Carry-on.

This is coolbert:

I see that the TSA [Transportation Safety Administration] is reverting back to the rules that existed prior to 9/11.

This is a terrible disaster.

The American government and public are setting themselves up for another 9/11 or worse. Complacency and we-are-OK-it-has-been-a-long-time-now-since-the-last-hijacking seems to be the rule.

Demonstrates that the American government and public are not of a serious mind when it comes to fighting the GWOT [global war on terrorism]. After the 9/11 atrocities, we were assured that firm and concrete measures were going to be taken and no nonsense allowed. Well, that has all come to naught, or so it seems.

The public will now be able to bring scissors on flights with blades up to four inches long. Box cutters too?? And screwdrivers with shanks up to eight inches long will also be allowed?? What is this??

As the woman who is head of the airline cabin attendants union said, "who in their right mind NEEDS that stuff on a flight anyhow???!!!" And this woman is 100 % correct. Who does need that stuff. Why would anyone need a scissor on an airline flight anyhow?? To cut paper dolls I suppose?? Yes, that must be what it is. And screwdrivers with shanks up to eight inches long?? NO ONE would need that at all.

I would even suggest that the rules regarding airplane security that previously existed were way too lax anyhow.

NO carry-on bags should have even been allowed AT ALL after 9/11.

Place ALL baggage in the baggage compartment of the airplane, and that is that. If passengers have to wait for their baggage at the distant terminal, well, that is just an inconvenience the passenger will have to live with.

Those overhead compartments to begin with are NOT meant to accommodate all the impedimenta folks want to stuff in them anyhow [impedimenta is the correct term. Things that IMPEDE the speed with things are done]. Those overhead compartments are meant for soft stuff, such as coats, blankets, hats, pillows, etc. NOT the huge bags full of stuff folks try to cram into the compartments as they are now.

If you feel you are inconvenienced by having to wait for your bags at a distant terminal, or want to secure items on your person that you consider to be valuable, maybe you need to find another way to travel, or just not bring on an airline flight all that you are accustomed to bringing in the first place.

And even the wands security at the airports currently use will work only against metallic objects. Will not work against ceramic knives for instance. It is reputed that the 9/11 hijackers used ceramic knives that are undetectable. Click here to see a site that sells ceramic knives.



And body frisking of passengers seems to be another no-no. Passengers cannot be body frisked in the ordinary way as say a policeman would do to an ordinary criminal suspect. The TSA frisker must only use the back of the hand, and then only in a gingerly way. That is silly.

It is suggested that the measures already taken by TSA will be adequate to thwart hijackers. Bull!! Even with secured cockpit doors, and awareness of the public, the pilots and the cabin attendants, hijackers will ALWAYS be able to find ways around security. They may for instance, take a cabin attendant hostage, and slowly cut her to pieces. The flight crew will feel obligated to respond and open the cockpit door, endangering the plane and passengers in the process. Small chance of that happening?? Well, prior to 9/11, folks would have said there was a small chance of some oddballs using passenger jets as kamikaze attack planes too!!

We are told that this relaxation of the rules about bringing sharp objects on airlines is going to result in the screeners at the airports concentrating their attention to find explosives.

This too is a flaw. The emphasis is ALWAYS on a MACHINE to do the work. NOT on competent, able screeners that are much more adept and versatile and responsive. YOU will ALWAYS be able to find some sort of explosive or explosive mixture that can fool the machine. The machine will only be programmed to recognize KNOWN explosives. The bad guys will ALWAYS be able to devise some sort of explosive that can defeat the machine, no matter how sophisticated a machine you have. I am thinking here primarily of hypergolic explosives. Two liquids that when separated are relatively inert, but when combined, produce a powerful explosion, without fusing. These are known to the bad guys.

"Hypergolic Devices: Some improvised explosives are hypergolic in nature. This means when two particular chemical constituents are brought together they can violently react with each other, with the surrounding atmospheric temperature often being the catalyst; they are highly unstable and unpredictable. This reaction will result in either an incendiary effect or an explosion. An example is sulfuric acid (oxidizer) and sugar (fuel) in a Styrofoam cup. The acid slowly eats through the Styrofoam and mixes with the sugar, causing a hypergolic reaction within seconds and resulting in an explosion."

Better than machines to have able, alert, competent screeners using profiling and other managerial techniques being on the lookout for signs of something out of the ordinary, strange, amiss or odd among passengers is the way to go [this is the Israeli model]. But in the U.S., the machine constituting the magic bullet is felt to be the answer.

The American approach to airline security is timid at best. Demonstrates again, more than anything else, that the hearts and minds of the American people and government are not in the right mind with regard to the GWOT. Folks want their cake and want to eat it too!! The villains of the world will take notice and take appropriate measures.

I fear the worst.

coolbert.