In my career, the TSA was a fact by the time I was being asked to go "put out fires" far enough away that flying was expedient. I served in that "fireman's" position for nearly a decade after I retired from the day to day trench warfare that trying to stay ahead of what was at times was the most destructive news dept personnel group ever collected, but which probably wasn't. But being the lone C.E.T. in the region, I learned that time IS money, and a laid up camera waiting for the factory to repair, at 3x the cost I could do it, was a money waster, with hidden costs in the ratings earned. So despite some legendary arguments with my GM's from time to time about the cost of said spares, in the end I won enough of those arguments that it got easier to "do it my way". But after the official dinner & Rolex presentation, I found myself being asked to go and fix some of the other facilities also owned by the same gentleman. But every time I flew, what I'd take along or try to, was more and more restricted each time. And each time it seemed like a balancing act to have enough tools to get right to work on arrival, or get thrown in jail with zero recourse against the arbitrary decisions of somebody on an ego trip, he's working for the TSA! One time, one of them threatened to confiscate a pair of 4" flush cutting diagonal cutters, without which you cannot clean up the bottom of a pcb after you have replaced a component on that pcb. Worth about a 30 dollar bill when you can find them, they cannot be found at the local radio shack or home depot. I talked him out of it, but why the hell should I have had to?
Then again, time can be saved with a handy Cessna and with my wife of nearly 25 years being pulled down by COPD, leaving her alone for extended periods of time is not a good idea. So rather than 3 days driving each way to get to the UP from here, when the time there to effect a patchup repair generally only a day or 2, I've had the Cessna and its driver come and get me.
I didn't consider that aspect of it until I was in Grand Junction, running that 4 station complex for almost 4 months while the commission was agreeing to the sale & the takeover logistics were being arranged, that I realized I had better not do that again for that length of time. But that, and a short summer in the UP while I rebuilt an old leaky, channel 8, 8 bay antenna that was destroying the transmitter with its high VSWR, were my last lengthy trips out.
And now my physical condition is going downhill, the diabetes is getting worse, so there is no way I can do even a 6 hour days work.
I was called up to our local AM'er yesterday because his transmitter let the smoke out of some stuff it shouldn't have, and by the time I had extracted the bad choke, about 10Kg worth, fried extra crispy by a gassy 807 tube, the "domino" that started it all, I had spent about an hour down on my knees. Today, muscle cramps, even though I'm eating tums & B vitamins like they were M&M's, are making it difficult to even walk around the house, let alone go out and shovel the approximately 1" of partly cloudy off the deck. That on the knees bit is also insulting the hell out of a knee I tore up back in September. I've had the obligatory 3 shots of Hyaluronan, at $150/copy, but the torn cartilage, if it heals, will be slow, the age, nearly 80, and the diabetes are both working against it.
So the TSA is no longer a worry for me, I simply won't fly commercially again. But because of the TSA, the airline industry 12 years after 9/11/01 is probably half the size that it would be without their arrogance and screw you attitude they inflict on the passengers today. All these mergers are, pure and simple, the effect of the TSA bankrupting the industry, its dying gasp that I hope never gets to the final one. The bottom line is that all these 3 letter agencies are such a huge brain on the economy that they are THE major contributor to the USA's decline into a 3rd world country.
To relate the diffs of 50 some years a bit, I had an aunt who was the managing hostess of a major LA eatery, got a phone call as they were closing, I think in '60, that a long time friend had passed, in New Orleans. She called and was able to get a night flight, so left the place after locking up, with the days 4 digit proceeds and her carry piece in a bank bag in the bottom of a large shoulder purse she always carried. The carry piece was easy as she was married to the local Chief of Police. Anyway, she gets to N.O., and runs out later that morning to pick up some fresh underwear & discovers the genuinely sick bird piece is still in her purse. So she never let on, and 2 days later flew home with it. Today they would jack up the jail, slide you under it, and would not even "stick a brick under one corner", you would just "disappear".
TBT, if I knew there was somebody on board carrying, and who had the sense to put a bullet deep into a body as opposed to ventilating the skin of the craft, I'd be more relaxed knowing there was somebody who could say stop, and stop it if he had to. That's only common sense and ringing ears because even my teeny little (and permitted) carry piece would be very very loud when confined inside the craft.
Now I think I'll go see if I can find a comfy position for this knee. No beauty sleep tonight, way to late for that even if it did do some good... :(