Source: www.bloomberg.com

U.S. airline pilots will be exempted from physical checks at airport security checkpoints so federal screeners can better focus on passengers, the Transportation Security Administration chief said.

Pilots starting next year will be able to move through checkpoints with proof of identity, said John Pistole, who leads the agency, in an interview today at Bloomberg’s office in Washington. He said he is in talks with flight attendants about similar exemptions.

“This one seemed to jump out as a common-sense issue,” Pistole said. “Why don’t we trust pilots who are literally in charge of the aircraft?”

The plan, which Pistole said will be rolled out in next year’s first quarter, may help ease checkpoint congestion, which has become a concern as consumers prepare to travel for next week’s Thanksgiving holiday in the U.S. Pilots have sought faster checks for years and intensified efforts in recent weeks after the agency had said they would be subject to body scans and pat-downs as part of new security procedures at airports.

Spokesmen for pilot unions and the Air Transport Association, the Washington-based trade group for large U.S. carriers, didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment today.

“Screening airline pilots for the possession of threat objects does not enhance security,” the Air Line Pilots Association, the world’s largest crew union with 53,000 members, said Nov. 12. “Pilots have the safety of their passengers and aircraft in their hands on every flight.”

Pilots Object

Other unions representing 14,800 pilots at AMR Corp.’s American Airlines and US Airways Group Inc. urged members to avoid body scanners, which would force the workers to get pat- downs and potentially add to logjams at security lanes.

Pistole and executives at his agency have been meeting with pilot unions and airlines in recent weeks in anticipation of today’s announcement.

With the change, “we save limited resources in terms of who we are physically screening,” Pistole said in the interview. The approach will “allow us to pay more attention to those potential terrorists.”

Pilots initially would not face biometric checks. They would use airline-issued passes and have identities confirmed by a computer system that has yet to be chosen, Pistole said.

David Bates, president of the Allied Pilots Association, which represents American Airlines’ 9,600 active pilots, told members in a Nov. 1 e-mail that body scanners “could be harmful to your health” by exposing them to radiation beyond what they receive from flying aircraft.

The union recommended that pilots use designated crew lines for screening where available, and otherwise decline scanner exposure and request an alternative in a private area.

The US Airline Pilots Association, which represents pilots at US Airways, gave similar advice to its members and urged pilots to make sure they have a witness to any pat-down search.