By Peter Cochrane, 29 April 2008 15:48
COMMENT
First drafted on flight BA633 from Athens to London and finished on BA093 to Toronto a week later. Dispatched via a free wi-fi service.
Before 9/11, I regularly travelled the planet with a full toolkit as well as other objects that are now classified as contraband.
After 9/11, an occasional lapse of memory meant my hand baggage continued to contain items no longer permitted in the cabin. I was surprised when these offending objects went undetected on international and internal flights.
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So, what had its roots in a memory lapse gradually mutated into an experiment - to see how long I could go without these items being detected.
The big question in my mind has always been just what can be detected and how much safer are we? Like the rest of you, I have stood in line as my luggage is X-rayed, followed by the occasional arms-outstretched pat down.
At a modest estimate I have passed through well over 200 airport terminals - and hence their security systems - right across the planet including Australia, Europe, the Far East, the Middle East and Scandinavia, since 9/11.
For speed and convenience of travel I never check a bag into the hold and have found ways of living with one or two smaller bags in the carry-on regime that we regular travellers have all grown to love.
So, continuously travelling with scissors, nail file, tweezers and my full mini-electrical tool kit I have traversed the planet unchallenged and unimpeded.
Well, that's not quite true. Nothing happened at all for five years after 9/11. I enjoyed trouble-free travel - no one spotted a thing. But then Toronto staff became the first to find my nail scissors, which were promptly confiscated.
A year or so later Paris airport personnel also succeeded in locating my scissors but they measured the length of the blade and decided they were OK and handed them back. Neither airport's security systems spotted my nail file, tweezers or toolkit.
Not until last week did anyone spot the biggie. At last my toolkit was spotted, located and confiscated. And so the biggest security prize to date goes to Athens.
Unfortunately, Athens staff were thrown off the scent by the enormity of their find and overlooked my scissors, nail file and tweezers. And so I can't really award them the gold medal. But it was nonetheless an impressive piece of work. Well done, Athens.
This morning I experienced a second detection success and my nail scissors were confiscated at Heathrow T4. But again they missed everything else.
So what might we conclude? If there is any improvement in detection rates at airports, it seems to be marginal to date. And so are we flying any more safely?
To be honest my pen is much more of a weapon than anything else in my baggage, not to mention the metal knife and fork I just used for my breakfast in the airline lounge, or indeed the bottles of spirits I'm now allowed to purchase duty free.
We have always relied on the vast majority of people being good and honest - and the reality is we still do. The new systems and equipment deployed and being developed to pre-qualify us before we even get to the airport give an added reassurance.
But the reality is the detection of specific objects by scanners has some way to go before it approaches 100 per cent reliability, and full automation is absolutely essential. As always, to spot banned items we are dependent on people's alertness, concentration and diligence, which are all extremely variable.
Incidentally, my airport security experiment is now suspended.
Comments
There are 10 comments. Join the discussion
1. Simon Moores
As a silicon.com columnist, an aviation writer and a working pilot, my own view is that airport security is generally worthless, disproportionate and simply serves the purpose of reassuring the travelling public that the matter is under control by a large army of security workers in yellow jackets.
Airport security is only as good as the weakest link in the personnel chain and this could be an aircraft cleaner or even a security worker.
2. David Gaskill
I live in Hong Kong and I have just completed a business trip round Europe. I must confess it is good to be back in a place where one is not automatically assumed to be a terrorist until proved otherwise.
As I was on an extended trip I travelled with a suitcase in which I concealed my deadly weapons - nail scissors, nail files etc. At some airports they X-rayed my shoes and some my jacket and some my belt - I'm still wondering what weapon I could conceal in my belt.
The whole security situation has gone entirely out of hand. As Peter points out a ballpoint pen is a far more deadly weapon than nail clippers and I had several pens. In any case, as his experience shows, the detection system is so unreliable as to be worthless.
Maybe I had better get some braces in case my belt is confiscated to stop me strangling the crew with it…
David
3. Craig Murphy
An interesting and worthwhile experiment, with results that do not surprise me.
Scanners the world over are not consistent, hence the need for varying degrees of manual search, shoe removal, laptop removal across the airports - especially in the UK.
Indeed, the lack of consistency is something that now manifests itself in Heathrow T5's 35-minute rule - you must allow yourself at least 35 minutes to get from the point security scan your boarding pass to your departure gate.
You'll spend some of that time "doing security". Despite the loss of various sharp items, airlines still serve meals on glass plates, tea/coffee in china or standard breakable cups. And what about the risk from a credit card snapped in half or - worse - a propelling pencil?
4. MusicFan
As Peter has said, this "security" is worthless as a Pen and cutlery are far more dangerous than what is confiscated. So you have to conclude that the purpose of the security has another agenda.
I think the whole idea of this "security" is just to remind us that we need "protecting" from the "terrorists". This helps keep the public on their toes, and hides the real agenda = The erosion of our liberty and greater public control!
5. Gary Hinson
Wasting most of a day before I flew out of Kansai Airport, Osaka, last week, I spotted some cool ceramic knives for sale in one of the airport shops, and wondered whether they were sufficiently X-ray opaque to be detected by the usual process.
It seemed to me to be a pretty daft place to be selling ceramic knives, even if it was on the public not air-side of the security checks.
6. Peter Cochrane
Simon = How right you are. And this morning's newspapers disclosed the fact that workers with criminal records regularly slip through the security vetting procedure because they come from overseas. QED I think! Peter
7. Peter Cochrane
David = And of course you can always buy a bottle of whisky (etc) once you have passed through security....Peter
8. Peter Cochrane
Craig = Exactly - and some of the plastic knives are sharper than the metal ones! Peter
9. Peter Cochrane
Gary = Tried that - they are reasonably invisible! Peter
10. Peter Cochrane
MusicFan = I always assume the cock-up theory instead of some underlying intent!
Peter