http://www.chicagotribune.com/busine...,6784070.story

Southwest Airlines is testing a novel way to speed passengers through airport security bottlenecks: by diverting its pilots to a separate security lane equipped with biometric technology developed by a Chicago start-up.
Since the Sept. 11 attacks, airline workers have been subjected to the same searches as travelers, forced on a daily basis to remove their shoes, belts and coats as they head through metal detectors.
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So pilots do not need to be screened because they are pilots. Got it.

Someone in a cock pit can cause as much or more (as we learned from 9/11) at the controls of the plane than with a bomb, gun, or more than 100 mL of shampoo. What is the point of screening a commercial aviation pilot that is entering the sterile area to pilot a plane?

Why screen the FAs, whose union insists on screening of everyone, FWIW? Either there are dangers or there are not, right? I think that the bigger concern is people posing as pilots to avoid screening.

This should probably end up over in TS/S where it'll get the usual once over by that crowd...

Everyone should receive the same security checks.

If the crew finds them inconvenient or offensive, they should join the passengers in calling for the abolition of such harassment for all.

Until that happens, I think crew and other employees should face the same harassment we do.

Uniformed crew members with valid IDs are already exempt from the liquid restrictions just as they do not have to remove their shoes unless they cause the WTMD to alarm.

The reason why crew members are screened is that there is no current system for verifying the ID in real time. This system will do just that. If a pilot is terminated, for example, his ID would immediately fail verification as would a fake ID, no matter how professionally produced.

+1

I really don't think that you'd sign up for the ten-year background check to which all flight crew are required to submit.

And I really don't think the crew should have to either.

Background checks don't mean squat.

Gimmie a break. Compared to a real background check (or heck, even a standard "Secret" or "Certificate of Public Trust."), what's required of pilots and FAs is like a walk in the park. (a full SSBI makes it look like barely breathing)

The PRIA requirements are a joke. It's essentially employment history and verification and an NACLC. And most parts of the latter are not necessary to meet the letter of the law.

In fact, I'll take that pilot "10 year background check" over the couple of 5 and 7 year monsters I've had. I doubt that the 25-year old Mesa FO had a guy in a fed suit crawling around Riddle asking his roommates about flag burning, sexual habits, etc........

I'm a firm believer that anyone who goes thru a real background check and has given the feds biometrics ought to be able to jump the line just like aircrew do--especially as the former are far more investigated than the latter. The background check aircrews have to do basically proves that you have not done anything titanically stupid in the last 10 years. And little else.

I've had much deeper background checks than the crew has and I'm still subjected to harassment. Why should they be any different?

ORD has card readers before the checkpoint for all badged employees. The cards are secured by fingerprint or PIN. There is a red light / green light for the TDC to see-- yet they still go through the checkpoint.

All easily bypassed. If anything magstripe+pin is more secure than magstripe+biometric. Many of the biometric readers out there can be bypassed with the creative use of gummy bears.

I also hate many of those fingerprint readers -- some of them won't work with my often-dehydrated body. But those same ones seemed to be happy with the gummy bear.

IIRC a pilot at PHL said this to a smurf and got arrested as a terrorist.

Not sure what your point is here, but we have those card readers at my airport too. These readers only read the SIDA badges issued by my airport. They don't read crew badges or other airports SIDAs.