http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local-beat/Passenger-Chooses-Strip-Down-Over-Pat-Down-109872589.html
Love the civil disobedience involved here! Remember the 4th Amendment people? These illegal searches do not make flying safer! Nonviolent protest against the TSA, which once stood for Thousands Standing Around but now should stand for Touching & Sexual Assault, is what we as Americans should all be doing! Who gave these government employees the right to illegally search me and you? The terrorists change their game constantly and we play catch up: 9-11=no more boxcutters or nailfiles, shoebomber= take off your shoes, liquid bomb intel = no more than 3.5 oz of liquid(see previous post to what you can put in a baby bottle though and as a Sat. Night Live skit put it-what if i use 2 3.5 oz bottle and then combine them...?), ink cartridge bombs=removing ink cartridges from our printers every night in the airport(yep we have to-bet you didn't know that one), underwear bomber= naked body scanners. What happens to you the flying public when the first anal bomber gets through(because the naked body scanners don't look through your body)? Follow the logic and be prepared to bend over for a TSA finger because if we don't stop this intrusion into our privacy now that is where it will end up later.

What is my answer then you say? How about looking at how the most secure airline in the world does this without the procedures the TSA has imposed on us. El Al Airlines in Israel is secure because they use their brains not barely educated thugs with latex gloves. They profile and look for bad guys and its that simple. Take back your rights. Do some research. Follow the money-who gained by selling naked body scanners? Don't accept this!

So your choice is either full body xray and have the "highly qualified" TSA agents check out your private parts or submit to the new "pat down" procedures that would send a normal person to jail for assault. Will you submit or be treated like a terrorist when you decline? Who gave these bozos permission to violate my 4th Amendment rights against unreasonable search? Lets see - I have a Secret clearance with the Air Force, I have been background checked by my airline and by my airport authorities, my biometrics are on file with the airport, I have an airline and airport badge with my picture and door permissions to enter secure areas and the FAA trusts me to fly a multimillion aircraft around the world yet a unionized high school dropout working for the TSA has the authority to feel me up to see if I might be carrying something in my undies that I might use to cause problem with an airplane? Its gone too far folks!

Bad people make bad passengers!

Kicked off two adults and 3 kids off my plane this weekend due to "noncompliance" which is a fancy word for "won't do what the flight attendants tell them to do." Apparently they didn't understand that all 5 of them could not sit in a 3 person row. Now 4 could given 3 in seats and 1 in a lap because there are 4 oxygen masks available per row of 3 seats. The 1st time this was explained to the mother she told my flight attendant not to bother her because she was eating a sandwich. The second time it was explained that in case of emergency there would not be enough oxygen masks her response was "What are the chances of that?" The straw that broke my flight attendants back was the disregard to her multiple pleas to have the kids sit down as opposed to running all over the cabin(I can't taxi/move the aircraft until everyone is sitting down). Of course the screaming from the kids didn't help and their snotty/mean attitudes. So with concurrence from everyone we had them removed from the aircraft.

Doesn't end there though....My flight attendant(I'm tired of typing this out every time so from now on understand that FA=flight attendant) had 3 people fill out witness forms after about 15 people expressed their gratitude for kicking these passengers off the plane. I read the forms and was shocked to read this from another passenger about the 2 adults: "The mother said to the grandmother, "Give me a sip of the Stoli." Grandma poured a clear liquid from a baby bottle into a Pepsi bottle, took a drink, then passed it to Mom. Mom took a long drink then placed the bottle in the seatback in front of her."

That's right-vodka in a baby bottle! Question 1: How did they get that through security? I can just see it, "That's the babys formula officer!" Question 2: How do we remove her parenting license? Well the other witness form said that passenger was planning on calling Child Protective Services upon reaching Indianapolis if they had stayed on-board my jet. Probably a good call there. Question 3: What kind of people will these poor kids grow up to be with losers like this for parents?

My advise: Leave the vodka at home and definitely out of the babys bottle. Actually do what the FA says-it might just save your life. Don't be mean or you won't stay on my jet-I don't care what you paid. As my FA said, "If they are this much trouble on the ground, what will they be like in the air?"

Bottom line is bad people make bad passengers!

Contrails

Last month my flight attendant told me a passenger asked to be let known when the Captain(me) would be turning on the contrails so she could show them to her son who was traveling with her....Searched all over my cockpit for the contrails switch to no avail. Guess it doesn't exist

New name

Decided "I Am That Pilot!" was a bit to self absorbed so i changed the name of my blog to "Pilotdude". (Bill - yes this was inspired by you.) Hope you all can handle these sweeping changes.

No gum for you!

Apparently if you want to have gum at the Orlando airport you best bring it yourself - just found out Saturday that no one is allowed to purchase gum from any vendor at the Orlando airport. Why you ask? Well i did too and the answer from the vendor was that the airport authorities in Orlando do not trust you to keep the chewed gum off of their carpet! So either they are being very proactive in protecting their industrial grade carpet that last year was walked upon by a reported 36.5 million passengers or they just don't trust you to keep your gum in your mouth.... I say lets strike a blow for the American dream of freedom by purposely chewing gum in the Orlando airport and sharing a stick with a complete stranger! (of course i don't advocate putting your gum on their carpet but i, unlike the Orlando airport authorities, trust you to dispose of your gum properly.)

TSA security threat

Here is the scenario: right after going through security at Sacramentos airport (SMF) I pick up my bags and recombobulate myself and start towards my gate. I have to immediately turn left as there is a TSA table there at the end of the security area funneling all people to the terminal. No one is sitting at the table but as I'm walking past I notice 2 pencil cup holders full of pencils and pens and-wait for it-2 long handled metal scissors. That's right-just the kind of thing you would get stripped searched for just daring to have in your bag 20 feet back from where I just was. I stop. I look around and think what should I do? If I wanted to I could have slipped them out of the pencil cups put them into my coat pocket and continue on my merry way. If I was a bad guy I would now have a couple of weapons just as deadly as - say - box cutters. I motion to a TSA flunkie to come to me, pick up the scissors, throw them down on the table and tell him that perhaps these shouldn't be left right there. I continue on to my airplane, pass the story on to my FO, and enjoy my caramel macchiato knowing that the TSA is hard at work protecting us all.....

Frontier remains Frontier!

I went to the announcement on the 13th at Coors field to see which airline we would become - Frontier or Midwest and i am both happy and relieved to say that it is Frontier Airlines. Concessions given: a Badger for one of the animals on the tails of one of our new planes and cookies for everyone. Thats right now we have not only TV but cookies and i've heard rumors of wifi in the near future. By the way - military gets free tv on our flights - just keeping you in the know. Back to the party - it was quick - message from Brian Bedford then Ian Aurther made the big announcement. Watched a Frontier commercial then it was over. Hit the buffet on the way out as any good pilot would do - find the free food and consume - then drove home. Exciting day!

Message to management.....

A contract is a covenant between people who have agreed on a way to work together. Trust is maintained between the parties if both sides maintain the covenant and abide by the contract. This applies between the business and the customer but also between the owners/managers and the employees. We -the employees- will do our best for the company when our contract, our covenant, is adhered to by the management. When this covenant is broken or even abused we become resentful of the other who has entered into this covenant with us and we inevitably perform less than our best. When anyone from the CEO of a company to the lowest person in a company wears their beliefs on their sleeve for all to see they have an obligation to abide by those beliefs to an excess and demand those working for them to do so as well. Saying one thing but even allowing those who work for you to do another is hypocrisy and is evident to all destroying what you have said to believe in. I understand that this is a business but we will flourish if we can believe in what you say, if we see that your actions match your words, and if you maintain the covenant you have agreed to. Playing "hardball" with employee groups, looking for loopholes to exploit, or delaying and avoiding contractual obligations will destroy what could be great. While the customer is very important, your employees are your biggest asset and we will take care of the customer if you take care of us. Honor the covenant so we can as well.

Stay out of my cockpit!

If you don't like the FAA to eavesdrop/spy on you in the cockpit here's a link for you to follow and a sample letter for all pilots to write before big brother enters our cockpits!

http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

As a professional air line pilot, your constituent, and a member of the (whatever pilot union you are), I urge you to oppose S. 3048, a bill by Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) to mandate the use of cockpit voice recorder (CVR) and flight data recorder (FDR) information for discipline, rather than its intended use for safety investigation.

This bill seeks to use CVR and FDR information to punish individual pilots, rather than to promote and support the proactive safety culture that our industry needs to protect passengers, crews, and cargo. This bill will threaten aviation safety, compromise the accident investigation process, and squander financial resources that could make established and proven aviation safety programs even more effective.

Every airline flight is unique due to weather, equipment, distance and other operational factors. Pilots are expected to work as a team, communicate effectively, and supplement one another’s skills and experience to continuously evaluate and adapt to the changing operational environment of each individual flight. The chilling effect of having conversations and flight data monitored and evaluated out of context for possible disciplinary action by corporate managers who may have motivations other than safety would be substantial.

Pilot performance is currently monitored randomly through the Line Oriented Safety Audit (LOSA) program which uses trained observers in the cockpit. As a commercial pilot, I must also pass at least two annual check rides. Existing safety programs such as LOSA, Flight Operations Quality Assurance (FOQA) and Aviation Safety Action Programs (ASAP) are voluntary, non-punitive initiatives that use data and pilot reports to detect safety issues. These programs are critical to aviation safety and misusing recorder data will jeopardize these proven programs.

I urge you to oppose S. 3048 and any legislative attempts to use CVRs and FDRs for anything other than their intended safety investigative purposes.

Sincerely,

Your John Hancock

Feel free to put in a ps about maybe we will agree when they put recorders in all their private meetings so we can see how they screw us and we can hold them accountable!

Common sense gets left at home.

So one day we're flying along and the flight attendants call us (the pilots) to pass along a question from a passenger. The passenger wants to know if we know if her car is okay. That's right-we're at 37000' flying away from Houston and she thinks we might know if her car in the parking lot back in Houston is okay or not because she saw on the in-flight tv that a big hail storm hit Houston right after we left. Wait for it....wait for it.... This is one of those moments when i can't even respond to the flight attendant because the question is so ludicrous i don't have any words. What does her car look like? Where is it parked? Was it damaged before the hail storm or was it in good condition? Should we fly back to Houston to find out? Does she expect me to call someone from the airline to go out and find her car in the parking lot and report back to me about its conditions? Am i supposed to keep a straight face and how did the flight attendant keep a straight face when asked this question? Maybe the passenger really does think the Captain knows everything...

Many times flight attendants won't bother us with stupid questions but she had fun sharing that doozy with us and fun listening to our reaction/ answer to it. If i remember right we told herthat her car was okay-lets hope it was so she doesn't sue our airline!

I am that Pilot!

I've decided to blog about all the funny, weird, stupid, strange stuff I see out in the pilot world. Sit back, tighten your seat belt, ignore the announcements(everybody does) and hold on for the ride - i sense turbulence ahead.........

One morning I was in Nashville and at 445am after going thru security and heading to our gate I see this guy in a suit that I recognize. I stopped, pointed at him and said " you're John......that wrestled dude!". John Cena (couldn't think of his name that early in the am) looks sideways at me and says" you're that pilot dude" and walks away. We keep walking and laugh a bit and I was left w/ 2 impressions. First John Cena isn't as big in real life as on tv and second he's not as cool as the Rock. Celebrity wrestler wanna be actor needs to be nice to people who obviously recognize him but forget his last name in the heat of the moment. One thing he did get right though- I am that pilot!