Pilot May Lose Job for Refusing Full-body Scan

A pilot for ExpressJet Airlines may lose his job because he refused to submit to a full-body scan in Memphis, calling the technology "virtual strip searching."

After almost five years of flying out of Memphis, this was the first time TSA has asked Michael Roberts, who was in full uniform, to enter a full-body scanner. He declined but agreed to pass through a metal detector but would not allow agents to frisk him. Airport police were summoned, who demanded Roberts’ credentials and information. He agreed to supply everything except his boss' name and telephone number.

Here's what Roberts wrote on his ExpressJet blog:

"As I loaded my bags onto the X-ray scanner belt, an agent told me to remove my shoes and send them through as well, which I've not normally been required to do when passing through the standard metal detectors in uniform. When I questioned her, she said it was necessary to remove my shoes for the AIT scanner. I explained that I did not wish to participate in the AIT program, so she told me I could keep my shoes and directed me through the metal detector that had been roped off. She then called somewhat urgently to the agents on the other side: 'We got an opt-out!' and also reported the 'opt-out' into her handheld radio.

"On the other side I was stopped by another agent and informed that because I had 'opted out' of AIT screening, I would have to go through secondary screening. I asked for clarification to be sure he was talking about frisking me, which he confirmed, and I declined. At this point he and another agent explained the TSA's latest decree, saying I would not be permitted to pass without showing them my naked body, and how my refusal to do so had now given them cause to put their hands on me as I evidently posed a threat to air transportation security (this, of course, is my nutshell synopsis of the exchange).

"I asked whether they did in fact suspect I was concealing something after I had passed through the metal detector, or whether they believed that I had made any threats or given other indications of malicious designs to warrant treating me, a law-abiding fellow citizen, so rudely. None of that was relevant, I was told. They were just doing their job.

"Eventually the airport police were summoned. Several officers showed up and we essentially repeated the conversation above. When it became clear that we had reached an impasse, one of the more sensible officers and I agreed that any further conversation would be pointless at this time. I then asked whether I was free to go. I was not. Another officer wanted to see my driver's license. When I asked why, he said they needed 'information for their report on this "incident' – my name, address, phone number, etc.

"I recited my information for him, until he asked for my supervisor's name and number at the airline. Why did he need that, I asked. For the report, he answered. I had already given him the primary phone number at my company's headquarters. When I asked him what the Chief Pilot in Houston had to do with any of this, he either refused or was simply unable to provide a meaningful explanation. I chose not to divulge my supervisor's name as I preferred to be the first to inform him of the situation myself. In any event, after a brief huddle with several other officers, my interrogator told me I was free to go."