anyone have contact info for the pilots and FA unions so to send them a note that if they want there jobs to stay secure, they better step up to the bat for those that pay there salaries unless they want to watch the airlines go belly up.

I wouldn't trust the Menzies ground crew at SEA to sort my socks for me. They've been busted again and again for everything from drugs to luggage theft to banging airplanes together. Why do they get a pass while normal passengers don't?

Or industry lobbyists.

"Most passengers fly infrequently..."
 

As airports brace for the busiest days of the year, two groups won’t be holding up the security lines: pilots and flight attendants.

Media outlets, including the Monitor, widely reported the pilots’ deal last week, but fewer have noted that flight attendants will receive the same treatment. Security officials acknowledged in a deal brokered Nov. 19 between unions and the TSA that the people who have unfettered access to the cockpit do not need to undergo invasive screening procedures as part of their daily commute.

“It just doesn’t make sense we spend our resources doing this intensive security check on workers who are in a safety-sensitive position and who have been screened before they are allowed to get the job," says Patricia Friend, president of the Association of Flight Attendants – CWA, which represents more than 50,000 flight attendants at 22 airlines. Many passengers don’t realize how much cockpit access flight attendants have, she adds. “When a pilot steps out of the cockpit, a flight attendant must be in the cockpit...”

Passengers have also complained loudly about the invasive scans, which render a naked image, and the “enhanced pat-downs,” which require whole-hand rubbing against all parts of the body. Most passengers fly infrequently, however, making checkpoint screenings a rare indignity.

For those who go through checkpoints daily, the risks – and indignities – are larger. Pilots’ unions, concerned about the disproportionately high exposure to the scans’ radiation, urged their members not to walk through the Advanced Imaging Technology scanners, pointing out that there are no long-term studies looking at cumulative effects on pregnant women, those with compromised immune systems, and others.

http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/20...TSA-body-scans

First of all, I agree that pilots should be exempt. However, I do find it HIGHLY amusing that the TSA and there mouth pieces have been arguing passionately for months on why pilots should be screened are now going to have to reverse their position and argue, with just as much passion, why pilots should NOT be screened.

HIGHLY amusing watching this :p

Dont'cha know a crew member would never take a firearm on a flight after bypassing security for administrative convenience?

Oh, wait a minute. :eek::rolleyes:

I'd say the same for the sudden reversal on children under 12.

What next? Maybe, for a $500 annual fee, frequent fliers can go through a NEXUS-like advance security check (profiling), receive their card and buy their way out of the line. Government are always looking for new sources of revenue. :rolleyes:

+1

Sad, but true. As far as anybody dressed as an airport employee, remember the guy pretending to be a US marshal?:rolleyes:

^

But... if I'm already signed up and cleared for Global Entry, will I be qualified for "Global Exit" :p

Why not?

Screening pilots makes little sense, since they can bring down a plane (or worse) without any weapon or explosive. The same is not true for FA's. Allowing FA's to bypass security implies that the TSA believes that their employment/security screening is sufficient to ensure that they are not a threat. Whatever that process is, there's no reason it could not be offered as an option to frequent fliers too.

Disagree, at least from my observations. I believe it's feasible that an FA could take control of an aircraft.

When flying, I've seen pilots take restroom breaks, and be substituted by an FA (FAA rule about two crew, of any type, on the flight deck?). As some FAs have flight experience, and some are even certified pilots, there's nothing technically stopping that FA from disabling the PIC or SIC, blocking the door, and taking control of the aircraft.

On some aircraft it is physically impossible to open the cockpit door without getting out of the pilots seat. Having a FA go into the cockpit while a pilot takes a lav break prevents the flight controls from being unmanned, even if only for just few moments.

I agree. Pilots go through years and years of training. A flight attendant gets hired off the street and gets put through a couple of weeks training.

Which route would a terrorist take to infiltrate the plane as staff?

It was on a mainline when I've seen this, Most probably a DC9/MD80/MD88/etc. Not sure how that effects the analysis.

No need to go that far. Simply find a sympathetic crew member (pilot or FA). Even if they aren't willing to die for the cause, they would be able to pass materials to someone in the secure area who is.