MAN REFUSES TO REMOVE TURBAN AND IS ALLOWED TO BOARD AIRPLANE; PILOT MUST TAKE OFF HAT AND SHOES

a pilot for a major airline ^ | 7-11-02 | Doug from Upland

[doug from upland]

Well, I guess the headline should have your blood boiling. In an exclusive FR interview with a pilot for a major airline, I was told a story that had my blood boiling.

It happened at a major airport two weeks ago. A man wearing a turban refused to remove the turban so that it could be inspected for security purposes. Those in charge of security let him board the plane anyway.

My pilot contact was near him in line and watched it happen. The veteran pilot who has passed stringent security and background checks, was forced to remove his hat and his shoes.

It gets worse. Although the man in the turban was not on this particular pilot's flight, had he been and the pilot wanted him to be prevented from boarding --- the pilot would have been in trouble with his company for profiling.

My source is also the one who has given me info about food handlers having access to the plane without going through security. SSAF is still working on that story. It is chilling and may be more extensive than we first believed.

Please, if any of you know pilots or people who work at the airports, or you have personally seen food handlers loading planes without any security around them, report it to us. We hope to blow the lid off this soon. What good is security at the front door if the back door is wide open?

[mombonn]

Keep up the good word, Doug. In the meantime, I'm glad that I haven't had occasion to fly for quite some time.

[clintonh8r]

This is a goddamn outrage!

[mewzilla]

We went through six airports during our recent vacation, five of them major airports. Security was a joke.

[Shermy]

If he's wearing a turban in this country, he almost certainly is a Sikh.

Talk to one about Osama, Islamic radicals, etc. and you will find him to be someone you want sitting next to you if some Johnny Taliban acts up in flight. They're not P.C. at all about telling you what they think.

[rmmcdaniell]

Bush is really serious about fighting terror!

[Guenevere]

They're letting folks through security that I was HOPING they'd pull over......

...and pulling out a petite grey haired lady, and a teenage boy boarding with his Dad....

...this I saw!

In fact, everyone I saw pulled over & further searched looked like Joe or Jane America.

[copycat]

They're letting folks through security that I was HOPING they'd pull over......

...and pulling out a petite grey haired lady, and a teenage boy boarding with his Dad....

Aaah, the consequences of making airport screeners "government employees."

Pretty much guarantees they'll do exactly the opposite of whatever would work.

[blackdog]

A $75,000 per year pilot walks through a $25,000 per year federal worker's security check point. Any more info needed?

[Mulder]

How much longer will a Free people tolerate this insanity?

[moteineye]

Try a $250,000 to $300.000 dollar pilot.This is why we need armed pilots.

[AGreatPer]

Remember the days flying that the only thing we worried about was the weather?

[Hank Kerchief]

How much longer will a Free people tolerate this insanity?

What "Free" people?

Hank

[eddie willers]

A $75,000 per year pilot

Did you and Dr. Evil come up with this figure? : )

[ChicagoRepublican]

He is probably a Sikh, who are very noble and religious people and will not take their turban off. This doesn't mean security can not be accomodated. I'm sure one of those metal detector sweeps over the turban and a pat down of the turban will be enough to ensure security.

Arab terrorists don't have a history of wearing turbans when commiting acts of terror.

Other than in religious fighting in India, Sikhs aren't ones to indulge in anything approaching terrorism.

[Centurion2000]

MAN REFUSES TO REMOVE TURBAN AND IS ALLOWED TO BOARD AIRPLANE; PILOT MUST TAKE OFF HAT AND SHOES

Ok this is total bullsh*t .... I had to take my boots off and have them X-rayed twice before those idiots would let me go. Leave the guy's turban on??? How hard do they think it is to roll out C-4 into a thin sheet which can perfectly blend with cloth on a turban ?? Put a blasting cap on top of his head and he can destroy any plan AT WILL.

[Let's Roll]

He could have been a Sikh or he could have been a muslim posing as a Sikh to smuggle who knows what on board.

[fellowpatriot]

My husband flies to his job every week - sees the same security people week in and week out - and still gets profiled. It's ridiculous!

[dts32041]

But they have gotten three drunks.

BTW why are they holding the frog who dropped trou when the guards asked him to?

[justshe]

Now, now. Don't let facts interrupt a good rant.