And many others are probably embarrassed you're called an American, too...

I can see that racism is alive and well in America. All it takes is a little fear to push the stupidity and tribal thinking to the surface. I get mugged by a black person. Then I regard all black people as criminals until proven otherwise. Based on prison populations a black person is more likely to be a criminal. So perhaps we should simply allow police to interrogate and even temporarily detain all black people in the country at any time. Or perhaps black people should have their activities limited. They could even be segregated into their own gated communities and not allowed to leave without special permits. This system could then be extended to hispanics and then to all foreigners.

And men are *far* more likely to engage in violent crime than women. So why not allow routine detainments and interrogations of all males. Oh wait. That wouldn't fly because the people who advocate racist agendas are nearly always white males themselves and they would be affected by these policies.

I have news for some people here. Human beings are individuals. You can categorize them if you want but that is just a game you are playing in your head based on their appearance. At best it is a useless game, at worst a very dangerous one. I think we are seeing the start of a new era of racism in this country the likes of which have not been seen since WW2. This country is beginning to be a very scary place to live and it's not the boogie-man terrorists that I am afraid of.

You are correct that men are imperfect and that evil will always be a problem. You are also correct that people in fear react in ways that are excessive and unwarranted.

But, as someone that was raised in the rural south in the 50's and 60's, you are incorrect that it is worse than it has been since WWII. I hope and pray that it will never be as bad as what I remember. Some things have gotten better. Not perfect by any any means, but certainly better.

You mean like all the LEOs that try to transit the checkpoint with a firearm, but never make it into the TSA's official weekly golf-clap stats? :rolleyes:

Feel free to explain to the rest of the class the intricacies of US contractual crew duty times; I can assure you I've forgotten more than you'll ever know. :p

Incorrect. Possession in itself at a screening checkpoint is a violation of the law in most states. Intent has little or nothing to do with it.

Even LEO’s are not allowed to transit the checkpoint with a firearm. Federal or otherwise. And we usually catch 2 to 3 (nation wide) every week that forget this.

I only know what I learned in the military about air-crew status. I am not and never have been a pilot. :rolleyes:

About this particular situation, I know that 2 air crews refused to fly the aircraft with the situation as presented to them, which was much more than you will read in the press. Had nothing to do with times, crew rest, or any other factor. The third crew was willing to fly, but only after the rescreening of certain passengers.

Agreed-it is all about intent

You mean like Alvin Crabtree? Isn't he still employed as a TSO? That would mean that you guys employ criminals, doesn't it?

It's been a while since I've looked at the seniority list in CLT, but unless there's been a massive hiring spree I never heard about in the last few years, it takes about ~20 years to hold a Secondary Block. Since Reserve lines at US have few (if any) holidays off, the RSVs have been working holidays away from their families year after year. So when they get to the airport and find there's a "security" issue going on with the flight they are quick called to work, they take a Get Out Of Jail Free Card refuse to fly, and go back home to their loved ones. Dealing with Crew Scheduling can be an art more than a science at times. :D

I've never flown with anyone that had the screaming meemies over a tewwowist at US, but if anyone wants to believe that's what really happened here, fairy tales can come true it can happen to you. :p

You are saying that people who are acting oddly or suspiciously on an aircraft will be "looked at with a different filter" if they have the same background, beliefs, or appearance as the 9/11 terrorists.

To perceive and respond to someone's actions differently because they are of a particular ethnic background, skin color or religion... You do understand that that is the definition of racism or religious discrimination, don't you?

My best guess is that this was a group traveling together, and they didn't have seat assignments. US Air, like every other airline, probably blocks off the first few rows and the last few rows of coach for assignment as the airport. When the group checked in, they were assigned the open seats in the plane, and those were congregated at the front and the back of the plane, with few in the middle. Because they appeared to be from the middle east, they were "looked at through a different filter" and an FA, or more likely a passenger, panicked and drew the conclusion that there was too much brown skin in prime hijackin' seats. (The flight was departing from Charlotte, after all ;))

Are you for or against stereotyping people?

No, their idea of what a terrorist should look like does not come from their imagination. It comes from this photo:

http://i43.tinypic.com/11qrd50.jpg

And if you add Tim McVeigh, Ted Kaczynski, and Auburn Calloway to that photo, those three will stick out like sore thumbs as anomalies. (If you go back into the 70s-80s to get more hijackers/terrorists that don't fit the 9/11 profile, you'll add a heck of a lot more that do fit from incidents like Pan Am 103 and TWA 847.)

Sticking our collective heads in the sand and denying the strong ethnic/religious correlations when it comes to militant terrorism against US targets doesn't really help advance the generally noble anti-discrimination agenda. I don't advocate racism, but I also refuse to deny the truth or obfuscate it.

That said, I agree that accepting as gospel random and unspecific reports of suspicious activity from untrained and/or paranoid individuals (e.g., flight attendants), is a real problem. If law enforcement would react with caution instead of going whole hog and sending in SWAT upon these reports, it would make a huge difference for the innocent "accused" and everyone else.

Intent is a requirement to break almost any law. The only common exceptions are statutory rape and copyright violation. A person is not guilty of violating a law that makes it illegal to posses a weapon at the checkpoint unless they intended to bring that weapon to the checkpoint.

If I'm wearing a heavy coat in a store and an item falls off the shelf into my pocket without my noticing it, I have not committed the crime of shoplifting. Likewise if I put it there and then forgot about it.

Is there any reason why you can't say what that was? Surely it can't be SSI.

More than likely it is just rumor, scuttlebutt and hearsay.

Ever played chinese whispers ? That sort of thing.

Two sets of pilots refused to transport these passengers purple monkey dishwasher.

Have to fly to North Carolina on a semi-regular basis, so US Airways should be a primary airline. But I just can't bring myself to fly with them anymore.