brightnorm
Flashaholic
- Joined
- Oct 13, 2001
- Messages
- 7,160
.
I just returned from a trip that left me feeling even less secure about flying than I was before.
I was belt-carrying the Asp Taclite (Triad), Inova X5 and two Surefire batteries taped end to end, all in the same holster. I had a Photon Microlite and Arc AAA Le on my keyring, and a UK 2L in my jacket pocket. In my carryon I had a Surefire 9P and an extra P91 lamp module. I'm sure that not one person in 10,000 has seen some of these lights.
For the outward bound flight, I placed all the belt-carry items, plus the contents of my pockets in the basket which went through the conveyor belt X-ray machine, along with my jacket containing the UK 2L and the carryon containing the 9P and P91.
The result? Nothing. I was passed through along with my luggage. No questions, no inspection, no nothing. After claiming my things I went up to a woman guard and told her I was disappointed with security, that I carried several items that certainly looked unconventional, and that I was surprised I wasn't even searched. She said (with a smile): "You want me to search you?" I said "yes". So she did, gave me a clean bill of health, patted me on the back and told me not to worry. A well-armed, tough-looking Guardsman (or reg army soldier?) turned grimly toward me and smiled a little. I couldn't believe it. God forbid if someone with murderous intent had a ticket on that flight. I'm sure he would have gotten on. I will say that a very few people were having their baggage searched; much less than the supposed random "one in five" that we've all heard about.
The trip back was pretty much the same, with two exceptions: No random searches at all, and a very tall rather odd-looking blond man wearing brown loafers and no socks was asked to remove his shoes, which were almost immediately returned. No one seemed the least bit interested in my lights.
While it's true that some precautions are better than none, I still feel that airport security as represented by those two very recent flights is a joke. I don't believe we can adopt the Israeli method because we have so many thousands if flights; the logistics would be overwhelming.
I suspect the answer lies with the super-detector machines that are around the corner, and with highly sophisticated face matching technology.
The final question that lingers in my mind: why didn't they at least ask about some of those lights? Was it because they didn't have that "take no prisoners" look of some of the combat Surefires? Was it possible that most airport personnel are familiar with these lights? Whatever the answer, I'm definitely NOT Loooking forward to my next flight.
Best regards,
Brightnorm
.
I just returned from a trip that left me feeling even less secure about flying than I was before.
I was belt-carrying the Asp Taclite (Triad), Inova X5 and two Surefire batteries taped end to end, all in the same holster. I had a Photon Microlite and Arc AAA Le on my keyring, and a UK 2L in my jacket pocket. In my carryon I had a Surefire 9P and an extra P91 lamp module. I'm sure that not one person in 10,000 has seen some of these lights.
For the outward bound flight, I placed all the belt-carry items, plus the contents of my pockets in the basket which went through the conveyor belt X-ray machine, along with my jacket containing the UK 2L and the carryon containing the 9P and P91.
The result? Nothing. I was passed through along with my luggage. No questions, no inspection, no nothing. After claiming my things I went up to a woman guard and told her I was disappointed with security, that I carried several items that certainly looked unconventional, and that I was surprised I wasn't even searched. She said (with a smile): "You want me to search you?" I said "yes". So she did, gave me a clean bill of health, patted me on the back and told me not to worry. A well-armed, tough-looking Guardsman (or reg army soldier?) turned grimly toward me and smiled a little. I couldn't believe it. God forbid if someone with murderous intent had a ticket on that flight. I'm sure he would have gotten on. I will say that a very few people were having their baggage searched; much less than the supposed random "one in five" that we've all heard about.
The trip back was pretty much the same, with two exceptions: No random searches at all, and a very tall rather odd-looking blond man wearing brown loafers and no socks was asked to remove his shoes, which were almost immediately returned. No one seemed the least bit interested in my lights.
While it's true that some precautions are better than none, I still feel that airport security as represented by those two very recent flights is a joke. I don't believe we can adopt the Israeli method because we have so many thousands if flights; the logistics would be overwhelming.
I suspect the answer lies with the super-detector machines that are around the corner, and with highly sophisticated face matching technology.
The final question that lingers in my mind: why didn't they at least ask about some of those lights? Was it because they didn't have that "take no prisoners" look of some of the combat Surefires? Was it possible that most airport personnel are familiar with these lights? Whatever the answer, I'm definitely NOT Loooking forward to my next flight.
Best regards,
Brightnorm
.