Should Pilots going to work be exempt from scanning by TSA?

[DawnCt1]

Thank you. You aren't naive. This is smart, especially considering the fact that the second you step on a plane, you are putting your safety (God forbid we have an issue inflight) and life (God forbid you have a life threatening medical issue on board) in OUR HANDS.

You trust us with that, but not with the contents of our suitcases and pockets. It's ridiculous.

We aren't Tom, Dick or Harry from off the street. We spend YEARS waiting for our jobs, MONTHS in training, HOURS in annual recurrent training, we have extensive federal background checks, drug testing... I could go on and on. We can't have so much as a SPEEDING TICKET to get our jobs. Give us a break!

It is beyond ridiculous. I would for one, be happy if the pilot was armed should the cockpit be breached. But I am funny that way. I feel safer when the guns are in the hands of the good guys.

 

[eliza61]

Shouldn't the people dressed as pilots get MORE scrutiny considering their position? What about this, if they are exempt wouldn't that make them even more likely to be attacked and impersonated? Wouldn't the exemption itself make someone dressed as a pilot a greater threat than anyone else?

I trust the pilots, but i don't know that I trust everyone who looks like a pilot to actually be a pilot, KWIM

Everyone should be screened imo.

especially since we have nut jobs running around posing as cops in Philly.

I can see both sides of the story but seems like scanners are going to be the norm.

I do trust my flight crew but would I be surprised if some one poised as one? Nope.

 

[eliza61]

Thank you. You aren't naive. This is smart, especially considering the fact that the second you step on a plane, you are putting your safety (God forbid we have an issue inflight) and life (God forbid you have a life threatening medical issue on board) in OUR HANDS.

You trust us with that, but not with the contents of our suitcases and pockets. It's ridiculous.

We aren't Tom, Dick or Harry from off the street. We spend YEARS waiting for our jobs, MONTHS in training, HOURS in annual recurrent training, we have extensive federal background checks, drug testing... I could go on and on. We can't have so much as a SPEEDING TICKET to get our jobs. Give us a break!

why do we always hear about pilots flying drunk or sleep deprived then? yes you are well trained but you are also human. I sure there were a lot of people who trusted the army doctor who then went on a rampage at Ft. Hood. I trust doctors but don't mind that they have to be re-trained or re-certified.
All it takes is one pilot with major issues. why not have them go through the same screening as everyone else.

trust then verify.

 

[pilotwife_02]

why do we always hear about pilots flying drunk or sleep deprived then? yes you are well trained but you are also human. I sure there were a lot of people who trusted the army doctor who then went on a rampage at Ft. Hood. I trust doctors but don't mind that they have to be re-trained or re-certified.
All it takes is one pilot with major issues. why not have them go through the same screening as everyone else.

trust then verify.

You hear about pilots being drink "all the time"....slightly exaggerating, aren't you?

And as for being tired all the time - you can thank the FAA for that gem (called duty time). There are nights DH only gets 8-9 hours from the time his last flight ends to the time he has to be back at the airport that next morning. That gives him barely enough time to get to the hotel get some food (which sometimes is the only meal he gets during the day since their layovers are so short) get back to the hotel and then he has like 6 hours he has until he has to wake up to take a shower and wait for the hotel van to get back to the airport for his show time.

 

[poohbear227]

I agree.

Let's see . . . what were those 9/11 terrorists doing here? Oh, yeah - taking flying lessons, learning to be PILOTS.

That is EXACTLY why I think they should continue to be screened. I'm sure it gets tiresome after a while, but IMO, it goes with the job.

 

[eliza61]

You hear about pilots being drink "all the time"....slightly exaggerating, aren't you?

And as for being tired all the time - you can thank the FAA for that gem (called duty time). There are nights DH only gets 8-9 hours from the time his last flight ends to the time he has to be back at the airport that next morning. That gives him barely enough time to get to the hotel get some food (which sometimes is the only meal he gets during the day since their layovers are so short) get back to the hotel and then he has like 6 hours he has until he has to wake up to take a shower and wait for the hotel van to get back to the airport for his show time.

I guess it would have been an exaggeration if I had actually said "all the time"

and regardless to why they fly tired, you do hear stories of them flying sleep deprived. the problem exists. just because the faa causes it, doesn't make it less of a problem

 

[DawnCt1]

why do we always hear about pilots flying drunk or sleep deprived then? yes you are well trained but you are also human. I sure there were a lot of people who trusted the army doctor who then went on a rampage at Ft. Hood. I trust doctors but don't mind that they have to be re-trained or re-certified.
All it takes is one pilot with major issues. why not have them go through the same screening as everyone else.

trust then verify.

We don't "always" hear about it. When you consider how many planes are in the air at any given moment, it is such a rare occurance, that is why we hear about it. The Army doctor gave out lots of signals that he would be capable of doing what he did but his co workers and fellow officers ignored them due to the political correctness that has permeated every aspect of our society. He was an Islamist and he made no secret of it. I haven't seen any hesitation of co workers reporting an impaired pilot. After all, they are all in the same air plane. Suppose that there is a pilot who is nuts or suicidal, does he really need to bring a weapon on board to kill anyone? He has the plane!

 

[DawnCt1]

I guess it would have been an exaggeration if I had actually said "all the time"

and regardless to why they fly tired, you do hear stories of them flying sleep deprived. the problem exists. just because the faa causes it, doesn't make it less of a problem

So going through a body scanner detects fatigue?

 

[pilotwife_02]

I guess it would have been an exaggeration if I had actually said "all the time"

and regardless to why they fly tired, you do hear stories of them flying sleep deprived. the problem exists. just because the faa causes it, doesn't make it less of a problem

You're right, you didn't say "all the time", you said always My DH has been a pilot for over 12 years and has NEVER flown with a pilot that was drunk. I believe that if you "always" heard about it, he would have flown with a drunk pilot at least once in his 12 years. I know MANY pilots and they all take their job and the FAA regs about drinking seriously. My DH won't even take meds except for tylenol, advil (even when he's home for days at time) for fear it could interfere with a drug test. We're talking he won't take advil cold and sinus if he's sick, he will only take plain advil.

And I agree that the FAA regs about fatigue suck (so do most pilots I know) and doesn't make it less of a problem, but there is nothing a pilot can do about that, he flies or loses his job. If more people were upset about, write to congress and tell them to lessen the duty days so airlines don't take advantage of their pilots.

ETA: I want to clarify that I pilot can call "fatigue" and not have to fly a flight if they feel they are too tired to fly, but they can't do that continuously or they would probably lose their job. I think DH has called it once or twice in all his years of flying and it's when he's at the end of his duty day and didn't get much sleep the night before and knows he'll only get the required minimum requirement of 8 hours that night at well.

 

[HOGFAN]

my niece is a federal marshall. I dont think she has to go thru screening, just shows her badge..

 

[DawnCt1]

my niece is a federal marshall. I dont think she has to go thru screening, just shows her badge..

That's enough for me. I am not afraid of federal marshals, pilots of flight attendants. In fact, when I am in the air, I entrust my life to them.

 

[NEVERENOUGHWDW]

NO!!!!! People are people and being pilots are not icons they need to undergo the same procedure we all have to while traveling.

 

[DawnCt1]

NO!!!!! People are people and being pilots are not icons they need to undergo the same procedure we all have to while traveling.

No one is making pilots "icons". It is recognizing the fact that any weapon they carry onto a plane is nothing compared to the yoke in the cockpit.

 

[sbell111]

There ARE random screenings... Most DO follow the honor system. We ARE a pretty professional bunch

Pleanty of examples are available of pilots and FAs who are less than professional. This one was arrested for terroristic threatening. (Hey Dawn!! She wasn't a muslim! )

link

It is beyond ridiculous. I would for one, be happy if the pilot was armed should the cockpit be breached. But I am funny that way. I feel safer when the guns are in the hands of the good guys.

I don't know about that.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN2428054820080324

You hear about pilots being drink "all the time"....slightly exaggerating, aren't you?

How many drunk pilots does it take to require them to all go through security?

You're right, you didn't say "all the time", you said always My DH has been a pilot for over 12 years and has NEVER flown with a pilot that was drunk. I believe that if you "always" heard about it, he would have flown with a drunk pilot at least once in his 12 years.

I disagree. How often does he bid his lines? Once a quarter? If so, he pretty much flies with the same pilot for three months at a time. In twelve years, he'd have flown with 36 other pilots if no one ever flew the same line as he did more than once. Triple that for sick outs and you come up with 108 other pilots. If he bids monthly, triple that and you have 324 pilots. Given that there are something like 30,000 commercial flights every day in the US, There could be plenty of drunk pilots flying every single day and your husband may never fly with any of them.

It's also fair to mention that my wife and I used to work ops at a major regional airline. We are aware of a number of occasions where a pilot was on a short overnight and hit the bar.

No one is making pilots "icons". It is recognizing the fact that any weapon they carry onto a plane is nothing compared to the yoke in the cockpit.

Interesting theory. I guess that we shouldn't have any gun restrictions at all, since one doesn't need a firearm to kill others. You can just mow a bunch of bystanders over with your car, after all.

Still, we forget that a person with a gun can kill others without having to kill himself. We also forget that we restricted guns on airplanes long before intentionally crashing an aircraft full of people was imagined. Surely there was a reason for that.

 

[pilotwife_02]

I disagree. How often does he bid his lines? Once a quarter? If so, he pretty much flies with the same pilot for three months at a time. In twelve years, he'd have flown with 36 other pilots if no one ever flew the same line as he did more than once. Triple that for sick outs and you come up with 108 other pilots. If he bids monthly, triple that and you have 324 pilots. Given that there are something like 30,000 commercial flights every day in the US, There could be plenty of drunk pilots flying every single day and your husband may never fly with any of them.

He bids once a month and flies with different people almost every trip. Sometimes he does 2 trips a week, so he has flown with 100's of different pilots. The same pilot for 3 months, no way! Never happened.

While I would LOVE to be able to have him bid every 3 months and get a schedule down for that long, I'm lucky to have his schedule by the 19th day of the month the day before.

Also, DH has been management at 2 different companies (so he's "worked" with 1000's of pilots) and has never had an issue come across for a pilot being drunk. Sexual harassment is another story though

 

[CPT Tripss]

No one should be subjected to the WBI/AIT and the grope that often accompanies it. All persons (including TSAers) passing through the check point should be required to go through the WTMD and have their belongings x-rayed . . . well except for on duty LEOs.

 

[crz4mm2]

No one should be exempt

 

[NEVERENOUGHWDW]

No one should be exempt

 

[MiniGirl]

IIRC, several years ago a pilot on the west coast brought a gun into the cockpit and suicided the entire plane by firing it.

Not too long ago a pilot making suicide threats to his girlfirend was found with a gun before the flight and stopped from flying.

Another pilot accidently discharged his gun in the cockpit.


I don't have a problem with the TSA check for pilots..... It just takes one crazy, distraught, or careless pilot with a gun to bring down a plane full of people.

Actually, this was a gate (or maybe a ticket) agent that did this -- not a pilot.

Also, the pilot in question did not refuse to go through security. He refused to go through the new body scanners. He was more than willing to go through the metal detectors, but that was not enough for the TSA. They wanted him to go through the metal detector and have a pat down. Why did he not want to go through the scanners? It wasn't a modesty issue. He claims they are more dangerous than metal detectors. (I don't recall off hand why he feels this way. I think it was because of some discussions he was having with his doctor friends.) My dh is an airline pilot and a copy of this guy's debriefing somehow got posted on one of the pilot message boards my dh reads a lot.

Truthfully though, screening pilots is just silly. My dh has said many times that if he wanted to bring a plane down he doesn't need to bring anything on board with him. As far as someone posing as a pilot, again it doesn't make sense. If someone kidnapped and/or killed my dh on his way to work and took his place, nobody would know. He would get on board and sit in the cockpit and use his own 2 hands to bring down the plane. TSA doesn't check to see if a pilot is who they say they are. If the ID vaguely matches the person carrying it, they are let through. Shoot, when I was flying, we would switch IDs with each other just to see if anyone was paying attention. I have gone through security with both male and female IDs and IDs of different races, and I was never stopped. Plus as others have mentioned.... pilots are allowed to carry GUNS onboard as it is. That aside, truth is a pilot (or someone posing as a pilot) just doesn't NEED to bring anything special onboard to take down a plane.

A pp mentioned her dh had nail clippers. My dh had his multi tool confiscated after 9/11. I mean he just laughed and shook his head, but it really is just silly. However, they still go through it because, like so many other things, it gives the travelling public a sense of added security.

 

[AKL_Megs]

To all of you who are so deathly afraid and paranoid of all of the "terrorist, pistol packing, alcoholic drunk" pilots, please, do us a favor... Drive next time. It's MUCH safer!

TSA is not and will never be foolproof, for passengers OR flight crew. There are THOUSANDS of pilots out there, yet you focus on a chosen few.

Again, if you can't trust us with the contents of our suitcase, why would you trust us with your LIFE. Just stay home.