Unions Tell Pilots to Avoid Airport Body Scanners
- Posted on November 10, 2010 at 2:19pm by
Meredith Jessup
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Pilot unions for two of the nation’s largest airlines are reportedly telling their members not to participate in full-body X-ray scans at airport security checkpoints which passengers routinely have to go through on the grounds they are overly intrusive. USA Today reports:
Unions representing pilots at American Airlines and US Airways have advised their more than 14,000 members to avoid the scanners, which peer beneath clothing, and instead get a pat down from Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers.
That has created additional problems as some pilots have complained that the hand searches, which were altered by TSA starting Nov. 1, are invasive. One US Airways pilot said he felt as though he had been “sexually molested” by the pat down, said Mike Cleary, president of the US Airline Pilots Association.
“Our members are just absolutely outraged,” Cleary said.
David Bates, president of American’s Allied Pilots Association, said the TSA hand search is “a demeaning experience,” but he also is urging his members to avoid the scanners. The unions have told members to ask that the pat downs be done in private.
The unions argue that the machines are “intrusive” and that they could emit dangerous radiation. A recent Food and Drug Administration review found that the radiation level was so low — some machines emit no radiation — that it posed no health threat.
America’s largest pilots union, the Air Line Pilots Association, told USA Today that they are working with the Transportation Security Administration to find alternative screening methods for their union members, but has not instructed their members to avoid the scanners.
Unions have been working to “streamline or eliminate” the security screening pilots go through, claiming that background checks should be sufficient.
Not all security officials support giving airline employees a pass at airport security:
The TSA issued a statement saying its security measures must consider “our enemy is creative and willing to go to great lengths to evade detection.” TSA Administrator John Pistole has been reviewing security policies since taking office recently and is discussing alternatives with pilots, the statement said.
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wash1776
Posted on November 11, 2010 at 5:29pmIs that so they can smuggle the booze in?
Report Post »LukeAppling
Posted on November 11, 2010 at 11:26amUnions always use some seemingly benign tactics to gain more members examples: in the 60′s the steel workers talked some poor management dupe into giving 13 weeks vacation every 7 years to the members not realizing this required replacing those on vacation with more union members; when teaching administrators or union members decry the number of students a teacher has in a class what they are really saying is fewer students/class = more teachers =more union members=more dues; using union members to riot or be paid attendees at Tea Party events or harass bankers allows the unions to , once again, demand more members to allow more riots or protests hence more dues paying members. Wake up to the insidious unions who have taken over federal employment to the tune of more federal employees making over $150,000/year under Obama than anytime in history and with the finest fringe benefits money can buy because it is taxpayer money not theirs. In Greece it is the federal unions who are rioting soon to be America unless we decertify unions, as Indiana did. WE cannot afford to have a group of employees that add 40% cost to their employment, which is what the average union employees adds to any company.
Report Post »EP46
Posted on November 11, 2010 at 9:39amThe union just wants to hire more people to do the ‘pat down’ . They can only control the pilots so they use them as examples to keep people from using the scanners, thu more union workers. I agree the scanners are not good, but that is not the idea behind this.
Report Post »GhostOfJefferson
Posted on November 11, 2010 at 8:47amI’m with the unions on this.
Wow, look at that, words I don‘t think I’ve ever typed before. Neat!
Report Post »Snappingturtle
Posted on November 11, 2010 at 7:52amI can see why the union would tell the pilots to avoid the body scanners.The FDA says the machines only emit low levels of radiation.Now what would happen if every day you went to work and were exposed to these low dosages of radiation?If i were a frequent flier I would think about the pat down as well.
Report Post »staythecourse
Posted on November 11, 2010 at 7:32amsnafu ! ! !
Report Post »iwalkalone
Posted on November 11, 2010 at 7:28amThe same clowns shivering in their pink panties with fear of offending a moslem, wants to molest granny and sexy stewardesses with groping and a free peep show. its time to respect law abiding americans, even if it means banning ALL moslems from our planes. maybe then the invisible moderate moslems will turn in the brotherhood of terroprists. It will take a massive Christian uprising demanding the same deference ******** show their moslem masters..
Report Post »PandoraSpocks
Posted on November 11, 2010 at 7:14amSure, they start eliminating security for the pilots and pretty soon the terroists will see that as an opportunity. On the flip side I have no plans to ever fly again.
Report Post »GhostOfJefferson
Posted on November 11, 2010 at 8:10amYeah, an opportunity.
“Quick, Abdul, you will attend years of flight training and certification, get a job at American Airlines as an SIC, rise in ranks over the years to PIC, then, THEN!!!! we shall have our revenge!”
Report Post »whitaker
Posted on November 11, 2010 at 4:28pmIt would be so much easier to just drive a truck full of explosives over the unguarded southern border into a sporting event or music concert. Heck all you need is a single engine plane to ram a 747 taking off or landing. Security of this country is such a joke, simular to gun control. Just keep the people that follow the law from having guns thereby allowing only people that ignore the laws to have them. There is not enough air marshels to put them on every flight so just arm the pilots and give them some training.
Report Post »Steve Neiling
Posted on November 11, 2010 at 7:04amLet the free market determine security levels on airlines, not the TSA. What would happen if the individual carriers were given security ratings by the Better Business Bureau? I think you would start seeing some sense in providing security in the airline industry.
Report Post »Blacktooth
Posted on November 12, 2010 at 4:16pmI have had it! Flying used to be fun, but no more. Next time I have to go to New York, I will drive it, making it into a vacation in itself. Enjoy the scenery, get to explore out of the way towns along the way.
Report Post »GUT_CHECK
Posted on November 11, 2010 at 6:27amcirca1984.
Report Post »MolonLave
Posted on November 11, 2010 at 6:26amIf a pilot wanted to crash an airplane he could just fly it into the ground. What is the point of searching pilots at all? If anything they should be armed.
Report Post »J.Hawk
Posted on November 11, 2010 at 7:53amNow you’re talking! Many pilots are armed, and when I have to fly, I hope my pilots are.
Report Post »justice
Posted on November 11, 2010 at 5:40amwhat the hell makes the difference, they afraid of what will be found on them, like alcohol for instance, they take the job and resposibility. then they are no different than the paying flyer who ditched out alot of money for their tickets to be safe. so pilots get over yourselfs.
Report Post »staythecourse
Posted on November 11, 2010 at 7:31amMolesting American citizens at the airport to find terrorists…. but complete open door on our southern border inviting any and all to come in to the country and do what every they want to do…. and then filing a law suit against States for wanting to defend themselves.
Report Post »J.Hawk
Posted on November 11, 2010 at 7:51amJustice, the point is, the TSA (as usual) is focued on the wrong people. Pilots don’t hide alcohol, etc., on their person, only to be caught and have their career flushed after they’ve spend years and 100 plus thousand dollars to get them where they are.
Report Post »If you’ll expend a little logic for a few seconds, you’d realize that the pilot does not need anything more than his hands to cause problems.
They have been checked out over and over since the beginning in several different ways every year, and they should not have to be demeaned in this fashion.
Blacktooth
Posted on November 12, 2010 at 4:11pmBlacktooth will never fly again on a commercial airline. Period!
Report Post »Blacktooth
Posted on November 12, 2010 at 4:19pmpeople see me as a threat somehow…..?
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