Interest In Old Airplanes = Security Threat?
Another from the "flying the paranoid skies" file, from a post on Consumerist. A guy (folk singer Vance Gilbert) is on a United flight reading books about old planes and they turn the plane around and shove him off to talk to some officers about it. Chris Morran at Consumerist posts a copy of his letter to United. An excerpt:
Now, I am a musician by trade and an amateur aviation historian, studying mostly European transport aircraft between WW 1 and WW 2, and some after. I was on my way to two different music festivals. When I travel I delve into reading about this era of aviation. I had taken out and was reading a book of Polish Aircraft circa 1946 and I was also looking at views of an Italian aircraft from 1921.I think you see where this is going...
The plane went all the way out to the take-off point, in the queue for take-off. All the while I noticed a lot of phone pinging back and forth between the flight attendants. The young woman flight attendant was also crouched next to and conversing seriously to a dead-heading pilot about 4 seats up on the other side. The plane then proceeded to turn around and head all the way back to the gate. Once at the gate, the jet bridge was positioned. The Captain announced, "We have a minor issue, and we will continue our departure once it's resolved." He left the aircraft.
After about 5-10 minutes, 2 Mass State Policemen, 1 or 2 TSA Agents... come down the aisle and motion me to get off of the plane. I do not remember if they called me by name. We stepped out into the breezeway where one of the State policemen asked how I was doing that day.
I replied, "Sir, I think you're going to tell me I could be doing much better..."
Policeman: "Did you have a problem with your bag earlier?"
Me: "No sir, not at all. The flight attendant wanted it secured elsewhere other than behind my feet, and I opted to put it under the seat in front of me. It's my wallet, even though there's only 30 bucks in it..."
Policeman: "Sir, were you looking at a book of airplanes?"
Me: "Yes sir I was. I'm a musician for money, but for fun I study old aircraft and build models of them, and the book I was reading was of Polish Aircraft from 1946."
Policeman: "Would you please go get that book so that i can see it?"
I go back onto the plane -- all eyes are on me like I was a common criminal. Total humiliation part 2.
After a couple of minutes he says, "Why, this is all Snoopy Red Baron stuff..."
Me: "Yes sir, actually the triplane you see is Italian, from 1921 a little after World War 1...."
Policeman: "No problem here then, you can go on back on to the plane, sorry to inconvenience you....and have a nice flight."
We were now at least, after re-queuing, over an hour late. No one looked me in the eye, flight attendants, passengers. I missed my next connection, and had to cancel that portion of the flight... rent a car ($270) plus fuel ($30) to my work (lost 1/2 wages = $100), and I was afraid to read for the next two flights...
What's my take-away from this experience as a taxpayer, United Airlines patron, Black Man, teacher, mentor, American? I was brokenhearted and speechless as I overheard my friend's wife try to explain to her kids what happened and what he and I were talking about over dinner. They never did get why.
Vance Gilbert, on his site, unfortunately plays the (ridiculous) race card, calling this "racial profiling," when there's no evidence of that. (Vance, you need permalinks!)
You'd think that a real terrorist would have, you know, studied up on planes prior to the flight -- instead of trying to cram last-minute.
I wonder who raised the alarm -- a paranoid passenger or a flight attendant.
In any case, I'm sure Gilbert will be adding himself to the list (which includes me) of the people who are willing to pay extra money to avoid flying United.
sofar at August 24, 2011 9:58 AM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2011/08/24/interest_in_old.html#comment-2439189">comment from sofarYou'd think that a real terrorist would have, you know, studied up on planes prior to the flight -- instead of trying to cram last-minute.
Hah. Love that.
Amy Alkon at August 24, 2011 10:28 AM
Well, even for absurd aircraft security situations, this one is truly out there. So while there is no evidence of it being racial profiling, there is also no evidence that it wasn't. I wouldn't rule it out either, or to quote Sherlock Holmes, "How often have I said to you that when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth?"
That said, there was one WWI African American Pilot, http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=705 flying for France of course, not Italy. My belated thanks to Eugene Jacques Bullard.
jerry at August 24, 2011 10:33 AM
Afte the cops left I would have said before sitting down
"Welcome to the new America folks, where reading books about plane that havent been built since WWI gets you treated like a potentail terrorist - fuck all of you for you passivity and silence.
lujlp at August 24, 2011 10:47 AM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUoycVXw9ew
Yeah, watch this video..and they let Bush jr. on airplanes?
BOTU at August 24, 2011 10:49 AM
BOTU, George Bush jr. flew planes.
Robert at August 24, 2011 11:00 AM
This should work as a permalink:
http://vancegilbert.com/index.php?page=blog&display=2245
Theodor Lauppert at August 24, 2011 11:25 AM
Normally, I agree completely with you, and there isn't any indication in this story, but being black and having been racial profiled... what evidence do you expect to see? It's not like racists walk up to you and say "I hate you black man and I'm going to make your life miserable and make sure that your ride is unpleasant." There are a lot of secret racism out there, as well as a lot of assholes. And there are some asshole racists. Unfortunately, you can never tell with any situation.
NikkiG at August 24, 2011 11:53 AM
Call me a racist if it makes y'all feel better, but after Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab (attempted to set a flight landing at DTW on fire Christmas 2009) got on a flight with no documentation because no one wanted to tell a black man "no", it's refreshing to see that innocent black men get the same crappy treatment as innocent white grandmothers and toddlers. The only real shock in this story is that the officers let him go when they realized the flight attendant was full of crap instead of detaining him further.
George at August 24, 2011 12:54 PM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2011/08/24/interest_in_old.html#comment-2439481">comment from Georgeit's refreshing to see that innocent black men get the same crappy treatment as innocent white grandmothers and toddlers.
If anything, it's a show of equal treatment!
Amy Alkon at August 24, 2011 1:06 PM
This had to cost United a lot in fuel and ill will. Were it me, I'd be pointing this out to the head of United in a letter. His flight attendant cost his airline money because of stupidity, or malice...
I'm not betting they will do anything about it, but they might. Some companies do care, and every big one has at least one less than perfect employee.
MarkD at August 24, 2011 1:13 PM
There are a lot of secret racism out there, as well as a lot of assholes.
They put him back on the plane, instead of detaining him. Doubt racism played that much of a part. But then again, it did happen up in Yankee-land, so maybe you're on to something.
I R A Darth Aggie at August 24, 2011 1:18 PM
> Unfortunately, you can never tell with
> any situation.
Is there a nuttier thing to say? "You can never tell with any situation." Jesus. So don't get out of bed in the morning, OK? Pull the covers over your head and clock out again. The world is insane, we can't possible make progress, and you should lie there starving until it's over.
(I can hear her now; 'I just meant that...' What? What could it mean? When people say things like that, so readily, what case are they making for how the world should work?)
Muffin, Kitten, Honeybun— Some of us CAN quite often tell when things are racist.
__________________________
And now, here's another fun security story.
Crid [CridComment at gmail] at August 24, 2011 2:18 PM
lujlp suggested one say: "Welcome to the new America folks, where reading books about plane that havent been built since WWI gets you treated like a potentail terrorist - fuck all of you for you passivity and silence.
So, bitch the entire flight out for not speaking up about the bogus nature of the incident... that they had no possible way to know was bogus at the time?
And that most of them evidently didn't even know was happening until the cops came on board?
Were they supposed to simply assume that plainly all of this drama was baseless, rather than based on something perfectly valid that they just weren't aware of?
Both things happen; none of the other passengers could know at the time which it was.
Sigivald at August 24, 2011 2:42 PM
...what they'd make of my reading selection, I hate to think.
Robert at August 24, 2011 3:15 PM
I don't get the 'racial profiling' claim - that doesn't even make any Goddamn sense, there is no stereotype of blacks being terrorists. Profiling, by frikkin *definition*, needs to be based on some existing stereotype or generalization. Since when are terrorists regarded as being mostly black, or blacks regarded as being generally terrorists? Seriously? Who sees a black guy on a plane and thinks 'terrorist'? Nobody, not even 'racists'. At least not unless he was wearing a turban or other muslim headgear, but even then it would be religious profiling, not racial profiling. Do people even think about the words that are coming out of their mouths.
Maybe someone involved was racist but as far as I can tell, the evidence points to someone just being dumb as a brick. Thankfully the policeman had at least half a brain cell, but reading up on 1940's planes isn't going to help anyone hijack a plane.
Lobster at August 24, 2011 3:32 PM
A little OT, but Marketwatch has an interesting column on TSA administrator John Pistole that will certainly not reassure most of us: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/tsa-groping-just-another-day-at-the-airport-2011-08-24?link=home_carousel
"Where are your papers old man?"
MikeHu at August 24, 2011 4:17 PM
So now the clueless fuckhead now has no idea, for sure, that he precipitated the incident. The rest of the sheeple don't know that there was a clueless fuckhead in their midst. The TSA are left in the "We protected you against a possible threat;" instead of "The TSA has no clue that WWI aviation is worlds away from flying a 757."
The biggest thing not learned by this incident is that the TSA can not protect you as an individual, any more than the police can protect you as an individual.
Every incident from the crash of Flight 93 onward has been the result of passenger action. Not a single thing the TSA has done has helped.
Jim P. at August 24, 2011 5:24 PM
So United FA's apparently have no duties regarding emergency procedures during takeoff prep, and have no obligations to not tie up the intercom with gossip about the pax during sterile-cockpit time. I'll bet the captain had a few choice words for them at the end of that flight.
Where I fly out of, damn near everyone who gets on board is going to have some reading material regarding aircraft (a hell of a lot more detailed than WWI glossy coffee-table books), spacecraft, missiles, or weapons against same. I wonder if the TSA sees the irony in a lot of Boeing and Airbus employees driving because they can't get on board the aircraft that they're helping to design.
Cousin Dave at August 24, 2011 6:47 PM
Cousin Dave:
Yeah, my brother works on electrical test stands for airliners. The TSA would probably freak out if they knew what was in his laptop--but they'd never understand what it was.
Dale at August 24, 2011 8:15 PM
I went through Portland last week and had the tsa gal manning the xray machine get upset that folks were holding back the line by not putting their items in the plastic bins on the bench but at the start of the line. Namely, a guy was holding up the line so some of us were trying to "tackle out" to make things go faster once we got to the actual machine.
Her reasoning was "its a security risk and they'll fine us". Oh noes, they'll dock your pay? Damn shame. At least there was no rapiscan machine.
Sio at August 25, 2011 1:10 AM
Vance Gilbert is light-skinned. Very light-skinned. I can see how the racist moron flight attendants, as well as countless similarly inclined Americans, could take him for a -- gasp! -- "Arab-looking" or "Muslim-looking" man. I hope they're proud of their preening patriotism.
The 9/11 victimology in this country is pathetic. As are the hysteria and paranoia, expertly whipped up by professional fearmongers such as John Pistole, Janet Napolitano, and the "security" industry.
Oh, well, we rounded up Japanese-Americans during WWII and stuck them in camps. Why not a little rounding-up of the new bogeyman du jour? Ho-hum, move along, nothing to see here.
Lisa Simeone at August 25, 2011 4:43 AM
I recall I once brought a gun magazine (the paper kind, not the type of magazine you load with rounds) for reading material onto a flight. I didn't even think twice about it, but in hindsight, I'll apparently have to think more carefully in future about my choices in in-flight reading material, as I'm sure that could have freaked some paranoid moron out.
Lobster at August 27, 2011 7:29 AM
Hey, that's a neat test. Aviation Week, American Handgunner, Tactical Gear -- just drop them on a seat at the gate.
Panic, everyone! Panic!
Radwaste at August 28, 2011 9:51 AM
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