Originally Posted by
Wally Bird
Quit widening the discussion.
The premise that a commercial pilot in uniform and on duty could be bribed to carry something dangerous through a TSA checkpoint is beyond silly; it boggles the imagination. Where have you been the past 10 years ?
That's the whole point -- it may not be presented as a dangerous substance to them. Do you ride in the regional jets a lot? Most of these guys are 25 years old or so, earning a pittance, and when I look down the aisle from my favorite seat in a E145 I see Marvin and Rebecca up there with Facebook open on his or her smartphone. These are not ex-mil 747 captains.
So, if one of their friends asks them to take some mary jane inside "because they don't want it caught / confiscated by TSA", it is entirely plausible that they would comply. PETN can look a lot like cocaine, or flour, or whatever.
Secondly, the current validation of pilots is done without biometric authentication. Do you think that they look to see that the Asian guy is the same as the ID? At my home airport they flash the badge, sign a paper, and walk "wrong way" into the secure area zone. I've seen it a lot. All you need is stolen credentials and a vague look-alike imposter, and anything you want is into the secure area.
I'm not arguing that this is a HIGH probability, but to say it is not remotely realistic is untrue. I would argue it is more realistic now that they have a "free pass" than the garden variety terrorist trying to make it through the checkpoint the standard way.