what_next wrote:
Don’t believe all the nonsense people write on the internet. I stopped reading reports and product reviews on the internet years ago.
Much of this I’ve heard from people who have experienced in first-hand or experienced it first-hand myself. It is unfortunately true.
A friend of mine who worked airside at Arlanda airport told me how he had witnessed an employee from an airside restaurant be stopped in the staff security check with the security officers triumphantly confiscating a nail scissor. She just murmured that she should go to her restaurant kitchen and fetch a cleaver!
I have personally seen my passengers being harassed in the security check about the same items I (as PIC) was allowed to bring even though our whole company was being escorted by the handling company staff.
Sure. There are many fairy tales out there and also misunderstandings. I would not have started the question were it not for own personal experience. I have not yet been denied to take something with me but the mere fact that items are being questioned and security staff actually wants to go through my items seems wrong to me.
Example: At EDDK (Cologne) I returned from an appointment. I carried my flight bag with iPad and my laptop. In my pockets were some coins, keys, wallet and my phone. A person from the GAT was with me and this person was also the one to drive me to my aircraft. I was asked to empty all my pockets, put everything in a bin for the x-ray and then step through the metal detector. The detector beeped and I was padded down and asked to open my belt. There was zero difference to the passenger screening at the CAT.
Example: At EDDH (Hamburg) I arrived with the items just mentioned plus a backpack. Inside I had a shampoo bottle. It was questioned due to its size but I was allowed to take it with me. At the beginning of the procedure I was asked “pilot or passenger?” and I produced my licenses. They were checked carefully and I got an explanation – probably due to the look on my face – that they need to do all this because sometimes people were pretending to be a pilot.
If you employ somebody to do Job X and his only “power” is confiscating sharp objects, and there is no detailed guidance on it, this poor sod is going to make a proper job of it and will confiscate all sharp objects.
The alternative is for him to do nothing, for which he will eventually get fired.
The reason we have so much hassle with “security” is because most of the jobs in question don’t have a clear job description/specification. They also heavily self-select on character profile; there is a strong desire within homo sapiens to exercise power over others, and all the “security” related jobs end up employing a high % of those types.
At a given airport, you can get one guy who confiscates your nail clipper and toothpaste as you are walking out to your PA28, and is really proud of having prevented a major hijack incident (these low level security jobs also strongly self-select on below-average IQ), and on the next shift you will get another who is fine with it.
It takes a strong airport manager to keep everybody in line and make sure the implementation is correct and appropriate.
So what exactly is our right as PIC?
If I say “I don’t want me nor my passengers be screened”, do I have that right?
The airline PIC has a boss and the airlines decided that they actually want everybody to be screened. They probably also accepted a government proposal due to the heavy loss to them, if something happens. I don’t have a boss and am carrying the sole responsibility for everything that goes on with regards to aircraft and flight.
Can I opt out from the screening? Will the airport manager then deny me access to my property parked outside? Is there anything in the rules of the air, in a NOTAM, in any other publication that informs me that when landing at airport X I have to submit to security screening?
Interesting questions as I believe.
Stephan_Schwab wrote:
Can I opt out from the screening?
I don’t think so. It’s regulated by airport rules and agreements related to air transport security.
Stephan_Schwab wrote:
Will the airport manager then deny me access to my property parked outside?
But your property is parked on “his” property, so logically speaking you first have to respect the rules of access to “his” property.
Being screened is one thing, being denied to carry certain items is another thing. There in 90% of the cases it’s related to improper training of the security staff which can be solved by protesting, pointing out the rules and asking for the supervisor.
I did have hassle occasionally but I always prevailed in the end. The next private pilot encountering the same security officer will be grateful for your contribution to the officer’s education on private pilot rights 
If I say “I don’t want me nor my passengers be screened”, do I have that right?
Your rights and the duties of the airport are laid down in the “Flughafenbenutzungsordnung” and “Luftsicherheitsplan” which are individual to each Airport (sorry for not translating, but whenever I switch to another browser tab, my iPad keeps losing what I already wrote – this is already my second answer…).
At EDDS it is in prínciple possible to go to your aircraft unscreened, both for pilots and passengers. But it is not easy. Some of our passengers have a status which permits them access to the aircraft without going through security. There are also airport passes (level 13 and above IIRC – mine is level 10) which will allow you to bypass the security gates.
The airline PIC has a boss and the airlines decided that they actually want everybody to be screened.
Not really. Like the Luftsicherheitsplan of an airport, each commercial operator has to have an approved security plan as well. At least in my sector of the business this plan allows to take unscreened passengers on board. Otherwise we could not operate from small airfields without security…
Can I opt out from the screening?
See above.
Will the airport manager then deny me access to my property parked outside?
AFAIK, there are provisions by which you can be escorted to your aeroplane without being screened. Similar is done with mechanics who come with a truck of tools and spares. They are under constant watch from security personell as long as they are airside.
Is there anything in the rules of the air, in a NOTAM, in any other publication that informs me that when landing at airport X I have to submit to security screening?
In Germany, the Luftsicherheitsgesetz is the basis. On top of that, the Benutzungsordnung and the Luftsicherheitsplan regulate each airport. They should be available from the airport upon request.
I’m always a bit hesitant to use airports that inflict airline-style security on GA because:
alioth wrote:
FAA license before and I might get stranded for hours until someone finally agrees to check on the internet on what they look like (they are credit-card sized plastic cards with no photograph of the holder)
It works great though if you happen to look like Wilbur and Orville Wright
I don’t want my in-flight meal and drink confiscated
I’d call that one a serious safety issue.
