Just wait for the folks that manage our airport security transfer to the new national health care gigs. Free body cavity search before your colonoscopy!

Welcome to the USSA. First, they took away people's ability to fly (if your name appears on a terror watch list) without judicial process. Now, they are wanting to take away people's Second Amendment rights without judicial process(link). What's next? Perhaps they will require everyone on the watch list to wear an identifying symbol (say a yellow crescent). Maybe they will just round up everyone the watch list and put them in camps? After all, they are terrorists, and it is for the children.

Though The Big Guy loves Joe Chow, The Big Guy thinks this is total bullshit

As you can see below, The Big Guy went and saw the B-24 and B-17 at Love Field in April - and there was no issue with cameras

http://tinyurl.com/krzzgn

One old-timer gruffed under his breath, "It's the U.S.A., not U.S.S.R. -- I didn't fight to protect this shit."

And I didn't grow up a moral human being to be subjected to what this is either.... HORSESHIT.

Big Guy, read the entry - "I thought the tarmac was the cement runway, but it's actually a hundred yards or so on each side." Photos are OK. Standing on the tarmac...no so much.

another story in a long line of over-the-top "OMG HE HAS A CAMERA ARREST HIM" homeland security bullshit. When's Obama going to shut those assholes down for good?

"When's Obama going to shut those assholes down for good?" He's not. He's a politician. And, like all politicians, he likes power. The TSA is another tool that gives politicians the power to control people.

@jcar

All The Big Guy can tell you is that there were plenty of people milling about right near the taxiway where the tow bombers were parked, until it was time for them to start flying.

This included The Big Guy getting a thrill of a life time (seriously) being able to climb aboard both the B-17 and B-24 to have a look around

@jcar

As you'll notice in the photos from the slide show, Danny had been inside the plane for quite a while, grabbing pics of the pilots and participants, long before he had a pistol aimed at him.

if he was an Arab, you'd all be glad.

Thanks for the comments guys.
But, I was on the tarmac, after being told not to be, it was my fault. I did not know the legal boundaries, and my ignorance of the Law is no excuse.

For the record, I'm not sure the gun was pointed, once I saw him unholster the gun, my eyes went to reading his lips, as I am quite hard of hearing and I wanted to make sure I understood his commands.

My Dad died 35 years ago, but his wisdom came back in a flash on Fathers Day.
"Right or Wrong" my Dad once said, " Never, Never argue with a Man with a Gun, say Yes Sir, No Sir, then get the hell out of there." He was no pussy, fought and flew in two wars.

luniz

" if he was an Arab, you'd all be glad."

Do you mean Terrorist? Or, are all Arabs Terrorists?

Hey, don't knock the security measures at the Addison Airport. After all, since they have been doing this, not one terrorist has struck in Addison. NOT ONE. Don't you feel protected now? And, by the way, you can thank George the W and Dick the Dick for these highly effective security procedures.

Dan -

Thanks for the awesome pictures, but please don't let the FACTS get in the way of our righteous indignation, politician bashing, and race-card-playing...

Achtung! Ve haf vays of making you talk. You have relatives in ze old country, no?

Barney Fife lives!

All I know is that I love watching them fly over my house in the spring and fall every year. One of the perks of living in East Dallas.

Curious to see what Carlos Miller of the Photography Is Not a Crime website would say about this.

These officers have to have something to do, I certainly wouldn't thank them. Now very likely the photographer is going to be on some of the lesser do not fly lists.

I have a friend on one of the lists whichever list he is on he can still fly but they pull him aside for extra review and have an officer on the plane. After the embarssment of all of that he now drives.

Yet another example of what happens when you give retards a bit of authority.

I was watching a procession in England, London outside Buckingham palace. Some kids tried to take a short cut across the open procession area, a cordoned off zone.
The police told them to get back behind the barricade and go the long way around.
No guns (and there were armed police there, unusual for England), No melodramatic show of force, no overzealous intimidation. Just common sense and a sufficient use of authority.
Would it not have sufficed for the cop to have dealt with the situation instead of escalating matters to such a degree.
You mentioned hard of hearing, so perhaps he did try something before that, but logic seems to have been avoided here.

The police were NOT professional... "he unholstered his gun" - what part of walking a few feet further than allowed necessitates the use or deadly force?

What's he going to do with the gun, it fills up one of his hands and leaves him with only one hand free to do anything. The gun hand only is useful now to shoot someone...

What total cowboys!

The vet was right... that's USSR type tactics.

1984 is a NOVEL, not an INSTRUCTION MANUAL 1

DB, by, "he unholstered his gun", I meant that he unlocked it from the holster, and Im pretty sure it was a show of force and a defensive tactic, Im not sure he handled it.
I was there and I do not think he exceeded his authority.

David, the vet was referring to Homeland Security laws, not the Cops Tatics.

Again, I did a stupid thing in the wrong place at the wrong time. The officers were only doing their Job.

Big Guy, ....sitck it to Da Man:)

You should consider yourself unlucky. Like the Vet said this is The United States of America. YOU had everyone's permission. NOW you are going to be on some bureaucratic list.

I say GO AMERICA!

I wonder how long it will be before he turns up on the no-fly list?

as for when will his highness Obama shut this BS down??? ummm, never??? yeah, that would be my guess.

When Bush 43 came out with the whold idea of "Homeland Security" just the name made me shiver... and sure enough, it seems as if the're turning into quite the goon squad.

Unintended consequence of the silly fear-based regulations enacted by the Bush administration after the terrorists killed as many Americans as cars kill in 5 months.

Next time your gov't says it needs to curtail rights and freedoms in the name of safety, change your shorts, be a MAN and say NO.

It saddens me beyond words to watch what has happened to America and how it, as an ideal, is dead. The citizenry no longer have any carved in stone rights. The constitution is a concept not a holy law. The terms rights and freedoms have been replaced with a military junta that answers to no one. There was an article the other day about small plane pilots who are regularly pulled from their crafts, searched, ID'd and otherwise subjected to the new American Reich. One man complained to the S.S., you know State Security, DHS. They told him in no uncertain terms that yes they do have the right to do it. No they don't have to answer to him or anyone else. Everyone is sitting around hoping that this will end but it wont. It will only get worse. It has gotten worse every single year since the most anti-American administration in history were first voted in then defrauded the next election. It continues under the audacity of hype sell-out.
Sadly, and seemingly hopelessly it is left to Americans to take back their nation. Just as sadly, as long as everyone is watching Faux news and laughtrack-reality tv then no one cares enough.
I just wish that someone had the decency and courage to hold a funeral for America the ideal. It was the noblest of concepts and it was murdered my a government who is too busy feeding itself.
America, a Haliburton subsidiary corporation. Requiescat in pace.

DHS and regular old police are turning into a bunch of common thugs. That officer should be fired for pointing his gun at an innocent man (someone he's supposed to be protecting).

Time to end the crisis structures, can the public-private interests and corporate welfare recipients, and fire the fools who perpetuate these stupid bureaus. If the government had been doing its job to begin with, 9/11 wouldn't have happened and your friend would have had a wonderful time with the Liberator.

The DPS is really just another layer of crap intended to protect incumbents, anyway.

Oh, so what? Had they been BART cops you would be dead now.

But you still bent over and took it. Yeah, I know there was nothing much more you could have done, but the old vet was right: what he thought he was fighting for was for what happened to you on the tarmac to not happen, and also, for citizens like you to not be cowed into complacency by police-state enforcers by years of social conditioning. You should have more rights than that, if I understand your American constitution as it was back in the day when that vet was fighting to protect it. I'm not even an American, but I can see that this constitution has eroded within my lifetime because it is being interpreted through right-wing conservative glasses and twisted into something vile. Thanks for blogging the experience though, more people need to know what kind of crap like this goes on every day in the name of "security" and "freedom".

Mea culpa's aside, anyone that can be trusted with a firearm in the general population should also have the good judgment to determine what action, if any, is appropriate. The main beef is not that you unknowingly stepped onto someone's definition of the tarmac, but the failure of the security organization to act judiciously. The police are people, too. People make mistakes. That we should not, politely, point out when a mistake has been made is a mistake in and of itself.

This is why I felt very little loss when I left the US for good (except for visits).

There simply isn't much left of what my dad fought for in WWII....he fouhgt for 50-odd years of freedom, but it's now over.

Here in rural Japan, (which has far more laws and less official rights) I have way more day-to-day freedom to just BE. I commit 10 acts a day that would have me arrested in the US....riding a bike without a helmet, chatting with teenage girls on the way to work, taking pictures of ships at the wharf just to name a handfull.

The US is over. I guarantee he is on the no-fly list and will NEVER get off it. SO much for Hope and Change.

I'm glad I left.

I am pretty sure that the small leather/nilon strap that extends over a policeman's weapon to secure it when he isn't using it is supposed to be un-latched whenever he is approaching someone in an official police manner. Like to tell someone they are in the wrong place and violating the law. I seriously doubt the cop was safety off and aiming for center of mass.

Before you make any conclusions, he walked away from the "Tarmac" and crossed an active runway. All with out any ones permission.

a) There's some borderline racist commentary in one post, who cares whether the guy was Arab or not, for the record dude people in Afghanistan, Pakistan or Iran aren't Arabs either you ignorant twit

b) Clearly he needed to be escorted back to a safe area when it was no longer safe to have him there but this did not require a gun or handcuffs given the abundance of un-refuted evidence that his presence was allowed up until then. The cop was a trigger happy turk and needs to go back to having his hand held until he knows how to behave like an officer of the law.

We've had the Collings Foundation (the other B24) out here in California - with people taking pictures, walking all around it, up into and through the planes - right up until they warm up and prepare for takeoff. With the engines running you stay the hell back, but no cops, no "Homeland Security" at all. I've been up in the B-25 Mitchell and the B-17 - skipped the B-24 this year for economic reasons.
And I rode a bike without a helmet past some cops and nothing happened, nor with taking pictures of boats in the harbor.

Hey "was there". You are right, I was ignorant of the rules and Laws. Clear something up for us, in layman's terms, would you? What are the differences between Tarmac, Runway, Taxi Way, and what color stripes differentiate the rules they imply?

the cop didn't pull his gun people, the photographer stated this in the comments. He undid the strap so he could draw if needed, a step to insure his saftey. Same step that is taken during traffic stops.

I agree the story is messed up but stop villifying everyone

@ When Bush 43 came out with the whold idea of "Homeland Security"
---
Sorry to break this, but the DHS idea originated primarily from the Dem's. Bush initially resisted the idea, but eventually got on the bus.

And no, Obama has no public plans to change anything, like most other draconian national-security initiatives from the Bush era.

Only doing their job? Uhhh, so were the SS under Hitler....

Obey.

Always obey authority.

Authority typically represents, directly or indirectly, the USA's elite class, corporate America and wealthy / powerful special interest groups.

Those groups must be obeyed.

You mere commoners exist to serve them.

The USA is in the midst of class war.

Authority has the right, the power, the man power and enormous bureaucracies created by the elites and their lackeys and minions to enforce their authority.

From incarceration to taking your wealth and even murdering you, authority holds immense power and you are powerless.

Voting, especially at the federal level, is a farce.

You have no choice but to obey.

The elites' status quo so beneficial to the few must and will be maintained.

No matter how many mere commoners (96 percent or so of USA citizens) are harmed or murdered the elites, corporate America and those special-interest groups WILL be protected.

Just obey. You may be okay if you do.

The jack-booted thugs do make mistakes and innocents are harmed but no price is too high to maintain the status quo.

Obey.

@Markdeman - UK police restrained? You don't read the news much do you?

Take the pigs and homeland INsecurity idiots up for a parachute jump.
"OK, out you go.
Oh, what's that? You forgot your chutes??
To damn bad."

A Bomber?
Is that not one of those murder machines that kill innocent civilians?
What do you morons find so exiting about that,are you mentally ill or just retarded?

If you ask me, the only terrorists in this country are the Department of Homeland Security.

They hate us for our freedoms and are actively taking every step possible to remove them. It is disgusting that the people have given them so much power, and worse yet that no one is standing up to them and saying 'No'.

Let's turn our healthcare over to these guys.

Oh, wait...

I work for a airport (not this one) in the operations department.

This has nothing to do with being USSA or him having a camera. It just has to do with an incursion on a movement area. You can have people walk all around the general aviation ramp area, but any taxiways & runways are off limits without permission from the control tower. Not permission from the pilots. Pilots have to follow the same rules or the same result would happen to them.

So this guy made a mistake. VPD (vehicle/pedestrian deviation) are somewhat common, but each airport handles them differently.

This is a none event and not the result of a class war or Obama taking away our guns.

@ HNN

Here we go with the "killing innocents". Do you not understand war? The purpose is to defeat the others military, wasting bombs on civilians is a waste of money.

You are retarded, ill informed, and probably a flaming anti-american liberal.

I love all you anti-government, gun lovin' big-hat Texans complaining about Obama! I guess you forgot your boy Douche Bag Georgie is the one who created Homeland Security. Good job Brownie!

I gotta laugh at the one nicknamed "Reality Check", who criticized saying that there was borderline racist commentary here and yet, in the next sentence, he called the police officer a "trigger happy TURK".

No, DT, we're pretty aware of that, actually.

DT: See my comment @10:42 and consider yourself better educated today.

"You are retarded, ill informed, and probably a flaming anti-american liberal."

Says the asshole who generalizes and lashes out without cause.

If anybody is anti-American, it is people who share YOUR extremist attitude.

I'm sorry for the poor guy that had to go through this. I would love to be able to see the airplane as it is one of 2 in the world left. I just wanted to say that I love you all. Great comments everyone!
Cheers

TSA and Homeland security are all just power tripping jerks. They have a little bit of power and need to exercise it all the time. They are no better than mall security guards.

Dallas, not surprised at all.

People it was illegal to go galavanting around an airport operations area without credentials long before George Bush was president. You folks with Bush Derangement Syndrome need to seek help. The officer did nothing wrong, in fact, did everything right. I have worked inside AOAs of over a half dozen Airports in the USA and you should be happy he was spotted and dealt with, for his safty and the safty of the air crews. AOAs are secure for reasons beyond terrorism although that is an important reason.

Roadside - apologies for going a bit off topic here, but I can't let that one go by without commenting. "Bush Derangement Syndrome"? Are you seriously trotting out that old horse again? As I recall, that was the term used at one time for anyone opposed to the words, actions, and policies of our 43rd president - people who, in hindsight, were dead on about that guy.

And the folks that used that phrase in defense of 43 - where are they now? Why, they are calling for tax strikes, secession, and armed insurrection because of - not the words, actions, and policies of our current president, but for what conservative talk show hosts tell them he MIGHT do...

Please, spare me the Bush Derangement Syndrome BS...

Americans sure are paranoid cowards these days. Everyone's a threat to security, even other Americans? Wow.

WWII killed 60 million people and torture wasn't necessary then. I don't see how losing 3000 people in a one-off attack requires 2 retaliatory wars and an abandonment of civilized principles.

On one hand, we see those who believe in democracy getting shot at in the streets of Tehran. On the other hand, we see Americans just accepting electoral fraud in 2 of their last 3 elections and they only reaction seems to be a minor annoyance that the great siphoning of American wealth to Goldman Sachs means that Hummers are no longer for sale?

It's been a sad decline of a good country. We tried to help you, but it would have been "un-American" to accept our advice.

Bottom line-

Remember when we all used to joke about "Papers Please" as the world the communists had to live in? "Thank God we live in a free country."

Anyone who still thinks this is a RNC vs. DNC issue needs to wake up. Unfortunately, people like ditto-heads and religious zealots are too closed minded to wake up.

England is becoming a totalitarian society where even parents cannot take pictures of their own children at sporting events, or pics of an officer on duty.

"If you got nothing to hide, you got no need to be afraid." That's the chant of the brain dead. This is not what generations of Americans fought and died for. They fought for freedom from oppression. They fought for personal independence, not just national independence. Personal freedom from ownership by any institution (civil or religious) or thing.

Love your country,
Hate your government!

You are lucky it wasn't the Dallas Police Dept.

Another case of the SS, (oops) HS, jackbooted thugs marching over citizens rights and wiping their feet on the Constitution. A storm is coming.

Can you people please step away from the rhetoric? Is everything a big conspiracy by whoever your favorite person, party, gender, or ethnicity of someone you hate? Get over yourselves. You don't have all the answers and your just not that important.

The problem is not that he was stopped after being in a restricted area...it's that HS made a big deal about it. Why did this require anything other than one cop stopping him, checking his ID/connection/permission and telling thim to be more careful?

And yes, guaranteed he's never going to fly again without hours of checks and probably being handcuffed while they check up on him.

There is no thought or discretion in any US law enforcement anymore. It is all a script carried out by robotic "obeyers". Once the process starts, it cannot be stopped, no matter how ridiculous. Hence we see idiotic situations like this or schoolchildren handcuffed for having a keyring with a toy cowboy (with a GUN!).

The US is no longer anything like a free country.

FUCK THE PO PO

Idiocracy....

"Right, kick a**. Well, don't want to sound like a d**k or nothin', but, ah... it says on your chart that you're f***ed up. Ah, you talk like a f**, and your shit's all retarded. What I'd do, is just like... like... you know, like, you know what I mean, like..."

Justin Long played that part like a champ.
I love Idiocracy. So stupid it's funny.

There is no federal law prohibiting taking pictures at an airport. The "classified" regulations most often cited is "Sensitive Security Information". The regulation can be found at 49 CFR 1520.
http://law.justia.com/us/cfr/title49/49-9.1.3.4.7.html#49:9.1.3.4.7.0.10.3

This is due to mutton headed cops, not DHS policies.

Airport security is a total joke. The real secret of 9/11 is that the government failed at every step. Nothing worked! North Americans are basically lazy and nobody wants to "rock the boat" because they are worried about getting a raise. Norad was a complete failure, airport security was a complete failure, and so was the government and all of it's employees. We aren't protected in any way.

Airport security isn't any better. Flash a worker badge that any kid can photoshop and you are on the tarmac.

Security is a complete illusion. It is ridiculous for the police to pretend otherwise.

Please read the post again by Airport Ops...he is the only one that has figured this ridiculous blog post out.

The guy taking pictures was probably on an airport movement area. The "cop" who came up was probably from airport security.

"Homeland Security" will have nothing to do with this incident. The FAA's incursion report ( if they filed one) will go to the Flight Standards District Office.

pthomas745 and Airport Ops are absolutely correct. This had nothing to do with the fact that the man was taking pictures. It was a runway incursion, and it was filed with FAA as such. This guy was in the Movement Area without the permission of the Airport, and without being in radio contact with the Tower. That is criminal trespass. There are signs all over the airport fence at Addison that tell you as much. The pilots of the airplane are not authorized to give him permission to enter the movement areas. Neither is the flight museum. The issue at hand is the safety of aircraft operations. It has jack-nothing to do with DHS or TSA.

It's not about security, it's about control. Do you want to be controlled?

Um, Tarmac means Tar MacAdam surface (asphalt) so, there being no unwritten law, I'm thinking that if the pertinent regulation says "Tarmac" and it's all concrete that the regulation does not pertain at this airport.

And don't tell me that the wording doesn't matter, it's the very heart of law.

I LIVE for the day we start seeing badge heavy enforcers of poorly written HS regulations treated to their own medicine for violating civil rights under the color of authority.

Captain Obvious

General Rule: don't give the government ANY new powers because they will use/misuse them

Soon these TSA nazis will be at the subway stations ... then bus stops as well

Wow, it looks like some folks need to go back and read the original post. The author admits he was in an area where he should not have been, and acknowledges that his taking photos had nothing to to with it.

Interestingly enough, the last time I was around one of these (a B-17 actually) was at an airport outside Atlanta, and I had no trouble doing whatever I wanted. I shot all my ground level stuff as the aircraft made the first flight, including getting a nice ground level shot from alongside the runway (about 200 feet off the side) as they did the takeoff roll.

Before I did any of this, I'd spoken with the pilots, AND the FBO, who had spoken with their controller. They had decided that I apparently had a clue what I was doing, so, aside from being asked to wear a safety vest, and asked to stay "out of the way" of traffic, I was given free rein.

After shooting the ground level, I rode the second media flight, and got some great shots, including some amazing pics through the top hatch as the plane took off (you can see downtown behind the tail).

Ended the day with a couple of hundred very cool images, and no problems.

I would say the cop was apparently just being a cop-many of them would rather end something with a confrontation than by just asking someone to do something.

Given the fact that there was a B-24 present, it should have been obvious to the cop what the guy was doing, and he could have just asked him to stay clear.

You consider yourself lucky????
I hope you mean 'lucky they didn't shoot you or beat you'.
Perhaps you have difficulty recognizing the Gestapo without the snappy uniforms?

Heh, I found this on boingboing before I found it on unfairpark. I should keep up.

Im with Joe,
"Can you people please step away from the rhetoric?"
I expected more folks berating me and not my country.
I was there and everyone did the right thing in reaction to my one wrong thing. No Gestapo, no conspiracies.
There are some things I do not like, but there is allot I LOVE about this country.
Stop yer Hatin and start the Luvin.
Peace Out

For Anyone Who May Still Be Reading This Thread,

I work in the Control Tower at this airport. I was there when it happened. I cannot give my name because I'm not allowed to publicly comment, however after reading these comments I feel I need to clarify some things. The photographer crossed an ACTIVE taxiway, an ACTIVE RUNWAY, another ACTIVE taxiway before crouching down behind a runway sign just a few feet from the runway, pointing "something" at the aircraft that were taxiing around. WE called the Addison Police. Us. The Control Tower. It is our sworn duty to protect the flying public. At this point we had no idea who this individual was and what he was pointing at the airplanes. We conveyed this to the police. At this point we had more than a dozen aircraft circling in the air waiting to land and waiting on the ground for departure....all waiting until we could figure out if this guy had a gun. (Hey, we HAVE actually had people call us up with gun threats before.) THIS is why the Officer responded with such urgency. Once he was apprehended and removed, we let the circling airplanes land. The photographer has explained that the terminology is unfamiliar to him. There is no official word "tarmac" in aviation. It was a RUNWAY. You know, the thing planes land on.

After he was taken away, it was back to standard operations for us. It became a non-event for the FAA. I honestly don't know, and seriously have my doubts, if the TSA or DHS or whatever other government acronyms you want to make up ever had anything to do with this incident.

Quite frankly, this just became one of the really good "War Stories" that controllers love to tell each other.

Your Friendly Neighborhood Air Traffic Controller

there are sure some right proper fellow bootlickers on this thread, and i salute them. you must not only learn how to bow to authority, you must learn to take pleasure from it. cops are always right, always, and you must never question their authority. feel the bracing tingle of steel handcuffs around your wrist, the piquant taste of shoe leather on your tongue, and take pride in your citizenship in these glorious united states of america!

Thank you Air Traffic Controller. While I'm not a controller, I am a 15 year veteran ground safety marshal and ground safety marshal instructor at Oshkosh (AirVenture: World's Biggest Airshow) and other airshows. Because of that, I believe I have a lot of experience with "civilians" on airport grounds. I'm surprised that Danno got as far as he did before being stopped -- at OSH the tower would be having kittens (AT ME!) as soon as he crossed the first taxiway and approached the runway. But then OSH (or any airshow) is usually more prepared to deal with "lost" civilians than ADS was during this event. And that's not a slam, I'm just recognizing that this was an event staged by Cavanaugh Museum (I assume) and not a full-blown airshow with all the sundries. I should contact Cavanaugh to let them know I'm available (currently unemployed from my regular job)...

Danno (& others): "tarmac" is a colloquial aviation term (i.e. not defined in the aviation manual) as "any usually paved area on the airport where one could conceivably park an aircraft and which is not otherwise named." Examples of "otherwise named" pavement are: runway, taxiway, run-up area. There's no easy way for me to explain here the complex rules and signage to identify them (pilots learn them and have airport maps, and *still* can get lost...). The general rule is: if aircraft park there, you *may* be allowed on it. Otherwise, unless you receive specific instruction from the tower, stay off of it.

Also, just for everyone's education: pilots are in command of the *aircraft*, not the *airport*. The airport is under the authority of the tower (generally).