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Airport Security Question


billytheghillie
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I was at Lanzarote in January and while waiting at Arrecife airport for return flight home I saw a strange thing. I went to the outside smoking area for a bit of air and saw 2 ladies sitting knitting. One was using those big thick knitting needles and the other was using ordinary ones. I just wondered why they are allowed on aircraft and other things like nail files etc. aren't.

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Many years ago we were asked to do some random airport security checks in civilian clothes, totally unannounced.

Without going into too many details.

In my opinion, it's the failure of the MK 1 eyeball and the limited capacity of the human brain to process information that causes failures in the system. It was at the time relatively easy to take almost anything prohibited on board an aircraft.

Please bear in mind that these checks where pre year 2000 and not only am I out of date with current procedures, I'm absolutely sure that all points raised and there were many, have been addressed. Especially post 2001.

With one arguable exception GB has the highest security standards for boarding of aircraft in the world. 

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A few weeks after 911 I was waiting for my flight in Munster airport (I had by then registered for Lufthansa/BA sky marshal duty) and I got chatting to a 60 y/o ish policeman and he took out his semi auto & dropped the full mag and handed the mag to me to show off the new manstopper 9mms they had just been issued with (ehr!! very nice said I & handed it back to him). The Lufthansa plane I flew out with had a trolly with wine bottles on it going up & down the aisle and the cockpit door remained open for almost the whole flight to Stuttgart??

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1 hour ago, bavarianbrit said:

A few weeks after 911 I was waiting for my flight in Munster airport (I had by then registered for Lufthansa/BA sky marshal duty) and I got chatting to a 60 y/o ish policeman and he took out his semi auto & dropped the full mag and handed the mag to me to show off the new manstopper 9mms they had just been issued with (ehr!! very nice said I & handed it back to him). The Lufthansa plane I flew out with had a trolly with wine bottles on it going up & down the aisle and the cockpit door remained open for almost the whole flight to Stuttgart??

Probably why the upper age limit is, or was 55 in UK. Mentally your in fine shape, physically you can be past it. At the age of just 40 I was taking fitness tests designed for and alongside lads of my sons age. Exhausted at the end of the day, I went home to bed, they went out on the town. When did 20 odd years pass......and then another 20 after that and then some.☹

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A few years ago my mum was flying from Newcastle to London for a wedding. 
 

She had bought a cake knife as the present for the couple. she only had luggage and being in her mid 70’s she never thought. 
 

At security her case for pushed to one side, the security staff opened up her bad and pulled out a bottle of water, closed her bag and off she went with a 10” knife. 
 

Just last week in Geneva (airside) every second shop had Swiss Army knives of various different  sizes. 

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Tests on guns going through x ray at airports were very variable, laid flat to give the characteristic profile image they got picked up most times but not all. Stood upright and put mixed in with hair drier and curling tongs in a make up bag, it went down considerably. 

Humans are fallable and its a tedious repetitive job

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16 minutes ago, Vince Green said:

Tests on guns going through x ray at airports were very variable, laid flat to give the characteristic profile image they got picked up most times but not all. Stood upright and put mixed in with hair drier and curling tongs in a make up bag, it went down considerably. 

Humans are fallable and its a tedious repetitive job

I know of a semi auto 12 bore shotgun that had a solid slug in ‘it’s magazine that  flew from Croatia to Heathrow undetected  !!!

it’s owner was not that concerned about it either !!!!!

 

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2 hours ago, Vince Green said:

Humans are fallable and its a tedious repetitive job

One time, before 9/11, I was getting on a plane in India with an Israeli lad I'd been travelling around the Andamans with. The airport security fellow was searching everyone and took particular interest in Ido's camera, making him take it out of its case, asking him what it was, and even demanding that he took a picture with it. As Ido observed as we were getting on the plane, if it had been a bomb we'd all have been blown to Kingdom Come, including the security chap himself!

At that time, apparently, the Israelis took a different approach to airport security. Instead of blanket screening of everyone they'd have highly trained operatives who would, based on manner and behaviour,  pick out specific passengers to be questioned or searched. Seemingly the argument went 1) Nobody who is going to hijack or blow up a plane is going to be at ease with what's coming up and that inevitable nervousness can be picked up by a trained eye that's looking for it. 2) Blanket searches and screening will inevitably  become tedious and dull the concentration of the people having to do the work.  All of which seemed perfectly reasonable to me at the time.

After 9/11 of course, everything changed  - but I"m still not convinced that the old Israeli method wouldn't have been better. I also think a lot of this new airport 'security' is just a sop to reassure the public - that and jobs for the boys.

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2 hours ago, Grandalf said:

My very small nail clippers were confiscated as a potentially lethal weapon.

Fair enough - Except I was the flights Captain.

Normal for Norfolk!   Well done Norwich. 

They haven’t changed, but still not as bad as MME and BRS

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I have just had four flights with Emirates to Vietnam and returning viaSingapore and Dubai . On each flight I had 2 meals and every meal We were all given a set of metal cutlery.

I have to say, none of the security checks abroad  compared to the ones at Manchester.

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1 hour ago, Jaymo said:

They haven’t changed, but still not as bad as MME and BRS

BRS much better than it used to be, since security was refurbed. Went through this morning, officious but also swift.

Biggest problem was....howto put this politely, people of a certain age unfamiliar with the drill that is modern flying. Impeccably polite to the staff, but still surprised that overcoats, belts etc must be removed. It's nearly 20 years since 9/11.

Went through thiefrow last week, must've been training day, barely controlled chaos.

I do wonder what would happen if I didn't wash my hands after cleaning the shotguns & go straight to the airport, would i test positive on the explosives-scan-o-matic? 

Not tempted to find out, however!

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I went through LHR T5 early this morning and thought I had placed my vape thingy in my hold luggage. When I got to my  hotel in Nicosia, I'm frantic wondering where the hell is it and after an age of searching, discovered it in my coat pocket, which had gone through security undetected. Not saying its a big deal but it does reinforce the earlier made point that its a mind numbing job manning the scanners...…...

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Several years ago we had a customers rep from Brussels visiting our factory. She had a stanley type knife in her hand luggage. I asked how she got it through airport security undetected. No problem she replied I just walked through, no one checked me.

Well says I you wont get away with that at Newcastle airport, anyhoos I'll send it back to you in the next delivery. Found out later she had another one in her hand bag and waltzed through security. This was late 90's when skyjacking was a regular thing.    

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19 hours ago, Grandalf said:

My very small nail clippers were confiscated as a potentially lethal weapon.

Fair enough - Except I was the flights Captain.

Normal for Norfolk!   Well done Norwich. 

You may have clipped yourself to death .3mm at a time and lost control of that flight...

I also know a pilot who had exactly the same thing happen, he did explain that he actually drove the bus and if he was so inclined to go off the rails there was an axe on the flight deck for emergencies, but his clippers were confiscated too.  

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16 minutes ago, Thunderbird said:

Do they use special glass on the wine bottles in aircraft? I have often wondered about the many kinds of lethal weapon available in the catering department. 

Could give you an incredibly long list of items avail, should one wish to cause mayhem.

14 hours ago, amateur said:

You sure do fly to some exotic locations nowadays 

I do indeed, but must say,  that out of all the choices throughout our network, it’s NCE first and then any UK destination in preference to any others.

 

2 minutes ago, grrclark said:

You may have clipped yourself to death .3mm at a time and lost control of that flight...

I also know a pilot who had exactly the same thing happen, he did explain that he actually drove the bus and if he was so inclined to go off the rails there was an axe on the flight deck for emergencies, but his clippers were confiscated too.  

Yes, many a time I have been told that my hand gel is a serious security risk and “Would I like to place it in a clear plastic bag!” Well that’s going to make it Inert, isn’t it.

 

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