This Friday it really got too much for my personal taste at Friedrichshafen EDNY and I just sent them a letter to let them know what I think as their frequent customer.
The tipping point was that security asked me to get my electronics (laptops, tablets) out and also any liquids.
Security measures have been increased since a few weeks (I land there weekly since April). They closed the convenient GA exit next to the aeroclub. You go out there and enter directly the Italian restaurant that’s associated with the aeroclub. Now you get taken by car to the entrance for CAT passengers. That is convenient for picking up a rental car but awful when you are hungry because then you have to walk all the same way back on foot.
I understand that @what_next sees a positive thing in those security measures, because his passengers are being screened. I can see that point but then he operates commercially just on a smaller scale.
My opinion is still that we are two separate types of activities and a one-size-fits-all approach in security is probably quite weak anyway. Isn’t it that security is best when tailored towards specific threats?
For the time being I will try a different airport that is equal distance to my actual destination. So I will use Mengen EDTM and take my business there. They do have an LPV approach, fuel and I can rent a car. It happens to be that this is basically all I really need.
But then I’m writing this post to stir up a conversation about the security measures itself. I wonder what the regulations actually say and also about what airport managers make of them. I have a feeling that in the case of Friedrichshafen EDNY they’ve opted for the easy way. Even the guys working on the apron said to me “We can easily separate GA from CAT like its done in Kassel”. The GA apron is even out of sight from the passenger terminal…
Every airport is really different … In Augsburg (EDMA) they once did not let me carry a bottle of water to my own plane, in Poznan, PL, GA security reminded me of some prison (i trained there for a week and they search the chief instructor whose office is in the same building before every flight …belt, shoes, all …) … In Dubrovnik, a week ago, they were very relaxed with a lot of common sense … I brought six bottles to the plane, Leatherman on the belt, all fine …
I try to be patient and i try to see that they do it for all of us. But sometimes it’s hard … A friend of mine was the head of Munich Int’l Airport Security. I asked him why shampoo in a transparent bag is “safer”. He said that nobody really knows that :-)
Isn’t shampoo in a transparent bag safer simply because there is demonstrably less than 100ml of it in total. That’s the big deal isn’t it? In the old days, people could take a much larger volume of liquid on board… large enough for a viable explosive device :-( .
I flew from EDMA a few months ago. Lovely place. I was very impressed by the security for GA: a separate GA building, but still with a full x-ray machine, walk-through arch and pat down. The waiting area was comfortable with free coffee other drinks and biscuits and the use of a computer and leather seats. So different from so many GA facilities in the UK. Mind you, they were catering for both people like me in a SEP plane, and also people with posh Cessna jets sitting on the tarmac, including people with NetJet subscriptions and paid-for pilots. I liked it there a lot and it was ridiculously cheap too!
My opinion is still that we are two separate types of activities and a one-size-fits-all approach in security is probably quite weak anyway. Isn’t it that security is best when tailored towards specific threats?
Well on the two airports I had or have access badges to, I can tell you that there are different measures applied to CAT passengers, pilots, staff, etc. The question though remains, are they sensible?
I wonder what the regulations actually say and also about what airport managers make of them.
In the end, I think that might be the real problem behind. Because the official rules have a minimum wording, but you have to present a security handbook for the authority, stating your implementation. So to be really sure, some people opt for 150% of what is neccessary.
Quote He said that nobody really knows that :-)
For me personally this is the sole issue with the whole theater. Regulations are not made in a way, one can understand the reasons behind. A colleague of mine was driving with a car full of supplies onto the airport, including jerry cans with water and fuel. Guess what security checked: Whether the water was water. They didn’t even open the fuel canister, because they where not allowed according to their working safety rules (no gloves or glasses, or whatever is legally required to handle fuel in a german workplace).
Oh and Stephan regarding your question regarding the rules, the current legal basis is EU 2015/1998
One better doesn’t think about it too much … At my last pat down (belt, shoes …) i asked the security guy if it’s okay that i have 300 liters of highly flamable liquid in the airplane … took him five seconds to understand, then he shrugged it off … It was mean anyway, those guys just follow orders.
In Poznan i realized that the security people were observed via video … and that was one reason why they were so strict. The flight instructor showed me the cameras.
Fly to Bratislava and go through the GA Terminal with a swiss penknife in your pilot’s bag. Irrespective of flying alone, the security official wanted to confiscate it. I asked them what did they expect me to do with it – slit my own throat and crash the plane? I pointed out that if I was feeling suicidal, I didn’t need a penknife to carry out my darkest thoughts but flying an aircraft filled with 198 litres of an explosive liquid at 160 knots into the ground gave me plenty of options…..including dive bombing the GA terminal….. Irony wasn’t something they understood….
For info: GA in Bratislava is (or was) significantly segregated from CAT so no chance of me throwing it to anyone else either…..
Be careful with that kind of humour, … I once said something similar (“now that you have my Leatherman, how will you prevent me crashing …”). I was told that more jokes like that would lead to my arrest.
Psychological profiling is probably most effective but am only aware it’s used by El Al, or for Israel bound flights.
Presumably too expensive to implement for other airlines. No liquid container restrictions, etc.
RobertL18C wrote:
Psychological profiling is probably most effective but am only aware it’s used by El Al, or for Israel bound flights
Psychological harassing is a more correct term. Their questioning tactics is outright nauseating. The only time I was grilled more intensely than at El Al check-in counter was when Tel Aviv airport security spotted a “suspicious” item in my luggage (a SODIMM from my laptop), and I was taken away into a separate room and interrogated by Shin-Bet. In my opinion, all these things are 10% security and 90% security theatre intended to convince the public that something is being done. The main reason Israeli airports haven’t been overrun by terrorists is that terrorist organisations don’t have good analysts to spot the weaknesses in their security arrangements.
