Looks like the AA pilots union is recommending pilots go for patdowns in a private area to protect their privacy and dignity. Imagine this could cause quite a backup at AA hubs like DFW or JFK, particularly for the early morning bank of flights. Have the employee unions for any other carrier come out with a similar policy? Hopefully these types of actions will support Mr. Roberts view in the long run, partiularly if their ultimate goal of being exempt from screening is achieved.
Allied Pilots Association president Dave Bates is suggesting that American Airlines pilots go through a pat-down search by Transportation Security Administration personnel rather undergo the repeated radiation from the "advanced imaging technology" body scanners used at many airports.
That doesn't mean he likes the pat-downs, which can include hand-sliding over the groin and buttocks.
"There is absolutely no denying that the enhanced pat-down is a demeaning experience," Bates told members in a message Monday.
"In my view, it is unacceptable to submit to one in public while wearing the uniform of a professional airline pilot. I recommend that all pilots insist that such screening is performed in an out-of-view area to protect their privacy and dignity," he wrote.
He wants TSA to come up with a way to let pilots avoid the same high-intensity searches that the public endures at TSA checkpoints.
"While I'm sure that each of us recognizes that the threats to our lives are real, the practice of airport security screening of airline pilots has spun out of control and does nothing to improve national security," Bates wrote.
"It's long past time that policymakers take the steps necessary to exempt commercial pilots from airport security screening and grant designated pilot access to SIDA utilizing either Crew Pass or biometric identification."
http://aviationblog.dallasnews.com/a...s-against.html