Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

TSA socks controllers in the gut
Denver Post ^ | 11/14/2006 | Jim Spencer

Posted on 11/18/2006 8:29:15 PM PST by BulletBobCo

A can of Hormel chili. A piece of pumpkin pie. These are the kinds of deadly items Transportation Security Administration screeners have seized from air-traffic controllers at Denver International Airport.

Need a definition of bureaucratic insanity? First, the Federal Aviation Administration refuses to let controllers leave the DIA control tower to eat lunch. Then, because of rules restricting liquids and gels on airplanes, the TSA confiscates parts of lunches that some controllers try to bring through security checkpoints.

Not all lunch items are seized, a TSA spokeswoman assured me - just stuff like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, cans of soup and yogurt.

And, the spokeswoman added, controllers can bring cereal through the TSA checkpoint, then buy milk from a restaurant inside the secure area.

They better buy it on the way to work, however, because the FAA has decreed that controllers must take vacation or personal leave to go to lunch.

FAA and TSA spokespeople insist that DIA's controllers can still get anything they want for lunch through non-TSA checkpoints. They can - but only if they give up parking spots near the air-control tower and are bused into the airport from a remote parking lot several miles away.

The Looney Tunes lunchcapades at DIA have trapped some of the airport's most important employees in a dietary Catch-22. They can't go out to lunch and can't bring in certain foods and drink.

The TSA says it applies security rules equally. But FAA and union officials say flight crews can carry liquids through checkpoints that controllers cannot.

Bringing an unrestricted bag lunch to a workplace where you're not allowed out for a midday meal seems like a no-brainer for folks who have already undergone background checks and whose jobs run a close second to pilots.

Deadlocked labor talks and a control tower located inside a secure area helped create DIA's lunchtime lockdown. The National Air Traffic Controllers Association and the FAA stopped negotiations in April. Congress refused to order talks to continue. By law, the FAA got to implement its "last, best offer." That offer does not pay controllers across the country if they go out for lunch.

"I did some measuring last week," said controller Mike Coulter, DIA's union chief. "It's 82 paces from the base of the tower to Villa Pizza. It took three minutes and 22 seconds to buy a slice."

FAA's Denver tower boss, Robert Fletcher, called Coulter's numbers "misleading." Whatever the distance, Fletcher said, controllers are paid for lunch and are obliged to stay in the tower so they can be "recalled" to duty if needed.

Fletcher also insisted that "bringing food in (for lunch) is not an issue."

You just have to abide by TSA liquid and gel restrictions. Or there's always the remote parking lot bus.

So far, solutions to this stupidity have gone from dumb to dumber.

TSA limits on carrying gels and liquids on planes arose from a foiled terrorist plot that would have turned those substances into in-flight explosives.

How that applies to a can of chili or a slice of pie headed for the air-control tower in the lunch box of an employee with a security clearance strains the brain.

"All airport and TSA employees who go through the security checkpoint are subject to appropriate screening measures," is the TSA's official explanation.

A TSA spokeswoman refused to say how the TSA treats flight crews at checkpoints. But flight crews are not airport or TSA employees. Unless that magically makes them less of a security threat, cracking down on controllers becomes absurd.

Fletcher said he asked the TSA to treat FAA personnel at DIA as they treat pilots and flight attendants. The TSA, he said, told him no. Fletcher said he has asked superiors to intervene with TSA higher- ups.

So has Scott Farrow, an air controllers union vice president. Farrow still thinks controllers should be able to grab a quick bite on the DIA concourse.

Failing that, he said, the powers that be can at least stop treating mayonnaise like a lethal weapon.

Jim Spencer's column appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Reach him at 303-954-1771 or jspencer@denverpost.com.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events; US: Colorado
KEYWORDS: faa; natca; tsa
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-36 next last

1 posted on 11/18/2006 8:29:15 PM PST by BulletBobCo
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: BulletBobCo

How ultradumb. If an air traffic controller wanted to crash a jetliner he hardly needs to use a rigged pumpkin pie..


2 posted on 11/18/2006 8:34:26 PM PST by AntiGuv ("..I do things for political expediency.." - Sen. John McCain on FOX News)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: BulletBobCo

Is this a joke? It's a federal law that you must provide meal breaks away from the work area where the worker will not be disturbed.


3 posted on 11/18/2006 8:34:33 PM PST by CindyDawg
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: CindyDawg

Not a joke. This is for real.


4 posted on 11/18/2006 8:36:59 PM PST by BulletBobCo
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: BulletBobCo

Seems the problem could be solved with an authorized take out service and a lower lounge.


5 posted on 11/18/2006 8:40:33 PM PST by sageb1 (This is the Final Crusade. There are only 2 sides. Pick one.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: BulletBobCo
It must be something in the air at DIA (Denver International Airport), or maybe the UFOs in the tunnels beneath the basement. Are these security personnel wearing their tin foil hats?

One of the famous DIA murals:


6 posted on 11/18/2006 8:41:16 PM PST by Cicero (Marcus Tullius)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: BulletBobCo

It's like taking away nail clippers from the pilot !!


7 posted on 11/18/2006 8:41:39 PM PST by TheCipher
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: BulletBobCo

Sad, very sad indeed, when the ingnoramus lead our security.


8 posted on 11/18/2006 8:41:56 PM PST by elpinta (No tagline today)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: BulletBobCo

Let's kill all the F'in terrorists and this problem will disappear!!


9 posted on 11/18/2006 8:42:34 PM PST by woofer2425 (Kerry LIED)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: BulletBobCo

Idiocy. When you don't know what you are doing, do something and you will likely do the wrong thing.


10 posted on 11/18/2006 8:43:22 PM PST by RobbyS ( CHIRHO)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: woofer2425

Yup, that works for me!
BUT, who is going to feed all the 'security' people led by the TSA???


11 posted on 11/18/2006 8:45:13 PM PST by elpinta (No tagline today)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: elpinta

This a total waste of effort by TSA..These people could drive a saint to Drink


12 posted on 11/18/2006 8:52:13 PM PST by airplaneguy
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: BulletBobCo
I'm gonna point out one more time that the function of government is to govern. It does not have to make any sense.

"When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to disolve the political bands . . ."

Well, you know the rest.

13 posted on 11/18/2006 8:52:17 PM PST by RobinOfKingston (Man, that's stupid...even by congressional standards.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: BulletBobCo
Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

14 posted on 11/18/2006 8:53:38 PM PST by Dick Bachert
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: BulletBobCo

No pumpkin pie? How about mincemeat? Apple?


15 posted on 11/18/2006 8:55:20 PM PST by 6SJ7
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: woofer2425

Amen brother! We need to aggresively go after the enemy and kill them all. They have a venomous hatred for us and dont mind dying themselves to kill us. We'll all get a wakeup call the next time they strike against us. It may be a female suicide bomber in a crowded place, or whatever it is, we have to kill them all.


16 posted on 11/18/2006 8:56:41 PM PST by pallmallman (I)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: BulletBobCo
Go figure, I thought this was from the Onion, not the Denver post. Ya know, sometimes you feel like you fell down the rabbit hole.

5.56mm

17 posted on 11/18/2006 8:58:25 PM PST by M Kehoe
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: CindyDawg

--It's a federal law that you must provide meal breaks away from the work area where the worker will not be disturbed.--

Federal law does not even require meal breaks.


18 posted on 11/18/2006 9:00:35 PM PST by UpAllNight
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: pallmallman

I'm waiting to see a plane brought down by an air traffic controller, who has at a minimum, a Secret security clearance, with a peanut butter sandwich.


19 posted on 11/18/2006 9:01:14 PM PST by BulletBobCo
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: woofer2425
Let's kill all the F'in terrorists and this problem will disappear!!

Ummm.....the bad guys did not make these dumb ass rules.

The dumb asses on our side did.

Food for thought....the bad guys all get killed, as you suggest.

We still are stuck with our own dumb asses that make rules like this.

I say we dump our own dumb asses first, then go kill the bad guys.

Never mind, that would never fly........

20 posted on 11/18/2006 9:04:03 PM PST by LasVegasMac (Islam........not fit for human consumption.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-36 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson