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Skywest pilot tries to steal CRJ200


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I can't eblieve there's an entire article about an airline theft/accident and not once was the word terrorism brought up. Perhaps we've finally healed and moved on.

Sad for the ex and the damage done. Could care less about the perp. At least we won't have to shell out hundreds of thousands on a trial and jail food.

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...Well MY condolences to the family and friends the lady killed, Christina Cornejo, and her colleagues at the Colorado Army National Gurad.. :salute:

Rest in Peace Ms Cornejo. :salute:

As fo the perpetrator, I dont really care that he died...{taking the cowards way out after committing such a heinous crime..I mean the Homicide and not the stealing of an Aircraft...}.It saves a lot of expense of a trial etc at least.

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I can't eblieve there's an entire article about an airline theft/accident and not once was the word terrorism brought up. Perhaps we've finally healed and moved on.

Sad for the ex and the damage done. Could care less about the perp. At least we won't have to shell out hundreds of thousands on a trial and jail food.

Actually this is an important incident - it shows how much of what TSA does now is pure security theater, in that the "flying public" side of airports is subject to all sorts of supposed security measures, while the back side of many airports are pretty much open. One of the national news outlets a couple of nights ago made a big deal out of the fact that airliners are not locked, and that there is nothing to keep somebody that knows how from starting one up and rolling away. This is news only to the general public.

I have a sneaking suspicion that at many major airports in the U.S. it would be pretty easy to jump the fence at night and you could be on the ramp in 15 minutes.

John Hairell (tpn18@yahoo.com)

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Hi FM-Whip, are you a GA pilot by any chance?

As for the general discussion, I can assure you that airliners are locked. This happened to be a skywest pilot who has a cockpit key and access to the cockpit. All he needed was a way to get to the jet. Frankly, I don't see what TSA has to do with any of this...

Aaron

Edited by jester292
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Hi FM-Whip, are you a GA pilot by any chance?

As for the general discussion, I can assure you that airliners are locked. This happened to be a skywest pilot who has a cockpit key and access to the cockpit. All he needed was a way to get to the jet. Frankly, I don't see what TSA has to do with any of this...

Aaron

Didn't TSA come under heavy flack from pilots for forcing them to go through the same security procedures as the rest of the commoners? After which, I believe they backed off in the face of all those protests. Now they are getting flack because they didn't have stringent enough procedures in place to prevent this pilot from getting access to an aircraft.

Sometimes I think that these guys just can't win.

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Didn't TSA come under heavy flack from pilots for forcing them to go through the same security procedures as the rest of the commoners? After which, I believe they backed off in the face of all those protests. Now they are getting flack because they didn't have stringent enough procedures in place to prevent this pilot from getting access to an aircraft.

Sometimes I think that these guys just can't win.

TSA isn't going to prevent a mental nutcase from having access to an airplane. He either goes through security like everyone else then steals the aircraft, or jumps the fence outside and walks up to the jet at the jetbridge. I agree, sometimes they (TSA) just can't win, but I still fail to see how they're involved with this incident.

Aaron

Edited by jester292
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Hi FM-Whip, are you a GA pilot by any chance?

As for the general discussion, I can assure you that airliners are locked. This happened to be a skywest pilot who has a cockpit key and access to the cockpit. All he needed was a way to get to the jet. Frankly, I don't see what TSA has to do with any of this...

Aaron

No, I'm not a rated GA pilot, although I do have a lot of stick time. I used to be a rated air traffic controller.

There are some questions as to TSA's role in all of this - well, they have been delegated by the Congress to set airport security rules. If you look at the TSA website it has links to all the applicable laws and regulations.

My contention is that this latest incident shows that the front end of airports are supposedly secure, but that the back side is open, and always has been. As far as locked aircraft, I bet that some are left unlocked, meaning external doors, not necessarily cockpit doors.

The official reports on this will be interesting to read.

John Hairell (tpn18@yahoo.com)

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No, I'm not a rated GA pilot, although I do have a lot of stick time. I used to be a rated air traffic controller.

There are some questions as to TSA's role in all of this - well, they have been delegated by the Congress to set airport security rules. If you look at the TSA website it has links to all the applicable laws and regulations.

My contention is that this latest incident shows that the front end of airports are supposedly secure, but that the back side is open, and always has been. As far as locked aircraft, I bet that some are left unlocked, meaning external doors, not necessarily cockpit doors.

The official reports on this will be interesting to read.

John Hairell (tpn18@yahoo.com)

External doors, yes. Many, if not all, are unlocked and unsecure. TSA's master plan for this is to disconnect jetbridges from aircraft that are parked overnight on the ramp. That still doesn't prevent a lunatic from opening the main passenger door on smaller aircraft like the CRJ.

Aaron

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External doors, yes. Many, if not all, are unlocked and unsecure. TSA's master plan for this is to disconnect jetbridges from aircraft that are parked overnight on the ramp. That still doesn't prevent a lunatic from opening the main passenger door on smaller aircraft like the CRJ.

Aaron

But it doesn't take a lunatic - an intelligent and determined person or group can penetrate airport security and get to aircraft.

So here's some questions:

1. What's the percentage of commercial passenger aircraft that have the jetways removed for overnight parking, is this industry-wide, and is it enforced?

2. What's the percentage of commercial passenger aircraft that have unsecured external doors while the aircraft is parked and left unattended?

3. What's the percentage of commercial passenger aircraft that have unsecured cockpit doors while the aircraft is parked and left unattended?

It might just be me, but I bet there's gaps in the system. I know that no system is 100% perfect, but you always hear it after the fact - "We never thought anybody would do THAT!", i.e. walk across the runways after jumping a fence, for example. I have a sneaking suspicion that some lateral thinking will lead to airport security penetration.

I just flew recently and watched two ground crew get on our aircraft and in the cockpit by accessing the ground doorway on the jetway, both of them using only one guy's security card swipe to access the door. Meanwhile the pilot got on-board by using his keycard to access the jetway from the departure lounge, but the rest of the crew (co-pilot and several flight attendants) later got on without using their keycards at all because a guy had come along to man the door for passenger boarding passes and had propped it open and then left the door unattended for a few minutes to go talk to a cute passenger rep working some distance away at the gate counter. The chain is only as strong as the weakest link...

John Hairell (tpn18@yahoo.com)

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I can't help but think... Where was he think he was going? I suppose that the situation probably didn't allow for rational thought.

Maybe (i write, maybe) he was wishing to "ends-it-all" in a much more dramatic way... which happily for everyone, he fails to

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