Posted on 11/19/2010 12:43:49 PM PST by My Favorite Headache
The Transportation Security Administration is taking additional steps to streamline airport security procedures for pilots, who had objected to going through the advanced full-body imaging scanners or undergo what they viewed as invasive and unnecessary pat-downs, according to a pilot union executive and a soon-to-be-released agency announcement.
According to a written TSA announcement obtained by National Journal today, eligible pilots will enter a secure area after presenting their airline identification and an additional form of identification to the TSA officers, who will then cross-reference their credentials against a “secure, real-time airline flight deck crewmember database, which includes a picture and other information to verify the individual’s employment status,” the agency news release says.
Eligible pilots must work for a U.S. carrier, be traveling in uniform, and on airline business, the release says. In addition, "flight-deck crewmembers who utilize this program will also be subject to random screening and other layers of security," it says.
“Pilots are trusted partners who ensure the safety of millions of passengers flying every day,” TSA Administrator John S. Pistole says in the release. “Allowing these uniformed pilots, whose identity has been verified, to go through expedited screening at the checkpoint just makes for smart security and an efficient use of our resources.”
Sam Mayer, communications director at the Allied Pilots Association, said the agency revealed the changes in procedure to the APA, the largest independent pilots association with a membership of 11,500 American Airlines pilots, earlier this morning.
“Pilots traveling in uniform on immediate business will see immediate modifications” to the screening process on the ground, Mayer said.
The TSA had “definitely want[ed] to get this resolved before the holiday travel season,” he said.
The APA, whose members have been concerned about the health risks of repeated radiation exposure, had advised its members not to go through the full-body imaging machines and to opt instead for an enhanced pat-down procedure by a TSA official of the same sex as the pilot, potentially causing congestion at airport checkpoints and delaying flights.
“Basically, TSA administrator [John] Pistole has agreed with us,” Mayer said of continuing discussions that the APA has held with the agency.
He added that Pistole admitted it was “stupid” to waste resources to screen a trusted group like pilots. Mayer described Pistole as saying, "Let’s build a database and get on with it.”
There has been no indication to the unions so far about what the full range of modifications will be, Mayer said. “We’ll have to work with them [the TSA] over the next couple days to see what is going to be phased-in here, what exactly the details of the implementation process are. But it’s a huge step in the right direction."
The pilots unions have been requesting a special biometric identification system for crew members for almost 10 years, Mayer told National Journal earlier this week. He noted that the current system is both time consuming and insulting to such a highly-vetted group of people, physically in charge of flying the airplanes themselves.
Now, Mayer said today, his union has “the commitment for the biometric program that we are looking for.”
“We understand that’s not going to happen overnight,” he continued. “The hardware has to be bought and installed and the system has to be set up. We imagine that it’s going to take a few weeks to get all the hardware and software on board, testified verified and working."
Mayer added that he is “concerned” about the intermediate steps as the groups work out the exact details of the long-term solution, but that the airline management at American Airlines, along with executives at other airlines, have been working internally with their pilot union counterparts to resolve the situation.
its never a good policy if you have to make exemptions, exceptions......kinda like Obamacare.
Will they be checking their party registration too?
Implementing this is involves too much detail to be a knee-jerk response; it looks more like what they have in the works for the rest of us.
Actually, it amounts to profiling, and I’m glad to see the TSA agrees that profiling is the way to go. I’m in favor of profiling, but it could be used more effectively than just profiling pilots for expedited security screening.
Given that pilots can just crash the plane, what weapons do they need besides their hands? I’m not saying that US pilots will do this, but terrorists showed us what a “pilot,” an unauthorized, amateur one, can do.
More waivers from crap government policies.
What a surprise.
Pilots make a sweetheart deal and abandon their passengers to the mercy of the TSA -— just as I predicted!
Surely they are not that good at planning. It is likely, however, that increased public uproar about the current sexual molestation and ptential for cavity searches will force TSA to change its idiotic and shocking approach to looking for bombs behind every pair of underwear. A more effective screening involving profiling fliers is the only reasonable approach. Maintaining a list of pilots is, after all, profiling.
There’s that Nazi word again: efficient. Is that the new god, the demiurge?
If the pilot isn’t shouting allah fubar, you have nothing to fear.
I sure wouldn’t want to be on a plane piloted by the “exempted” pilot. What’s in his background that makes TSA suspicious of him?
Well, what kind of idiots thought it was necessary to screen a pilot for weapons or bombs anyway? You need to be able to get inside a pilot’s head to know what is really going on. The pilot can kill himself and the 100-500 passengers in his plane and untold numbers on the ground anytime he so desires. So give me a freaking break you brain dead government idiots.
That’s been my thinking all along, good grief if you let him fly the plane then wouldn’t flipping a bunch of switches and some forward pressure on the controls be easier than sneaking a bomb on board??
““Pilots are trusted partners who ensure the safety of millions of passengers flying every day,” TSA Administrator John S. Pistole says in the release. “Allowing these uniformed pilots, whose identity has been verified, to go through expedited screening at the checkpoint just makes for smart security and an efficient use of our resources.”
Well, the no exceptions - no exemptions Pistole said didn’t last long. (In this case, I DO agree. It’s just bad juju to make blatant blanket statements)
Too bad the PUBLIC doesn’t have UNION to represent it, like pilots and airline workers.
last thing I want boarding a plane is a pissed-off pilot..
Take a few weeks? Take A Few Weeks?! TAKE A FEW WEEKS!?!
They're kidding, right? This is the gubmint! It takes a few weeks to approve going to the restroom, for Pete's sake.
If it only takes "a few weeks", then it's something that has been in the planning stage for at least a few months, more like a few years.
Another consession to unions. Lest they forget, there is one HUGE union waiting in the wings — The fed-up with Government voting public. If they didn’t get listen in 2010, wait until 2012. The revolution has only just begun.
I knew it! I could see it coming a mile away. Biometrics. The chip. I absolutely knew it. Take the chip if your sensibilities don’t allow you to be fondled or have your wife and children fondled. 2017 was the global date for the completion of the chip system. It’s here baby, it’s here. It’s for your safety, you know, and your modesty.
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