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Chicago (AP) -- Airport security stops one airline pilot because
he's carrying a butter knife. Elsewhere, crews opt for pat-down
searches because they fear low-level radiation from body scanners
could be harmful. And in San Diego, one traveler is told he can't
fly at all when he likens an intrusive body search to sexual
harassment.


      Annoyance at security hassles has been on the rise among airline
crews and passengers for years, but the widespread use of full-body
image detectors this year and the simultaneous introduction of more
intrusive pat-downs seems to have ramped up the frustration.


      As passengers have simmered over being forced to choose scans by
full-body image detectors or rigorous pat-downs inspections, some
airline pilots are pushing back. Much of the criticism is directed
at the Transportation Security Administration.


      "I would say that pilots are beyond fed up," said Tom Walsh, a
pilot and sometimes aviation security consultant. "The TSA is
wasting valuable time and money searching the crew - who are not a
threat."


      Even one of the nation's most celebrated pilots, Capt. Chesley
"Sully" Sullenberger, has detected the growing unease.


      "The fundamental reason is that airline pilots are already the
last line of defense for anyone who poses a threat to the
airplane," said the soft-spoken Sullenberger, who successfully
ditched his US Airways plane in the Hudson River last year after it
struck birds during takeoff. "We are - and would like to be
considered - trusted partners in that important security mission."


      The scanners show a body's contours on a computer stationed in a
private room removed from the security checkpoints. A person's face
is never shown and the person's identity is supposedly not known to
the screener reviewing the images. Under TSA rules, those who
decline must submit to pat-downs that include checks of the inside
of travelers' thighs and buttocks.


      Top federal officials said Monday that the procedures are safe
and necessary sacrifices to ward off terror attacks.


      "It's all about security," Homeland Security Secretary Janet
Napolitano said. "It's all about everybody recognizing their
role."


      That's not how John Tyner sees it.


      The software engineer posted an Internet blog item over the
weekend saying he had been ejected from the San Diego airport after
being threatened with a fine and lawsuit for refusing a groin check
after turning down a full-body scan. He said he told one federal
TSA worker, "If you touch my junk, I'm gonna have you arrested."


      "I told the person that being molested should not be a
condition of getting on a flight," the 31-year-old said in a phone
interview Monday.


      Tyner, who was eventually told he could not fly at all because
he refused both modes of search, captured the incident on his cell
phone.


      "This is not considered a sexual assault," a supervisor can be
heard telling him.


      "It would be if you were not the government," replies Tyner.


      Many pilots say requiring them to go through security is
ridiculous.


      One 20-year airline pilot, Patrick Smith, recalled once being
stopped and questioned because he had a butter knife in a bag.

      "If a pilot like me is going to be up to no good, why would he
need a butter knife?" he said. "I'm in control of the entire
airplane!"


      Walsh argued that it sends a disturbing message to passengers
for them to see pilots being searched.


      "They must think, 'This is the guy flying the plane. If you
can't trust the pilot who can you trust?"' he said.


      Capt. John Prater, head of the Air Line Pilots Association,
noted pilots are already subject to FBI background checks. Prater
said that based on discussions with TSA officials Monday he was
hopeful the agency will soon approve a "crew pass" system that
would allow flight attendants and pilots to undergo less stringent
screenings.


      Some pilots also are concerned about possible health risks from
low-level radiation emitted by the body machines.


      Sullenberger, who recently retired, said pilots are exposed to
more radiation because they fly at altitudes where the atmosphere
doesn't fully block harmful rays.


      "So, for those of us who are already exposed to many times more
radiation than those who work on the ground, it is of concern to us
that we are exposed even in small amounts to additional, what we
consider unnecessary radiation exposure," he said.


      Sullenberger said he hasn't heard of studies addressing those
potential health risks, but he said, "Absent the data, I think we
need to err on the side of caution."


      Not all passengers share the level of ire of Tyner, whose
individual protest quickly became a web sensation over the weekend.


      Waiting to board a flight at Los Angeles International Airport
on Monday, Mark Spritzler said he, for one, accepted that scanners
were a necessary inconvenience.


      "It makes me feel safer flying," Spritzler, of Long Beach,
said. "I don't think they intrude on my privacy, the images are
seen behind closed doors and unfortunately this is what has to be
done to make things more secure."


      Associated Press writers Samantha L. Bonkamp in New York; Joan
Lowy and Adam Goldman and Sam Hananel in Washington, D.C., and
Robert Jablon and Daisy Ngyuen in Los Angeles contributed to this
report.

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The widespread use of full-body image detectors this year and the simultaneous introduction of more
intrusive pat-downs seems to have ramped up the frustration with airport security.

Pilots among those dismayed at scanners, pat-downs

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