Peter wrote:
more people become automatically obedient when presented with some form of authority, and a uniform is the starting point.
Works a treat in the UK – just wear a high-viz vest and you’re good to go. Anywhere. I’ve got some pretty amazing (IOW – scary) first hand stories.
There is a huge number of totally comical stories going around.
Probably the most common one is that wearing a uniform works wonders. The more “south” you go in Europe, i.e. the closer to get to Africa, the more militarised the countries get and the more people become automatically obedient when presented with some form of authority, and a uniform is the starting point. It’s also cheap; it used to pay for itself the first time you got a duty- and VAT-free avgas refill (that trick doesn’t seem to work anywhere in Europe anymore but it worked great in France and Spain).
There is a guy on here who can tell great stories e.g. one about pushing a trolley stacked with avgas jerrycans right past the airline check-in security point, while wearing a uniform.
At big airports like Gatwick there used to be really obvious doors whereby you could totally bypass security and get airside if you wore a uniform. That obviously ended a while ago…
In France, as far as i know, airports are declared “open to PUBLIC air circulation” it means by law, only a custom officer can check you (even not a policeman)
Others had a commercial transaction (company flight ticket for passengers, working contract for commercial pilots) which force them to follow airport rules. But strictly speaking not a Private pilot. Often security check is not to heavy so private pilots let it be without noise.
We all have funny stories :
On time I land in an airport, where they don t exactly what to do and they perform a full check to allow me to get OUT of the airport… I think they were reversed, may be a big party the evening before.
An other time, I passed the security control (no shampoo, no metal …) and on the apron because I had a generator problem I pick up my plane battery and I was walking all around with my battery to find a way to fill it ! A guy walking with a big battery and everybody was very kind with me…
PPG
So it might be a good idea to make the security screening an optional item available through the handling company?
The main point is the incentive to airport management to treat the two segments differently.
Why? Please don’t forget that “GA” is not only self-flying businessmen. The majority of of GA traffic – at least through larger airports – is made up of chartered business jet traffic. My job, my life. Often enough I see names on my passenger list that I want to have security screened, believe me. On some occasions I have gone to the security guys and asked them to check my passengers very carefully. I remember one pasenger from Russia where the contract with his management included a One-Million-Dollar insurance for him for a single flight. I would not have taken that one on board without a very through security check on him and his baggage…
Today I had a typical three-sector day between international airports (in Germany, Italy and Switzerland), thereby going through security three times with passengers and as many times alone. As there are typically no queues at GA security checkpoints, all together took less than five minutes. Nothing was confiscated.
In all the years I am flying commercially (since 1992) I must have passed through these airport security checks 5000 to 10000 times. I never got anything confiscated nor did any of my passengers. Once only I had to empty the contents (=coffee) of a thermos bottle. At a regional airport in the UK (where else, they are the worst in this regard…). That was really bad because I was flying night freight and that coffee was supposed to keep us awake for many hours to come.
The main point is the incentive to airport management to treat the two segments differently. And that points to those who sign the permissions for the airport to operate. Will they go along and how much effort is it to get them to go along?
Evidence based security.
Proportion of lives lost in terrorist incidents caused by passengers: 99%
Proportion of lives lost in incidents caused by suicidal crew: 0.9%
Proportion of lives lost in incidents caused by other crew on a mixed GA/CA airport: <0.1%.
Even the guy with a CPL that took part in the 9/11 attacks boarded as a passenger…
Case closed.
Peter wrote:
Obviously I am not going to post details but for example it’s trivial to get stuff passed on or off airside, especially after dark.
It’s usually obvious for any pilot. Not to mention that you can bring all the stuff airside in your aircraft!
Typically at major US airports there is a road around the airport connecting all the facilities, so it makes no difference what side of the airport you’re on. Rental cars are available at FBOs, so typically the procedure is park plane, walk to FBO, get rental car keys, and go. I do it with either my puddle jumpers or when traveling by my employers biz jets. Sometimes if somebody at the FBO is feeling particularly nice they’ll drive the car out to the plane and you drive from the ramp.
But then I’d much rather go through the minor of hassle (I mean, we’re discussing a procedure that takes less than 60 seconds usually) of being screened and having a little chat with the (mostly bored, but once engaged in a chat, friendly) security staff at the GAT than having to deal with those airport layouts where the GAT is physically far away from the main terminal. With respect to ANY access to facilities, esp. transport but also food etc, this is usually a huge PITA
That was my first thought too, when I read that! Being at the wrong side of the airport can be a major hassle.
Personally, I don’t mind the x-ray stuff, unless they decide that they need to confiscate stuff. But that hasn’t happened to me yet.
