Physical screening of crewmembers prior to flight is conducted as part of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) program for providing airport and flight security. Designed to prevent another 9/11-type attack, this method of screening crewmembers can never prevent such a disaster. Legitimate crewmembers must obviously have access to aircraft in order to fly them, and therefore do not require a screening routine designed to stop potential terrorists at the passenger screening portal. Therefore, for crewmember screening to be meaningful, the process must be able to confirm or deny the identity of an individual as a crewmember so as to prevent unauthorized access.

PCSG calls on the TSA to conduct this security function in a manner that will truly protect the civilian population. Crewmembers are the most vetted employees in the civil aviation system with countless checks on their abilities and backgrounds. Pilots have their hands on the controls of what is now considered a potential weapon of mass destruction, so in effect, physical screening is meaningless. Crewmember screening must simply address the issue of confirming access authority. There are several off the shelf systems available capable of such a task, including biometric solutions and data base solutions already approved by the TSA and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), in addition to countless others that have been proposed to the TSA. Current practices which screen crewmembers in the same manner as passengers waste valuable resources that could be put to better use elsewhere. The TSA screens 2,000,000 pilots monthly.

Additional Articles:

Israel to use pilot ID system to foil suicide hijack", Dan Williams, Reuters, 1/16/2007