Originally Posted by Vecha
Also...please tell me they have fixed the pilot doors?(Sad that I don't know this.)
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Yes. Pretty much every cockpit door is now the strongest part of the aircraft. They lock, they're incredibly strong, and in addition to this there have been dozens of incidents where passengers have royally fucked the shit out of anyone who acts inappropriately (sometimes going too far). TSA is basically irrelevant. TSA has failed a number of internal probes and they've also failed a number of non-probes which are merely public incidents that come to light after the fact. What, exactly, are they stopping? And who checks baggage handlers? I want to say nobody, really. Nothing more than a cursory background check. Sleeper agents aren't going to have real names or criminal records or flagged files. These idiots are worried about passengers because the 9/11 hijackers were passengers. They don't worry about anyone smuggling shit into an airplane like a bomb. They don't worry about a handler putting a gun on a plane for a totally innocuous terrorist to fish out of hiding.
The only real problem with planes is this: bombs or missiles. I'm fairly certain if I want to just Lockerbie a plane, I don't need a cockpit door or passenger cooperation, especially if I'm willing to die without doing anything more than screaming a last-minute battle cry and pressing a button quickly. Or if I live in a country with unsecured borders, simply parking my car somewhere, waiting until something lumbers into view, and firing a missile.
And finally: when I flew back from Iraq, with my unit, we all had guns. Lots of guns. Pistols, rifles, automatic weapons. Granted, none of the bolts were in the weapon - but they were in our cargo pocket. I got dinged by a security "expert" who said I couldn't take my nail clippers on the plane. He said it was a security risk and it was policy.
I gave him my clippers because I wanted to go home and because my first sergeant was staring at me like he was going to eat my face if I wised off to the guy. But think about how fucking stupid that is. Ever chew through someone's neck with a pair of cheap PX fingernail clippers? LOOK OUT, ACHMED HAS A HANG NAIL!