What this guy was walking on were the Total Air Temperature probes. The plane needs this so the Air Data Computer can compute minor things like true airspeed. Inaccurate airspeed values can cause a crash; bad sensor data caused by moisture contamination recently led to the crash and total destruction of a $1.4 billion B-2 bomber.

This idiot was directly endangering the lives of hundreds of people. He shouldn't just be fired, he should be criminally prosecuted, as should his superiors. The TSA has no mandate or authority to climb around on airplanes looking for unlocked doors.

If I were American, I would just send TSA a bill. Find out who the idiot TSA employee is, get his/her manager's name, and send them a bill. Send a copy to the newspaper with the title, "Your tax dollars at work."
I figure it's at least $2,000,000+ in lost airfare, plus the repairs to the airplanes. 40 flights, let's say 100 passengers, assuming a mix of smaller regional jets and some medium-sized jets. At $500 a ticket, that's $2,000,000. Send them a bill. TSA needs to learn that they can't send Laverne & Shirley out on the tarmac with their trusty screwdriver, pliers, and hammer.

Oh, well excuse me! Four WHOLE weeks of training. Well then obviously it's the plane's fault for not being strong enough to avoid being broken by the extensively trained TSA agent.

Planes don't have locks.

Idiot TSA person broke planes because he or she is exactly what a government employee is- rude, incompetent, unfit for any other job, and futureless without the position.

Also, TSA is the worst.

"Please don't tell me that this is a government operation."

Cheers!

I saw the "No Step" sign, so I jumped on it.

@kepler11:

How can a person like this continue to be employed? Um, have you had no contact with actual humans for an extended period of time? People like this vastly outnumber logical sane people with common sense.

Everyone has a co-worker who continually screws up but never gets fired. Thank the lawyers for this one...companies are terrified of getting hit with a wrongful termination suit. If you want to fire someone, you have to have an insane amount of documentation and even then you still might lose in court. Many people are not afraid to play the race card or the gender card or the age card if they think they will lose their job. Worse yet is the employee who decides to seek revenge.

During college, I did research in a biochemistry lab on campus. Several of their projects involved live animals and they had to follow very stringent government regulations regarding the welfare and treatment of the animals. There was a lab employee who was ridiculously incompetent (wouldn't show up on time, called in sick continually, would fiddle with equipment she shouldn't have been touching and subsequently would contaminate experiments). She did not work with the animals directly, but on occasion, she did have to go out to where they were housed. They finally got enough on her to fire her and she brought the FDA down on them with allegations of animal mistreatment. It was eventually proven false, but they had to stop the research during the investigation. Grants were lost and PhD candidates had to put their careers on hold. Her excuse was that she was fired because she complained about the treatment of the animals.

and if all else fails for these incompetent TSA folks there's always going to be a home for them at the Department of Motor Vehicles... where officiousness and a total lack of regard for your fellow man are a prerequisite on the application.

@kepler11:

That's quite a bold statement you make.

TSA: See your planes are badly secured, I got right in with this blowtorch.

Airline: How the heck did you get a blowtorch to the plane?

TSA: We snuck it by Frank when he was body cavity searching some poor schlub after we hid nail clippers and a bottle of Prell in his bag.

Both HAHAHAHAH!!!

Why would someone need to go to the effort of breaking into an aircraft to plant a bomb? You are already on the ground next to the plane, with access to all sorts of aircraft parts and places.

I think this is good. If it was that easy for him to get on, it will be just as easy for someone to sneak onto the tarmac and plant a bomb. Go TSA!!!!!!

that almost attempts to justify his actions by saying that he was successful in breaking into some of the planes.

Never mind that damaging avionics would make the planes useless to someone who broke in.

Next, maybe they should have this inspector set fire to a few aircraft, to show that they were a fire danger.

Ah yes, one more shining example of why the pubes they hire to work at the TSA are completely unfit for the responsibilities of keeping the people in this country safe. Not that I think this officer, or any of the others, really care too much about our safety - they are, after all, far too busy power-tripping to give a rat's behind. But at least the illusion of giving a damn would be helpful.

Second, a comment on the TSA. This reflects the level of incompetence that is pervasive throughout the TSA, and the worthless level of people they have staffed this organization with. No person with any training around aircraft would do such a stupid, ridiculous thing. They hired someone who was absolutely incompetent and had no training. That seems to be the standard bottom-of-the-barrel that this agency is comfortable with.

Finally, we as taxpayers will have to foot the bill for the repair and cleanup of this fucking ridiculousness.

None of this cargo is inspected at even a cursory level. Oh, sure, you can't drop parcel of a certain size into a mailbox, but once that mailbox is sorted according to level 2 ZIP code, it just gets thrown in a sack and tossed on the airplane you're riding in.

Sure is safe, hunh? Heckuva job, TSA.

At least for the past several years, yes.

@zentex:

Doesn't that describe just about every government agency though?

Complete incompetence, ridiculous excuses, mind-numbing bureaucracy, and fiscal incomptence coupled with a lack of an accountability and oversight, that's our entire government to a T. And it's nothing new, so stop blaming Bush or Clinton or Bush Sr. It goes MUCH further back than that.

Seriously though, TSA's security 'protocols' seem like they are designed by someone who has never even been near an airport, much less ever seen or flown on a plane.

When the hammer falls on the TSA, it wont be pretty. I only hope it drops soon.

You don't have to worry about terrorists entering planes if the airport perimeter is secure. It's TSA's responsibility to ensure that it is. Why wasn't the inspector checking the perimeter instead?

Hey TSA: Secure the perimeter!

I think hidden in the sarcasm of the "No Step" sign comments is the insinuation that once someone is able to get that close to a plane it really doesn't matter if it is locked or not.

Right

If they don't self-destruct from that Star Trekkish ploy, put them in a giant squirrel cage and we get a durable alternative energy source.

[farm3.static.flickr.com]

The TSA should be held liable for the damage done to these aircraft and the cost of getting them inspected after the damage is repaired as well. They SHOULD take it out of the moron's hide who actually climbed up the aircraft, but we read all the time how TSA employees aren't actually responsible for knowing how to do their job, so that's not likely to happen.

Silly rabbit, don't you know that once your hired by the government your in till you want to go? Now you may get reassigned to Alaska but "fired" and "layoffs" isn't in any government bureaucracy vocabulary.

TSA is non-union and at-will. This means little, if any, training in airframes or safety.

But, hey they work cheaper than union and dare not complain. Entitleds wet dream.

I just noticed in the picture that they are the smaller airplanes, I can't compare those to MD11's. But this guy needs to be shitcanned. Ignorance isn't an excuse.

i almost wonder if it's better to keep them where they are @_@...

If someone outside of the TSA damaged 9 airplanes, wouldn't they be liable for both criminal and civil lawsuits?

This guy (and perhaps members of his chain of command) need to be prosecuted.

There are rumors floating about on the interwebs that American Eagle launched this accusation vs. TSA after they got caught with some potentially very expensive violations.

There's nothing wrong with checking for locked doors and latches on a plane by the TSA, and yes, american should have the doors and such properly locked. However, that is no excuse for the TSA people to be stepping on the plane in such a way that it damages it. You can check the doors by using something like, oh, I don't know... a ladder? There's NO reason the TSA person should be stepping on something on a plane that says "DO NOT STEP"

BTW, many fairings have what are called Zeus fasteners which means you can remove the whole panel in about a minute (if you've done it a few times) and install it in about two.

Bottom line is that TSA agents should be trained to test security near and on the airplanes without damaging anything. I can't speak for passanger airlines, but when the TSA and our security guards test our airplanes, they just walk up to the door of the plane, you don't need to do anything other than that. Actually we are just supposed to have the stairs pulled away from the airplane, the doors can be open but the only way to get into the airplanes are with the stairs, which weigh several tons.

The TSA agent was a f***ing idiot if he tried to pull himself up with a pilot tube. The only reason I can see him trying to do that is if the door was open, because you can't open the doors from the outside.

TSA is just another glowing example of government incompetence.

Why should we pay for them to keep screwing up?

@Quilt:

I will refer you to: this starred commentor or no..

I don't see any problem with this. He broke some avionics equipment? It sucks, but would a thief give a shit about avionics equipment?

The big issue here is that the TSA broke something then starts saying how it isn't their fault because AA was wrong too. Mind you they are using the same excuse on the 2 planes that they said had nothing wrong with them.

It just goes to show the power we have given these people. The TSA really needs to be fixed.

You'd think that something that's covered with a big red leather strap, specifically to protect it, would be obvious enough that it's not a step, but then again, this IS the TSA.

If someone did that to my bird, they'd be paying to fix it.

And I'd love to see the looks on passengers' faces when they're told "oh, yeah, flight's XXed, because the security staff decided to wreck the airplane's pitot tubes in the name of security". Ugh.

Next year, if my travel plans work out the way I think they're going to, I will only fly once, round-trip. I suspect my stress levels will lower accordingly.

Jesus, what is this, "Laurel and Hardy Join the TSA"?

I have to add here, too, that the terrorists would probably NOT use the equipment as a ladder, SHOULD they decide to steal a plane, simply because then it WOULDN'T WORK.

Wow. This situation is an epic fail of monumental proportions, and I almost. Can't. Look. Away.

@dopplerd: The equipment was mounted outside the aircraft, and had nothing to do with testing the doors. The TSA used it as a ladder as opposed to getting an actual ladder, because he was lazy or stupid, or both, in accordance with TSA's policy.

This is hilarious to me, though. Grounding planes because of broken equipment? I wonder if TSA's "get out of jail free card" covers that? Will AA be reimbursed, and is TSA going to cover the costs for rerouting and compensating all those passengers?

Way to screw up and already completely screwed up system, TSA! ...Is there any kind of Golden Turd we can award to Gov't agencies??

@Johnyq1982: I'm sorry. I was swinging pretty wide there, and might have accidentally got you.

Tylenol.. It'll help.

@dopplerd: The doors on most commericial airplanes don't have locks. There are methods of securing the airplanes while they are parked overnight however that I'm sure American Followed.

This is akin to some parking lot security guard (about the same skill set) trying to break into cars parked in the lot to ensure the vehicles are secured and then saying "not our fault" when they break some windows doing so.

Why isn't this simple vandalism? Oh wait, it happened in an airport? That's a tazerin' and a felony.

Two seperate issues because it is very clear that many of our esteemed commentors can't overcome their natural psychological inclinations. (IE, you're stupid)

AA screwed up because they didn't properly secure their planes.

No one, including AA, is claiming that the signs that said not to screw with the avionics equipment was a security device. The signs are there for airline personell, so they don't accidentally screw everything up. This would include TSA.

TSA, in the course of their security checks should take care not to screw up the plane. Sure, a terrorists might not heed a warning not to mess with sensitive equipment... That doesn't excuse a TSA agent who did, and screwed up nine flights.

So, in sum:

@TornadoRex: No one said the signs were a security measure. They are their so people working on/inspecting the plane don't screw it up and kill people.

@Botticelli711: The security lapse (not locking the plane properly) is AA's fault. Screwing up the planes is not.

@dopplerd: See above for TornadoRex. You two should hang out.

The TSA really needs some accountability. It seems as though they answer to no one but themselvesm which is always a recipe for disaster.

I'm glad that the TSA is insuring the doors are locked overnight, so that the next day, when the plane is loaded with thousands of pounds of uninspected commerical cargo, the plane will be totally safe.

/sarcasm off

Jebus. It's not that the "Do not step" sign is meant by AA to deter terrorists. But it should have been a warning to the inspector to use other means of getting up there do his inspecting.

@dopplerd:

I think the real problem is that "No Step" in only written in English. If the terrorist doesn't read English then the warning is useless.

These tubes are towards the airplane's nose. That tells me that he was trying to lift himself to look through the cockpit's windshield for whatever reason.

Here's a clue, Magoo, if the door is locked (which is all you're required to check per TSA regulations), go to the next plane, Gomer!

not only are the airplanes not secure, they're now not flyable.

@dopplerd: no, but the terrorist will probably want to fly that plane away and therefore still won't step on and break the freaking equipment needed to do so.

The issue here is NOT the fact that American has a sign and piss poor security, it's that the people in charge of security had to endanger thousands of lives (by breaking planes) just to test it.
I predict the next test by TSA is to see if the pilots are vulnerable to bullets. Or to see if the plane is vulnerable to a rocket.

Of course, criticisms of TSA just mean we are supporting terrorists.

[abcnews.go.com]

First rule of inspecting: understand what you are inspecting, so that you don't break it. I mean, I know that's a really advanced concept to expect these TSA simpletons to understand, but still.

"Our inspector was also following routine procedure for creating unnecessary problems, as consistent with the TSA's mission."

Perhaps it is time to update the routine procedures to include avoiding breaking the plane to test it.