11 - I was detained at a security checkpoint in Harrisburg, PA for 15 minutes while the screener emptied and looked thru every inch of every bag I had - flight case included - because he saw "what appeared to be small coin like disks" in the bottom of my suitcase as it went thru the xray machine. What do ya' suppose those those coin shaped disks turned out to be???? Harrisburg used to be notoriously rough and stupid while screening passengars. He was apparently not interested in the huge metal flashlight I had that could have contained anything in it but God forbid should you have some quarters in your bag.

Jason


Jason
 
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The issue could come to a head soon, now that pilots by congressional mandate will be authorized to carry firearms.



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Wow I didn't know about this. Does anyone know when this takes effect?
 
I have to say most of the TSA individuals that i have met at most airports have been polite and courteous. As for the American Airline pilot, well, he sould know better if he actually REALLY made all those comments to the officer. At least from the newspaper, it sounded like he is the instigator and i am sure he is going to get something for it. I go thru security all the time- i don't understand how some people find it hard to just comply with what you are told and then go mind your own business? Just keep your opinion to yourself or formus like jetcareers!
 
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I go thru security all the time- i don't understand how some people find it hard to just comply with what you are told and then go mind your own business?

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Try getting accosted by one of these screeners and being told to empty everything you own and told to take off your shoes, belt and just about everything else if you didn't set off the detector.

Try doing this on every flight you go on. It gets old and very frustrating, especially if there is duel standards going on which is very often the case.

Then about this little game -- find the drunk pilot. Ask Doug about that one.

I'm sorry but these TSA screeners try to embarrass pilots in any way they can, under the guise of safety/security. This goes beyond the occassional screening that we all have to endure.

Also, I would be very leerly of what is written in the paper. They always seem to side against the pilot. I believe that the screener said something or did something to this pilot that made him fly off the handle.
 
That is why i said if the newspaper is REALLY saying the truth. Yes, i have been told to take my shoes off and my belt many times when i travelled. I am not saying that we should bend over and kiss TSA's a$$. My Dad used to work in the airlines and i know several pilots who go thru the same procedure every day. And yes- they say it is hassel but they have not been asked for cavity search or and anything that got them ticked-off so far. Like every other individual they go thru the same procedure and out the door! TSA is atill at a maturing stage and most of their procedures are not structured yet. Until then the gov't has to show the public that they are doing something...and now if the gov't had stayed with the same private security-you would hear a different story.
 
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And yes- they say it is hassel but they have not been asked for cavity search or and anything that got them ticked-off so far. Like every other individual they go thru the same procedure and out the door!

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It's not about that. I know airline pilots wouldn't mind getting searched occassionally.

It is the unspoken war to embarass pilots by any and all means that I find troubling. If you heard some of the stories I have you would change the way you feel.
 
If you think it's bad now think about what a hassle it's going to be when guns are involved. Getting through security is really going to be bitch when you have to prove who you are and that you are able to have the firearm in your bag. That's going to be a nightmare!
 
With the new FFDO program rules, they're more or less trying to dissuade pilots from participating in the program.

It's more or less a political move to give the public the impression that they're behind arming pilots, but on the other side of the coin, you absolutely put your career at risk once you apply for the program if you don't pass the psychological evaluation in order to qualify.

Remember, the TSA is the same group that had their asses embarassed when a couple of TV news reporters took a bunch of prohibited objects through security.

Instead of investigating their failures and tightening up their screening, it was made a jailable offense for anyone to knowing attempt to bring prohibited objects through security.
 
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It is the unspoken war to embarass pilots by any and all means that I find troubling. If you heard some of the stories I have you would change the way you feel.

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Truthfully, I don't blame this guy one bit for saying whatever he did say. It has gotten sickning that some twerp with a fake badge can ruined a career that has taken so much time and money to achive.

I'm getting sick of having to tell them to back off the crews....hell just last week one off them jumped in a pilot's face at 6am trying to smell for liquor. Or how about digging through a F/As bag and pulling out her "unmentionables" and her "little friend". Okay the last part was funny, but when you see the crew's reaction to these stunts it's really not funny.
 
Yup, I know, it's gotten old.

I was getting wanded in DCA on wednesday afternoon after I took off my shoes, cat, coat, belt and all pocket change but I still beeped.

The guy was making flippant comments towards me and some TSA lady walked off with my laptop out of sight. I asked the guy, between comments, if she was going to scan my laptop of which he said nothing. I asked, "Are you going to scan that? Because if you aren't, I'd like to keep it within view" then she looks a little shaken, and brings it back to where I could see it.

I guess my biggest nightmare about the whole "scan" thing is the fact that someone could take my laptop, disappear and then act like I never had one and they have no idea what I'm talking about.

I saw an elderly man lose his money clip that his wife gave him before she died in one of those moves. The TSA denied he ever had it.

Sheesh, when i retire I'm going to write a book! But not now because I could get threatened with being a security risk and have my licenses revoked by the TSA without due process.

You know, code orange and all, can't have civil liberties in a state of war...
 
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after I took off my shoes, cat, coat, belt...

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Now you're taking your cat to work???











(Man, I had another comment about the other word for cat all ready, but decided against it.
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Or how about digging through a F/As bag and pulling out her "unmentionables" and her "little friend". Okay the last part was funny, but when you see the crew's reaction to these stunts it's really not funny.


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That's what I'm talking about. That move wasn't for the sake of security, he/she saw exactly what that object was in the x-ray. Then, in full view I'm assuming, decided to make a show of it. If you saw it, I guarantee you that everyone else at the checkpoint saw it.

What do you think this achieved? Nothing... the sole purpose of this was to embarrass the F/A and she couldn't do a damn thing about it!
 
The TSA over reacted here, but you have to admit that if the guy had controlled his temper and kept his mouth shut, nothing would have happened at all. You try threatening to chop off any police officer's head and see what happens. It doesn't have to be a TSA agent.

I knew a guy who, years before 9-11 and the TSA, got arrested for making a joke about a bomb in an airport. They take stuff like that very seriously and always have.
 
What I think is ironic is that some of our most secure places in this country don't look secure.

My wife has been in Federal Court for the past few days (nothing serious...although if the jury sides with her side, I might be able to buy that new Piper I've been eyeing), and you know that the court house is one of most secure buildings in the country. But you walk in, through security, and after that you don't see anyone else in the building. There are cameras everywhere, but that's no different than your average Wal-Mart. What's different, in my opinion, is who is on the other side of those cameras.

I'm sure they know who's in the building, in each Men's room at one time (no...I didn't see in cameras in the john, but then again you never know), and who's in the court room.

That place is completely secure, but nobody is giving me the 3rd degree, nobody is going through my pockets, and I can walk through the metal detector with my belt, watch, and glasses on, and I don't even have to take my shoes off.

So if a Federal Courthouse is that secure without being that intrusive, then why can't the same methods be applied to airports? Hmmm. I wonder. And for those of you who say: "Well you don't take luggage into a courthouse". I ask you this: You ever seen the stacks of suitcases, boxes, and, brief cases that an attorney brings with them every morning? I guarantee that on a typical day an attorney carries why more luggage than the average air traveler. But you don't see the Marshals digging through each box...they don't even put them through a bomb scanner.

The TSA is nothing but a dog and pony show. Personally I don't feel that airports are any more secure now than they were a year ago or even on 9/10/2001. All that's happened is that airports are the first place on the governments list of places where they can abridge our rights.

And if you look at things like the Patriot Act II you'll see that libraries are next. After libraries I suspect public (and maybe private schools will be next). God help us all.

Dismounting soapbox.

Naunga
 
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I guarantee that on a typical day an attorney carries why more luggage than the average air traveler. But you don't see the Marshals digging through each box...they don't even put them through a bomb scanner.

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I wouldn't be so sure. I've taken literally car-loads of boxes into courthouses for hearings and/or trials and each and every time, the boxes had to go through the scanner.... that was pre-9/11.

I'm sure it's much more thorough now.

BUT - that being said: That was here. Might not be the case everywhere.
 
I guess I should have clarified. Yes the boxes etc go through the X-ray, but they don't go through (I didn't even see that they had one) the big bomb scanners that they're required to have for checked luggage.

My bad.

Naunga
 
Hypothetically, had the AA pilot in fact beheaded one of these TSA agents, would it have affected the agents' job performance in any way?

MD
 
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Hypothetically, had the AA pilot in fact beheaded one of these TSA agents, would it have affected the agents' job performance in any way?


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I doubt it. I hear that when you join the TSA they relocate you brain from you head to your arse.

Cheers.

Naunga
 
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