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

[DawnCt1]

One could certainly argue that a pilot who is a passenger and is flying as a passenger, should be scanned just like the other passengers. Does it make much sense however to run a pilot through a scanner during the course of his work day? After all. He sits in the cockpit to do his job. He has the most effective weapon available to him; the yoke of the aircraft. What do you think?
http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2010/10...-body-scan-says-tsa-doesnt-make-travel-safer/

Pilot Refuses Full-Body Scan, Says TSA Doesn’t Make Travel Safer
October 20, 2010 10:39 AM

A woman stands inside a full-body scanner that detects explosives and drugs as a measure of airport security. (CBS)
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (CBS/AP) — A Tennessee pilot who says he’s tired of being manhandled by security agents is waiting to see if he will lose his job because he refused a full body scan.
ExpressJet Airlines first officer Michael Roberts was chosen for the X-ray scan Friday at Memphis International Airport. The Houston-based pilot says he also refused a pat-down and went home.
The 35-year-old Roberts told The Commercial Appeal newspaper he wants to go to work and not be “harassed or molested without cause.”
Transportation Safety Administration spokesman Jon Allen says a person was turned away after refusing to follow federal security procedures but declined to say if it was Roberts, citing privacy considerations.
Roberts says he has safety concerns, but called TSA a “make-work” program that doesn’t make travel safer.
“I just kind of had to ask myself ‘Where do I stand?’ I’m just not comfortable being physically manhandled by a federal security agent every time I go to work,” he told the Commercial Appeal.
Earlier this week, CBSNewYork reported that full-body scanners have not yet been installed at New York City area airports, despite plans that were in place to have them installed at Newark Liberty International, John F. Kennedy International, and LaGuardia airports by September.
The Transportation Security Administration told The Star-Ledger of Newark the installation is complex and the scanners would arrive “in the coming weeks.”
Passengers who prefer not to be scanned can choose to be patted down and pass through a metal detector.

TSA spokesman Ann Davis says passengers are no less safe. She says the scanners are designed to be faster and less physically intrusive than metal detectors and pat-downs.
The TSA has installed 259 scanners at 59 airports nationwide.

 

[npmommie]

I read this story.
I can see the pilots side.

 

[DawnCt1]

I read this story.
I can see the pilots side.

Absolutely. In fact, who screens TSA? The previous shift? If I can't trust that a pilot belongs in the secured area, I am better off never flying.

 

[LuvOrlando]

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

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Everyone should be screened imo.

 

[ClarabelleCowFan]

Armed pilots aren't screened now or they weren't not too long ago. They have special clearance and are able to bypass the TSA lines at certain airports. Other airports automatically have lines set up for the pilots and airline crews so they don't have to wait in line with the passengers.

I can see both sides of the argument. Who is to say that a terrorist isn't posing as a pilot with a uniform and faked ID just to smuggle something in if they aren't searched. I think if you are a commercial airline pilot then you just have to accept that it is part of your job to go thru TSA just like business travelers who fly practically every day do.

 

[disney_mommy]

It's not the he didn't want to be screened at all, he was perfectly willing to go through the metal detector, as he had been for years. He declined going through the new machines that shows you naked (which everyone has a right to do), then he declined the subsequent patdown. Instead of letting him use just the metal detector, they wouldn't let him through.

I agree that everyone, including pilots, should be screened, but if my time comes, I will also be declining the new machine.

 

[okeydokey]

If it is the rule for the general public then it should be the rule for airline personnel as well.

 

[lacrosse_lady72]

If it is the rule for the general public then it should be the rule for airline personnel as well.

I agree with this.

 

[sbell111]

He needs to put on his big boy pilotpants and go through screening, just like every other person. I have little doubt that the airline will make the correct decision and fire the pilot in question if he continues to refuse to show up for work.

 

[sbell111]

It's not the he didn't want to be screened at all, he was perfectly willing to go through the metal detector, as he had been for years. He declined going through the new machines that shows you naked (which everyone has a right to do), then he declined the subsequent patdown. Instead of letting him use just the metal detector, they wouldn't let him through.

I agree that everyone, including pilots, should be screened, but if my time comes, I will also be declining the new machine.

It's fine to decline the new machine (even if I think doing so is a little silly). However, if you also refuse the pat down, you should not be surprised when you are refused entry to the concourse. If you make this refusal at a time when you are flying for business, you should not be surprised if your employer fires you.

 

[Deb in IA]

Everyone should be screened imo.

I agree.

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

 

[phorsenuf]

You seem to be having issues lately with people in uniforms.

 

[RockAndRollBallerina]

In this day and age, everyone regardless of if they are a pilot, flight attendant, or air marshall should be required the same screening passengers go through. I understand that they are on the job, and its what they do for a living but they shouldn't be exempt from any form of screening. If anything the people who are flying the planes and serving the passengers in flight should be setting an example.

 

[frndshpcptn]

In this day and age, everyone regardless of if they are a pilot, flight attendant, or air marshall should be required the same screening passengers go through. I understand that they are on the job, and its what they do for a living but they shouldn't be exempt from any form of screening. If anything the people who are flying the planes and serving the passengers in flight should be setting an example.

I completely agree with this!

 

[golfgal]

There is ALWAYS a hijacker dressed up as a pilot in all the books so of course they should be screened .

Seriously though, it is just too obvious to anyone wanting to hijack an airplane that if pilots are not screened to dress like one wouldn't you think?

 

[dis-happy]

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.

 

[DawnCt1]

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.

Except, a pilot doesn't need a gun to murder a plane load of people or commit suicide. HE HAS A PLANE!

 

[dis-happy]

Except, a pilot doesn't need a gun to murder a plane load of people or commit suicide. HE HAS A PLANE!

Too true!!!

 

[LisaR]

Except, a pilot doesn't need a gun to murder a plane load of people or commit suicide. HE HAS A PLANE!

So based on that, should we also get rid of mandatory drug testing for pilots? Afterall, if they really want to kill us, they can just dump the plane; high or not. Why bother screening them for anything?