jetcareers - View Single Post - Rules for airports switching to private screeners

Timbuff10 · June 28th, 2004, 01:25

Another TSA rant... Pilots will love this one! It's a must read!!

One day I was working and I screened a guy who had a hat on that read "Cessna 172" or something similar. I talked to him for a minute as he waited for his stuff to go through the x-ray as it took a few minutes because his bag needed to be searched. Well they ran and ETD on it (looking for explosives) and it came back positive. Well they eventually searched it and pulled out a fuel tester. I thought nothing of it but the girl in charge of our lane came over and deemed it a threat or a "dual use item" and told the guy he could not take it on the aircraft! She said it was border line but the fact that it had traces of fuel on it made her want to stay on the safe side.

My jaw dropped, they guy looked at me since we were just talking about flying. I didn't really know what to say so I calmly told her what the "tool" was used for. Oops I used the word "tool" and "tools" are prohibited items. Well she heard the word "tool" and that was it for her, this guy just lost his fuel tester if he wanted to make his flight. I didn't know what to do at this point so I apologized to the guy and went back to work.

Of course I was talked to shortly after about "questioning the judgement of the Lead screener, and how it is better to be safe than sorry" After all that guy knew how to fly airplanes and he had a prohibited item and set off the bomb machine. My response was to ask one question. "If the guy was so damn dangerous why did you let him pass the checkpoint into the sterile area?" Response to that was something like "at least he doesn't have a potential weapon now".

To conclude, welcome terrorists, just check your weapons at the door!

June 28th, 2004, 01:25	#26
Timbuff10 Old Skool Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Coloradan in Orange County, CA Posts: 3,235	Re: Rules for airports switching to private screeners Another TSA rant... Pilots will love this one! It's a must read!! One day I was working and I screened a guy who had a hat on that read "Cessna 172" or something similar. I talked to him for a minute as he waited for his stuff to go through the x-ray as it took a few minutes because his bag needed to be searched. Well they ran and ETD on it (looking for explosives) and it came back positive. Well they eventually searched it and pulled out a fuel tester. I thought nothing of it but the girl in charge of our lane came over and deemed it a threat or a "dual use item" and told the guy he could not take it on the aircraft! She said it was border line but the fact that it had traces of fuel on it made her want to stay on the safe side. My jaw dropped, they guy looked at me since we were just talking about flying. I didn't really know what to say so I calmly told her what the "tool" was used for. Oops I used the word "tool" and "tools" are prohibited items. Well she heard the word "tool" and that was it for her, this guy just lost his fuel tester if he wanted to make his flight. I didn't know what to do at this point so I apologized to the guy and went back to work. Of course I was talked to shortly after about "questioning the judgement of the Lead screener, and how it is better to be safe than sorry" After all that guy knew how to fly airplanes and he had a prohibited item and set off the bomb machine. My response was to ask one question. "If the guy was so damn dangerous why did you let him pass the checkpoint into the sterile area?" Response to that was something like "at least he doesn't have a potential weapon now". To conclude, welcome terrorists, just check your weapons at the door!