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I'm from a small town in western Kansas. The local EAS airport gets two to four Beech 1900s through in a day. And, since they are making a puddlejump circuit through a couple little airports, there are never more than about 10 people boarding them at this particular airport. I've even gotten the "Sir. Welcome aboard Air Midwest" safety speech.
Pre-9/11, there was "the guy". Sold tickets. FBO operator. On UNICOM. Waved the plane in. Offloaded luggage. Rented you a car. I think he had a magwand, but I'm not sure he used it much. You got re-screened in Kansas City. You still do (kind of inevitable, if you know the layout of that airport).
Now, at this little airport, besides "the guy", there are two shifts of two uniformed TSA agents. Walk-through metal detector. X-ray machine. Baggage chem-analyzer. Sterile area. Whole nine yards. When one of them takes a sick day, another TSA gets mileage and a hotel room from somewhere else.
Amazingly, flights from this little airport are often cheaper than the mid-sized Wichita airport.
I'm not sure what the right response is. I guess Beech pilots deserve the same protection. But, talk about the ultimate government job. Twice in your eight hour shift, you work for about 10 minutes.
