Delta ramper smuggles guns

[jgheggie]

I have worked the ramp, ticket counter, and even crew for airlines. Nothing is simpler than walking into an airport as a ramper. Nobody looks twice when you bypass security through the side door and walk right up to the 757 at the gate. Nobody asks to see what is in your bag. Nobody cares. This is what you're asking for...

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/12/2...er-arrested-in-passenger-jet-gun-trafficking/

 

[Luigi]

Eh I think the fact that he was caught is proof of the fact that you will get apprehended. The system works; 99.999% of workers are honest, and that .001% will always get caught.

 

[jgheggie]

Eh I think the fact that he was caught is proof of the fact that you will get apprehended. The system works; 99.999% of workers are honest, and that .001% will always get caught.

It appears as though they got caught because they sold the guns to an undercover agent. So they already smuggled the guns ON TO THE AIRCRAFT and got them from Atlanta to New York. This is scary because it shows how easily a ramper can get a gun onboard. Now, if they had arrested him prior to the guns making it onboard then I would be impressed.

 

[Luigi]

Yes, but I'm always worried when this happens that people will overreact. There is no real need to change the system and forcing all SIDA employees to go through security would be an absolute nightmare.

 

[ChasenSFO]

Every once in a while, they do check your bags. You run a huge risk if you try to sneak anything around security because you never know when someone will be waiting on the other side of the door. I think it works, and I hope we don't have a knee jerk reaction here because this isn't the first bust of this nature yet the vast, vast, vast majority of people don't abuse the privilege and are just trying to get to/from work without extra hassle.

 

[tomokc]

Yes, but I'm always worried when this happens that people will overreact. There is no real need to change the system and forcing all SIDA employees to go through security would be an absolute nightmare.

Having rampers go through screening wouldn't be an overreaction. It sounds like a security step that is long overdue. It's a big change, but we've all been subjected to big changes since 9/11.

 

[Groundpounder]

What's next, allowing non-rev rampers to sit in first class?!?!?!?

 

[Cav]

I think the idea that rampers can access aircraft without security screening to be a major security gap that needs to be closed. I've always felt that way.

 

[Cav]

What's next, allowing non-rev rampers to sit in first class?!?!?!?

This post is absurd. Look ramp personel are some of the most dedicated and hardest working people in the industry but let's not pretend that depth of background search and the threshold of acceptable past transgressions are the same for all employee groups. I'm not suggesting ramp personel are a problem, I'm just saying someone with dangerous intentions could use the security loophole with much less chance of detection.

 

[Luigi]

I think airport ops and the assorted security personal at airports do a fantastic job keeping our aircraft safe. Background checks exist for a reason and the vast majority of all airport workers are completely honest. We shouldnt design policy to punish the 99.999% because the .001% is the criminal element.

 

[Cav]

I think airport ops and the assorted security personal at airports do a fantastic job keeping our aircraft safe. Background checks exist for a reason and the vast majority of all airport workers are completely honest. We shouldnt design policy to punish the 99.999% because the .001% is the criminal element.

I'm not disagreeing with you. I'm just saying requiring people with unfettered access to go through security isn't anything ressembling punishment. If you aren't going to require that then make every employee pass the same standard of background check with the same highest thresholds that need to be exceeded for employment.

 

[typhoonpilot]

PSA 1771 - enough said

They should have required screening for rampers after that murder/accident.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Southwest_Airlines_Flight_1771


Typhoonpilot

 

[statusseeker1]

Im required to have a squeaky clean life long background, am subjected to intensive background checks, am authorized access to the flight deck where I am trusted to operate the airplane- yet, I still have to go through TSA. Heck, in some stations I can't even bring my coffee through the metal detector. If you have access to SIDA you need to be screened. Period.

 

[T/O w/FSII]

I was a ramper and fueler at a large airport once.

They need to be screened. 'Nuff said.

 

[dustoff17]

There's a huge difference between having to pass a background check and having untethered access to the airplane. There is just NO reason EVERYONE with access to the secure side of the ramp doesn't have to go through screening.

EDIT: A background check two years ago does not take into consideration the issues I'm having today.

 

[Mark815]

Yes, but I'm always worried when this happens that people will overreact. There is no real need to change the system and forcing all SIDA employees to go through security would be an absolute nightmare.

It's ridiculous that rampers and the like don't need to go through security, while the rest of us are scrutinized. I made the mistake of leaving my uniform shirt in the crew room last week. I threw on a polo with a black zip up fleece over it and left the airport with a friend of mine to go grab some breakfast. Coming through security I was treated like a regular pax. I had everything except my uniform shirt on and even though I showed them my badge, (I was in business casual at that point) they still forced me through the body imager. The woman ahead of me going to work at starbucks who was wearing jeans was "in uniform" and got to bypass and go through the metal detector, yet me, with an airline ID going back through to work a flight, was subject to a full body imaging screen.

Im required to have a squeaky clean life long background, am subjected to intensive background checks, am authorized access to the flight deck where I am trusted to operate the airplane- yet, I still have to go through TSA. Heck, in some stations I can't even bring my coffee through the metal detector. If you have access to SIDA you need to be screened. Period.

Thank you. I watch these TSA agents with shirts untucked, pants dragging, carrying their backpack with who knows what, not even have to pass security, or go through any sort of xray. Yet those of us who actually need to keep a clean background in order to maintain our job are subject to constant screening. Our security system is so ass backwards.

 

[bksslc]

I really like not having to go thru TSA every single day. That said, I can't give you a single, good answer as to why I don't have to. I'm pretty sure the days of rampers just casually strolling right out onto the ramp are numbered.

 

[Autothrust Blue]

Yes, but I'm always worried when this happens that people will overreact. There is no real need to change the system and forcing all SIDA employees to go through security would be an absolute nightmare.

Amazon workers have to get searched after their shifts, and they're not cozying up to airplanes.

Meanwhile, if I am 'randomly' selected at KCM (or better yet, in a place where we don't have KCM, or it's at the wrong end of Terminal E, or whatever), they'll take my tweezers. Seems legitimate.

 

[mshunter]

It's ridiculous that rampers and the like don't need to go through security, while the rest of us are scrutinized. I made the mistake of leaving my uniform shirt in the crew room last week. I threw on a polo with a black zip up fleece over it and left the airport with a friend of mine to go grab some breakfast. Coming through security I was treated like a regular pax. I had everything except my uniform shirt on and even though I showed them my badge, (I was in business casual at that point) they still forced me through the body imager. The woman ahead of me going to work at starbucks who was wearing jeans was "in uniform" and got to bypass and go through the metal detector, yet me, with an airline ID going back through to work a flight, was subject to a full body imaging screen.



Thank you. I watch these TSA agents with shirts untucked, pants dragging, carrying their backpack with who knows what, not even have to pass security, or go through any sort of xray. Yet those of us who actually need to keep a clean background in order to maintain our job are subject to constant screening. Our security system is so ass backwards.

This is one reason I absolutely loath LGA. I can't count how many times, going through the KCM line I've been swabbed for explosives on my hands. I fly the damned airplane! What makes you think I even need explosives?!? Yet, if you use KCM down at the end of D terminal, it's just one person, no machine to check. And the terminals are connected.

 

[Autothrust Blue]

Im required to have a squeaky clean life long background, am subjected to intensive background checks, am authorized access to the flight deck where I am trusted to operate the airplane- yet, I still have to go through TSA. Heck, in some stations I can't even bring my coffee through the metal detector. If you have access to SIDA you need to be screened. Period.

In all seriousness, the Canadian screening I got in Calgary the other morning was simultaneously the most thorough and most polite security screening I've ever received, to the point of "I'm very so-rry aboot this sir, but we have to re-run your laptop; can we take it out of the sleeve? Our X-ray machines will flag it if it is in a sleeve."