bdschobel

October 20, 2010
Commercial Airline Pilot Refuses Full Body Scan
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 9:28 a.m. ET

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — A Tennessee pilot who says he's tired of being manhandled by security agents is waiting to see if he will lose his job because he refused a full body scan.

ExpressJet Airlines first officer Michael Roberts was chosen for the X-ray scan Friday at Memphis International Airport. The Houston-based pilot says he also refused a pat-down and went home.

The 35-year-old Roberts told The Commercial Appeal newspaper he wants to go to work and not be "harassed or molested without cause."

Transportation Safety Administration spokesman Jon Allen says a person was turned away after refusing to follow federal security procedures but declined to say if it was Roberts, citing privacy considerations.

Roberts says he has safety concerns, but called TSA a "make-work" program that doesn't make travel safer.

DevilDog438

Already being discussed - http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...jet-story.html

slcpunk

I usually avoid the nude-o-scope but last month somehow ended up in the fateful lane with no chance of escape. Was considering requesting a pat-down but the line was long, I was running late etc. I step through the scanner and the TSO says into her radio, very professionally, "BLING". I look at her quizzically. She smiled and said that sequins on my shirt would distort the scanner image.

I now wear my bling every time I fly preventing TSA from saving a crystal clear image of my breasts for posterity. Nothing like a $20 solution to the nude-o-scope. Maybe I need a full on rhinestone outfit...

Clearly no women on THAT product development team.

jampa

BLING!! LOL!

flapping arms

Ladies and gentlement, I think we have a winner for the NoS Opt-Out Awareness program give-away: Rhinestone garments that go from the collarbone to mid-thigh. (OTTOMH, I think this is a hauberk?)

ETA: A hauberk has sleeves. A haubergeon is normally sleeveless and shorter.

doober

Great opportunity for someone to start an at-home business!

l etoile

That's great. So how many sequins were on your shirt? Was this like completely covered in sequins or just a few sequins as embellishment?

goalie

<Cue Glen Campbell's Rhinestone Cowboy>

Global_Hi_Flyer

Feh. It still is stuck in my mind that CO used to use that as boarding music.

tanja

So how about leather undergarnments with rihnestones?
And then a bling bling top and leahter pants/skirt?
Would that do it?

phedre

The female assist arrived and asked hey I opted out, a simple I don't want to and we moved on. She did a fairly quick and very thorough pat down, including groping all through my ponytail and brushing my genitals, then did the hand swab for explosives. She also asked about sensitive spots and told me I could have a private screening, so one point for following proper procedure there.

From start to finish it took about five minutes. What annoyed me was the lack of signage informing people they could opt out ( I couldn't find any) and the refusal to allow me to maintain a view of my belongings.

Next week I will know to avoid that line and will opt out again regardless.

Sorry for any typos, I'm on my iPad.

lianluo

After spamming my address book with the Opt Out Flyer, I'm happy to report several people replied that they didn't know opting out was an option and they intend to do so in their travels.^

I just posted the link to Dont Scan us to my FB page with a note about opting out. Get the word out!

InkUnderNails

Did another SDPOO (Self-directed positional opt out) yesterday at JAX. I looked over the lines and saw that the WBI at the left side was not being used so I joined that line. I escaped yet again.

BTW, why is it that so many of these units are installed but not used? I see it almost everywhere I go.

Just a point about the "can't see my stuff."

At another airport where I did not choose wisely, I had the same problem. I firmly, but nicely, said I want to see my stuff. I stopped where I could see the end of the X-ray, and I said that we can both wait here until it comes out and then someone can bring it with us.

There was no objection but YMMV.

What if they got snarky and said "I said get over here now!" and I said, still nice, "Just a moment, when I can see my stuff." Would they have to get an LEO to physically move me or can they push me around? I am being compliant, I have agreed to the pat down, I just want to see my stuff. Is it not in the SOP that they have to let me see my stuff?

doober

That's when YOU call the LEO.

barbell

I have noticed this, as well. I wonder if it's part of the "boiling frog" theory where people get used to seeing it, then when asked to go through it figure it's no big deal.

Which I also noticed with the puffers. I am hopeful, but not certain, that similar technical difficulties are already starting to creep up.

But how? My phone is always out of my reach in these situations - on the x-ray belt. Which is, I believe, a whole other intended layer of citizen submit security kabuki. You see, the good little obedient sheeple go through the WBI, the good little obedient sheeple take off their shoes, the good little obedient sheeple removed their Kippies. If you are without your shoes, without your belongings, you are at a perceived psychological disadvantage, and the TSA set designers know this. It's a design to put people on edge, uncomfortable, and compliant.

All it takes is one truly dangerous person to figure this whole system out, and then we're at Code Red, forever. All a bomber would have to do is comply. Remove shoes, go through the WBI, and be a submissive compliant. It has already been proven that bombs and truly dangerous amounts of explosive powders go unseen and unquestioned by screeners while dangerous bottles of water are removed. Unlike opt outers who assert their rights, these bags go through a cursory scan and then onto the plane.