Wednesday, March 27, 2013

How did this man escape the TSA’s vaunted layers?

TSA News

How did this man escape the TSA's vaunted layers?

Posted: 26 Mar 2013 05:54 AM PDT


As you've probably read by now, a man apparently trying to impersonate a pilot on a US Airways flight in Philadelphia now faces federal and state charges.

Philippe Jeannard, 61, was wearing a shirt with an Air France logo when he asked at the check-in counter to be upgraded. He was told there were no seats available:

A flight attendant noticed that he had an Air France ID card and asked "as a matter of courtesy" if he wanted to speak to the pilots, authorities said. The pilot and co-pilot told authorities that he entered the cockpit while they were performing their preflight duties and checks and said he was a Boeing 747 pilot, officials said.

Prosecutors said the gate agent saw the defendant sitting in the jump seat behind the pilot and told him that if he was going to sit there he would have to go back to the check-in gate to complete paperwork and verifications. He left the cockpit but became verbally abusive and was told he could not continue on the flight, authorities said. He later acknowledged to a manager that he was not a pilot, prosecutors said.

It sounds like Monsieur Jeannard is either a little mentally unbalanced or perhaps he just wanted a better seat and acted like a jerk. I don't know. I do know, however, that he managed to get by the TSA's much vaunted "layers" of security, including the roaming teams of voodoo practitioners behavior detection officers (BDOs). If Jeannard is mentally unstable, how come the BDOs didn't pick up on that?

Oh, well. Probably because they were too busy confiscating cupcakes, stealing iPads, and sticking their hands down people's pants.

 

 

Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)