Angry pilot drop his pants, asks checkpoint staff to "search this"

[Mike Scott]

A pilot for Swiss International Airways decided that enough was enough at the London City Airport security checkpoint.

Instead of complying with all staff instructions, he dropped his pants and underwear, completely exposing himself, and asked whether they wanted to "search this".

I'm not sure what part of being asked to take off his belt and shoes prompted the outburst, but a source is on record saying nobody understood why the pilot lost his cool and that he might have been "having a bad day".

His antics meant 37 passengers were delayed for 2 hours while government staff investigated the matter.

It could have been worse though, the incident happened at the staff-only checkpoint, so no passengers had to come face to face with the half naked pilot. Of course, if this happened in the US, they probably would have emptied the terminal for fear of a terrorist pen-- attack

I can totally relate to this poor guy...how many times have I wished I had the "ba--s" to do the same thing. The poms are just as bad as our illustrious TSA (Thousands Standing Around) over here. We have similar employee only checkpoints that are open during "business hours" (not airline business hours of course) and management reminds us constantly about how much it costs to staff this so called convienience !!!!

There is light at the end of the tunnel now that TSA has expanded the CrewPass test program which is currently in place at BWI, PIT, and CAE. The program which is run by ARINC includes a biometric management component in addition to access to a database of id photos in real time which according to folks that have used it seems to work very well. Its similar technology thats used in our current cockpit access system which has proven to be an excellent application.

So....while I'd love to do the same thing I shudder at the pile of HR paper work, shrink visits, and other distractions that would follow. My hat's off to the guy !!!! I LOVE IT !!!

MS

[Nigel C]

Sounds like he was sick of the checks so thought he'd act the goat, eh Mike?


Yes, I know, I shouldn't encourage him

[NickN]

Hope he didn't have skidmarks, might have proven to be a very embarassing outburst.

I wonder if any of our own Qantas pilots have ever lost it in this fashion? Would make for a great You Tube series.

[Robert Zweck]

I suppose he listened to his Mum and went to work with clean underwear.

Just in case....