tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9133703253863123050.post1321739219055214010..comments2024-02-21T03:48:52.674-05:00Comments on Flying Lessons: Pilots take their security complaint to the right folksChristine Negronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15190247339367487575noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9133703253863123050.post-5601136848045854172010-12-01T06:40:04.495-05:002010-12-01T06:40:04.495-05:00It's great to see a great opportunity for dese...It's great to see a great opportunity for deserving people. There should never be question that the pilots has the right in implementing safety measures for the passengers.helicopter flying lessonshttp://www.ridgelinehelicopters.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9133703253863123050.post-12056673011793304182010-11-05T15:46:43.862-04:002010-11-05T15:46:43.862-04:00Hi Christine,
your article here really shows some...Hi Christine,<br /><br />your article here really shows some important points in the discussion.<br /><br />Actually the checks what a pilot takes with him on board indeed are completely useless! If I want to crash a plane I don't need anything but my hands and fortunately they don't take them off me - yet ;-)<br />If I take a knife with me is completely irrelevant because what do they expect me to do with it ? Cut myself?<br />Your argument that Pilots need to go through the security control because someone could slip through doesn't really fit. Identity checks are something different from scans at the airport. Even if I go through the bodyscanner I could be someone with a false ID so the answer to that problem should be to create IDs which are copy-safe for example by including retina scan data or similar. Additionally Pilots need to be checked regularly for their background by the intelligence agencys. Once you know that a person is not a threat and you know at the Airport that he definetly is the person who he claims to be, no additional checks are necessary.<br /><br />Taking Guns into the Cockpit is in our opinion completely wrong as well. On the one hand they take away a bottle of water and then you can take a Gun??? The chances of getting out a Gun in time, when a terrorist who enters the cockpit, knows you have one, is unrealistic.<br />The chances that you shoot yourself while playing around is probably higher than being able to safe a plane. We already had a hole in the hull because of gun a accidently going off in the cockpit.<br />The chances it gets stolen are obviously there as you showed as well.<br /><br />The "shoes and belt approach" is not the smartest approach and does not really work very well. If you look at the percentage of weapons who regularly get smuggled through during tests, one clearly sees that this can't be satisfactory to the expectation we all have. We need smart procedures like profiling if we want to continue to grow in passenger numbers or we will soon need to hand out overnight kits before security.<br /><br />As I learned just today the bodyscanners reduced security actually, as a first study showed, because they trigger the alarm too often. That reduces the attention of the agents when they do the manual check afterwards and causes them to miss more things than with the old metal detectors.<br /><br />I think we need a new system based on a lower level of scanning checks combined with profiling and background checks, done by the security services. That in combination with random intensive checks should bring the best results out of the resources we have.<br /><br />Joerg Handwerg<br />German Airline Pilots' AssociationAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9133703253863123050.post-17997597053829186232010-11-05T14:35:26.298-04:002010-11-05T14:35:26.298-04:00Christine says:
"He did not take on lowly TS...Christine says:<br /><br />"He did not take on lowly TSA officers just trying to do their jobs like ExpressJet pilot Michael Roberts did..."<br /><br />Her point is well taken. I agree, and I've stated as much in my own articles, that the front-line TSA guards are just doing their job, and large-scale change needs to be initiated from much higher up the chain.<br /><br />But just the same, these are the people the public has to deal with, and I don't believe they deserve a free ride, especially when they are rude and confrontational. There's nothing wrong with a little grassroots protest at street level. Things can trickle up just as they trickle down. And Roberts wasn't "taking things out" on anybody; he was standing up against a wasteful and degrading procedure. That's an important act.<br /><br />Meanwhile if you want a laugh, here's an account of my own recent run-in of sorts with TSA policy...<br /><br />http://www.salon.com/news/air_travel/index.html?story=/tech/col/smith/2010/11/04/belt_removal_at_security_checkpoint<br /><br /><br />Patrick SmithAnonymoushttp://www.askthepilot.com/noreply@blogger.com