A pilot has been disciplined by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) for posting youtube videos of security lapses at airports. This whistleblowing pilot was a TSA deputy until they found the videos. The TSA raided his home and confiscated his firearm only three days after the videos appeared online. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54LWsUfJljg"]YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. http://www.news10.net/news/article.aspx?storyid=113529&provider=top&catid=188
No offense but I think the feds should be asking those kinds of questions. If that pilot sincerely had concerns about ground crew security risks, don't you think he would have simply mentioned it to security? If he truly wanted to raise awareness of this issue and advocate equal treatment for employees I'm sure there are plenty of people at TSA who would have acknowledged him. I think they did the right thing.
I think it makes perfect sense if the sequence of events are based on the premise that the main objective of any new "heightened" security measure is to mollify the public into believing that air travel has been made safe so they will continue spending their money. The objection seems to solely be to the fact that the lapses are being exposed and not to the fact that they existed in the first place. I agree in principle that it is the feds who should be asking these types of questions but in order to do so they would have to actually be concerned about safety- it does not appear that they really are. The additional measures wouldn't be necessary for ground crew because it'll make no difference to business whether or not they perceive a crisis- something that extra security will not only reinforce in the minds of a gullible public, but also cast an expanded and intrusive government "security" effort as the only possible means of dealing with it. There's no real payoff in impressing this on mechanics, ramp attendants, and baggage handlers apart from where their operations are visible to passengers- who actually see the flight crew board the aircraft and thus the necessity in enlisting them as cooperative subjects in the game of "pretending you're safer" which treats passengers like inmates being inducted into prison. Outing the inner workings risks exposing the scheme for the ineffectual facade it likely is.
haha the tsa is a joke. i can still get bombs and drugs on a plane. i carried a subwoofer and a power supply in my carry on with an eighth of marijuana and a gram of coke inside and im not afraid to admit it it was too damn easy. maybe the TSA agent that handed me my bag back was a stoner/cokehead.. idk they dont seem very trained more like fuckin rent a cops. lol america. if its that easy to sneak drugs on... oh nvm i don't wanna help escalate "security"
The point wasen't that we're unsafe, it's that what most people must go through is fucking STUPID. And from the point of view of a pilot, it's that much more important, because of the whole thing where pilots must go through the same checkpoints as everyone else. If you trust the person to fly your plane, what the HELL are you searching for? It's not like they need to hold a boxcutter to their own throat to hijack the plane... In fact, it would be rather counterproductive to their hijacking agenda.
any little fool can fly a plane. A smaller plane used as a missile to take down a large aircraft. but this would need be a suicide mission, and nobody would ever think to do that..
Well realistically, if a small plane where hanging around a large airport with no reason something would be done about it, they love any reason to scramble fighters now... And anywhere else, the only thing that would go down is the small plane, when the would be terrorist passed out, (and I think they just ceiling out too low, and go too slow) due to the crusing levels of large planes. Also, I think there's now a lot more security on small planes than there used to be. ALSO, large planes being commandered are much more dangerous, because of the possability to use THEM as a missle, as we've seen. And the amount of fuel on board a large plane can make a flimsy excuse when you need to demolish a few buildings to start a few wars on false pretenses. That's just me, though.
Are you aware that the cargo that is carried under the passenger cabin floor-in addition to checked luggage is not screened?? The whole thing is a farce.
The "whole thing" may indeed be a farce, but your information is not correct. Checked baggage goes through the same kind of x-ray screening that carry-on baggage does.
Checked baggage is screened as fuck, I've had so much shit stolen... Lost my pocketknife that my dad gave me as a christmas present when I was 8, when I tried to move it across the country And once I went thru normal metal detectors, with the boy scouts... A bunch of us forgot to check pocketknives, our leader mailed a whole box home and came in last... But I used a backpack I used all the time as my carryon, and had no idea that I had a large, viscious looking lockblade in one of the compartments. I accadentally found it looking for my CD player at 30,000 feet.... Closed THAT pocket right quick.... This, the fact that you can't find everything, and that I ACCADENTALLY took on a massive weapon, ( I would call it a tool, but pigs think it's a weapon ) is why screening doesn't work, and what WOULD work is to simply let americans exercise their 2nd amendment rights on planes.... Have a bin full of those airplane safe, sky martial bullets that are designed to not pierce a cabin in generic calibers at the TSA checkpoint, everyone gets ONE, turn in all normal bullets in your possession, go board your shit.... And emphasize that we're not on some high alert, we don't want ANYONE getting shot, it's a last resort only. Someone says bomb? Get away, don't shoot anyone... (I mean, sky martials could learn from that too, they're known for shooting autistic or retarded people who freak out and say the only thing they can think of, the word they've been coached not to say)
But checked baggage is not the same thing as the "cargo" that is carried under the floor *along with* the checked baggage! The poster was saying that THAT cargo, alongside the "screened" checked baggage, is not also screened. That's stuff like FedEx/UPS/other carrier boxes, US Postal, etc. Some of that is screened by the carrier before it gets to the airport and on the plane - but it may be easy to "swap out" such pieces, from a neferious person's perspective. All said, it does sound like a lot of the "screening" has a lot to do with looking like a big "protective" production to "the masses" of air travelers. Unfortunately we'll find out, if something bad happens due to a cargo box or something that is not screended by the TSA. I hope that does not happen...
Catman-- I'd be surprised if non-carry-on luggage is not at least X-rayed. Today's groaner: What's the difference between going through U.S. airport security and dealing with an aggressive date? The security person doesn't buy you dinner first.
I would say that both of you are partially correct. I know for a fact that not all checked bags are xray-ed, and as also mentioned, much of the cargo (not passenger checked baggage) is not screened as well. Having things missing from your bags is theft, another thing that happens as well. The original post, most of the TSA and transportation is smoke and mirrors. And its not that its a conspriacy, its that humans are humans. Some of us are lazy, some of us put our own interests ahead of others, some are corrupt... on and on. The airport I work at, there is a back road access for part of the field, it is randomly checked by setting up a checkpoint and every vehicle is stopped. Most every one is waved through, mostly only larger vehicles are questioned. It is set up to be "random", although for 9 yrs, every time I saw them was setting up at 6am. Never once did I see them at night, late late hours, etc. I'm not saying it doesn't happen, I've just never seen while being there 4-5 days every week. Last year I found out through one of the airport police guys I know that it was staffed 100% by overtime. It is the TSA and airport police gravy train. What always bothered me is this is a public road. People are randomly pulled over, East Germany style. It's sad what the public has given up in exchange for a false sense of security.
Your papers sir? Nothing to worry about, just a routine check, the dogs will be here in a moment. you'd better step out of the car and place your hands behind your back and your head in this black bag. :2thumbsup: