How Can Guns Get Stolen From Check Baggage & Go Unnoticed? - Flying With Fish

American Airlines workers among 23 held in drug flights - CNN


Its security theater..... to make you feel better

You've got a point.

I had a UAL pilot stop me on the way off the plane and ask if I was a cop. I said "No. Why?" He said he had me on a list as having brought a gun on board. I said, "Yes, but I checked it." He said they didn't tell him that. So I asked why he was waiting until we landed to ask me about it. He said he figured I might have been a sky marshal. Then I asked him why they stuck me in the last row on the plane and how I'd be able to help them from there. He said it was no big deal.

I usually spot the Sky Marshalls. I think it comes from concealed carry. Once you known how most people do it, you can spot it pretty quickly. It's how I spottted the guy in Mexico that was NOT law enforcement and was carrying.

Having a TWIC card helps. It doesn't eliminate all the BS but it cuts it down a little.

Of course I could look it up, but it's more fun to ask. What does TWIC stand for? "This Whitey Is Cleared" :)

FYI, they're not called Sky Marshals anymore. That changed after the creation of the DHS/FAM Service.

I've been the lead security instructor at my airline for a while now. I get a weekly briefing from the different Federal Security Directors on current events at our different bases.

I could go on and on. In a nutshell....I'll just say that public perception is a large a factor to the "workings" of the TSA.

Yep.

One project I'm working on is at an airport terminal doing a remodel of some interior spaces. Despite all the TSA and security B.S. I've already spotted about a dozen ways someone could EASILY access and/or blow up an airplane if they were really hell-bent on doing it. Most of this security stuff is a show to set the average dumbass traveler at ease with a false sense of security so they'll keep their wallets cracked open.

Fortunately (for airline travelers) I think the next A.Q. attack is unlikely to be a transportation target - it'll be far easier for them to get some AR-15s or AK-47s and simultaneously open up on a few shopping malls kinda like what happened in Mumbai. Seriously - can you imagine how badly that would throw our feeble economy in the schitter at this point? Don't think they haven't thought about it too. After being thwarted with bombs in underwear and shoes I wouldn't be surprised to see them change their tactics, even though they'd love to blow up an airplane I think they've realized that lower-tech, less "dramatic" attacks can do a lot of lasting damage, if that's their goal.

So be vigilant. Not paranoid, but aware. We're vulnerable as a society and a nation right now and the enemy knows it.

Yep, that's it. good guess.








Naw, it's actually a transportation worker identification credential.
https://twicprogram.tsa.dhs.gov/TWICWebApp/
Basically they check your driver's license, check your social security card, and charge you $132.50 for an official looking badge every 5 years.
BTW, we've been doing this exact same verification prior to hiring for decades already, but we didn't charge the $132.50. That extra cost only started when congress got involved.

About all it's good for is you don't have to stand in line at an airport.

They have a similar program for cutting immigration lines that they were advertising last time I came in from France at Newark. The agent was actually handing cards to the people in line. Also about 100 bucks for 5 years. Those agencies must be looking for new revenue sources.

The CDN/US version is Nexus. It saves me 20+ minutes every time I fly out & 10-20 minutes on return. You do not hop security however. It is a bargain for $50 for 5 years imho. Fingerprints & eye scan & mild security check are done during the application process. My frequent flyer status gives me a fast track lane for security in Canada but it is just a line jump. Last week they were doing a laptop day - every laptop was swabbed.

Ian

It's those nipple piercings that will keep the body scanning going.

My wife has a TWIC. It hasn't helped her. Maybe she doesn't know.

(Edit) Just checked with her. She said she's had some success, but the last time she went through Birmingham AL, they refused it saying too many fakes.

Nice.

Bureaucracy.

It's the same reason I was required to surrender my fingernail clippers on a military C-17 flight to the mid east in 2001. Did I mention I had a GAU slung on my chest and about 1,200 lbs of 1.1 explosives not 5 foot away in a M-101 trailer?

My rifle was ok... my very explosive roll on cargo was ok... But those damn fingernail clippers gotta go...

We only have to go through security at airports other than our base. At our base, we have an airport SIDA badge, which lets us bypass security. At any other airport, like on overnights, etc, we have to go through, but with "different" rules, as Im allowed to carry as much liquid, toothpaste, or whatever, that i can fit into my bag. This guy really had no reason to cause such a stir.

Not this guy apparently:

Pilot who refused body scan at Memphis International blasts TSA security » The Commercial Appeal

just flew last week with a scuba regulator in my carryon. I had a couple of end wrenches in the regulator bag that I use to tighten the hoses occasionally. At both my home airport and at Heathrow, they had to check with a supervisor to see if they were OK. They were. but I'm not sure what the problem would be with them. The largest was a 5/8 combo probably 8" long. Anyway, they will be in checked luggage on the way home.

TSA are complete clowns--It is the flipping burgers of airport employment. They make me sick with their attitude. Two years ago I watched in disgust as an obese TSA lady yelled at an Asian family going through Pittsburgh security because they had put their boarding passes back into their pockets after the intial "desk check". It was obvious that English was not their first language, and they all had their passports out. But Fatty Mcfatass thought volume=understanding and was yelling untill a traveler close to the family showed them the boarding pass and through hand signals indicated what they needed to do. Nice representation to foreign travelers..loud, fat, and obnoxious.

In 2002 I was in Lancaster PA (Malvern) on bidness.
I was preparing to fly home from philly airport and wanted to get some sort of souvenir for my daughter.
There was a small shop right next to the security gate so I popped in and found a small liberty bell that was a pencil sharpener. it was over-priced at $7 but I said what the heck.
It was the type where you put the pencil in and manually turn it to sharpen the pencil.

I bought it and stuck it in my carry-on bag, still in the box and bad with the receipt in it.

It got flagged and they searched me and the luggage. Full pat down, hand-held wand, K9, the whole thing.
They asked what it was, I told them and pointed to the item in the window of the shop not more than 15 feet behind them.
Now, there is no way, no way at all that this device could be used to harm someone expect maybe if I threw it at them, but he had to call his stupidvisor.
It took 5 minutes to convince them that it was safe and I was not a threat.
They tried to tell me that i could only get through security if I left it behind, prolly so one of them could snag it.
I stuck to my guns and said no way, and I might have mentioned something that could have been mis-construed as meaning that my wife was a news reporter for NBC and she was gonna have a field day with this.
She wasn't, but It might have accidentally sounded out that way ;)

Geeez, what a bunch of imbeciles.

There was a big debate about knitting needles. Turns out the biggest threat is someone's grandmother knitting an Afghan on the airplane.