Via Yahoo News:
SAO PAULO – A United Airlines pilot was briefly detained at the international airport in Rio de Janeiro after lowering his pants during a security screening, police said Saturday.
Pilot Michael D. Slynn, 49, was asked to remove his belt and shoes as part of a routine security screening Friday afternoon. In response, Slynn laughed at security guards and lowered his pants to his ankles, said a police spokesman who was prohibited by departmental rules from giving his name.
Slynn was detained but released shortly afterward and allowed to fly back to Washington, D.C., after signing a document promising to appear before a judge the next time he is in Brazil, the spokesman said.
The moral of the story comes from this tidbit:
Federal Police Chief Rafael Andreatta was quoted by the Internet site of the Brazilian newspaper O Globo as saying the pilot “did not respect security rules and made fun of officers.”
Thank God the TSA doesn’t have this type of authority!
In all honesty, apparently the issue was that the pilot didn’t want to remove his shoes and belt. While I generally agree pilots shouldn’t have to remove their shoes and belt, his reaction was idiotic at best. And it seems like this was a 777, which would suggest that the pilot does a lot of international flying. That makes me wonder what gave him the idea it would be ok to screw around with airport security in another country.
Well, I guess this is still better than what happened on the United flight from Sao Paulo to Chicago about a year ago…
Very poor judgement from the pilot side, never joke around with TSA in US especially in other country.
This also reminds me that incident where a pilot (AA?) flipped his middle finger when having his picture taken by the Brazilian immigration officer when the whole "picture taking" policy first implemented.
Poor judgement. I'd expect more from a pilot of a commercial airliner.