Whistleblower Pilot Wants to 'Come Out of Shadows'
Man who posted videos showing airport security flaws hopes to reveal identity.
Dec. 26, 2010— -- The airline pilot who spoke out anonymously after he was reprimanded by the TSA for posting videos showing security flaws at a major airport said today he may reveal his identity this week.
The 50-year-old California man told ABC affiliate KXTV in Sacramento that he hopes he will be able to "safely come out of the shadows."
"I look forward to fully joining the debate on the national security problems that I helped to expose through my YouTube videos," the pilot wrote on his website, The Patriot Pilot.
The pilot's attorney, Don Werno, told KXTV that the man still feared retaliation from the Transportation Safety Administration, but he wanted to keep his job as a pilot.
In an interview with "World News" last week, the pilot, who asked that his name and the airline he works for not be made public, said it was the "fallacy of the system" that inspired him to post the videos on YouTube.
Late last month, he took a series of videos with his cell phone to show major flaws he says still exist in airport security systems. The videos show how easily ground crews at San Francisco International Airport were able to access secure areas.
"As you can see, airport security is kind of a farce. It's only smoke and mirrors so you people believe there is actually something going on here," the pilot says on one video.
The pilot says he has worked for his airline for more than a decade, and was also an Army reserve helicopter test pilot. He was deputized by the TSA to carry a gun in the cockpit. But he said he'd had enough, and wanted to do what he could to draw attention to what he says is still a major problem in airport security.
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