Originally Posted by
MP2086
A large, private jet and a commercial airliner both represent the same threat to people on the ground. Yet the security at a standard FBO, governed largely by market forces, is radically different from TSA at a public airport, which is governed by public policy. Should market forces be allowed to govern security at public airports, or only at private airports?
That amazed me a few years ago when I did a discovery flight. I flew out of GRB dozens of times for work at that point through the terminal with all the security stuff. To get to the tarmac you'd have to go through an alarmed door and probably be detained before you got too far.
On the GA side of the same airport, I waited at the gate by the back driveway for the pilot doing the flight. He put a key in for the gate to open and escorted my wife and I in. Drive right up to the hangar, push the plane out, go flying. No verifying who either of us were, no security checkpoint, nothing. Taxi along the same taxiways to the same runways
It was amazing that two different paths to the same physical area had such different security and changed how I think about what TSA contributes to safety.