April 20, 2007	Friday	Rabi-us-Sani 02, 1428

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ISLAMABAD, April 19: Newly-introduced intrusive Airport Security Force (ASF) checks for flight crews have annoyed pilots, one of whom has refused to fly on this pretext.

The crew, under the new procedures, is required to remove wings, appulets, belts, wrist watches and shoes before passing through the scanner.

Besides this, the ASF personnel search the trouser pockets, by putting their hands inside.

These measures came at a time when a team of Homeland Security from US is here to assess the possibility of granting permission to direct flights from Pakistan.

The pilots think this is an attempt to ridicule them. Mr M Khalid, a first officer on an international flight PK-241, is reported to have refused such intrusive checks finding them humiliating.

Certain other crew members had also refused to fly, but were pressurised by the management to undertake the flight. Since there were some trainees among the crew also, they succumbed to the pressure and agreed to fly.

He was then replaced by a standby first officer and the flight had to be delayed by almost 3 hours.

In his report, the first officer mentioned pilots and first officers of other flights, who protested against the new security regime. Mentioning the cause of refusing to fly, the first officer said: “I was humiliated in public and the resulting anguish brought me to a point where I could no longer consider myself fit for the job.”

Frustrated Pakistan Airline Pilots Association (Palpa) President Captain Khalid Hamza, told Dawn, that the association has protested against the attitude of ASF and had told them that “enough is enough”.

Captain Qasim, another pilot, said: “We undergo checks everywhere, but they are not as humiliating as what has been introduced here. This is counterproductive to making passengers feel safer. If the CAA want to make passengers feel safe, frisking the crews is downright foolish,” a pilot, asking not to be named said.

Interestingly, while the flight crew is subjected to intense searches, airport security personnel, maintenance personnel, cleaning crews, and other service personnel walk virtually unfrisked past security points.

Almost every airport employee can bypass the embarrassment and delay of near-cavity searches by flashing a badge. Several calls to ASF chief Brigadier Satti and director operations Colonel Ijaz for their comments went unanswered.