THE TSA, FLYING TODAY
This article is all about my devotion to public service for educational purposes. It explains about my take on flying, safety, batteries which are an issue, their uses in our aviation society, maintaining safe transportation and is designed to make you aware of their dangers and pitfalls of some types.
The information comes from varying sources, the largest collection from many decades of personal witness, usage and some shocking experiences.
EDITOR: Many of you know I make battery packs and other powered devices for the professional cameramen and photographers. My packs being SLA are legal on the worlds air carriers. Since many travel with my battery packs, the subject of air travel is the most common question I get.
And I do a fair amount of travel and wish to offer you a few suggestions to make things easier. Lots of frequently asked questions and answers with additional information follows. Being in the business, I flew for 28 years in the General aviation sector, I will integrate some personal experiences with the information to add “some color” to what is usually very boring technical writing. Enjoy.
THE PROBLEMS
SECURITY - Let’s put the problem into correct perspective. 911 proved what we knew all along, people want to hurt us and we have to enforce protection where it belongs. Beheadings, bombings, torture, ISIS, attacks on the freedom loving countries of the world, cold blooded murder all in the name of a false corruption of a gentle religion has raised our awareness to incredible levels. Whether you call them ISIL, ISIS, or Daesh, it doesn’t matter.
One of our political parties spends more time on semantics than getting things done, like cutting funding and paying top TSA executive a 90,000 dollar bonus for lousy results and poor service. I don’t give a rats posterior as to what you call it, bad is bad and understood by normal non-political personnel.
TECHNOLOGY BY INFERIOR IMPORTS - New technology like Lithium-Ion batteries creates a whole new gaggle of problems that have to be addressed. On both fronts it is the responsibility of the TSA and the FAA to protect us both from terrorists both foreign and domestics in addition to irresponsibles who don’t follow the rules.
Granted TSA regulations get our blood pressure going, but rules are rules. Rules are needed when common sense is unheeded. This is not to discount the 1500 handguns and 25,000 knives taken off passengers this year by those not authorized to carry on aircraft. When sports shoes are inflammatory bombs and the possibility of an internal bomb in a terrorist exists because they have been done, we too have to think out of the box. The bad guys do.
HUMAN INTERFACE - Again our threats come from intentional terrorist sources, domestic terrorism, un-intentional consumer accidental sources and the most tragic events due to mental incapacitation as occurred with GermanWings when someone in 2nd command of an aircraft goes off the rails, locks out the pilot and slams the Airbus 320 into the French Alps.
FAILURES IN DETECTION - Recently they have discovered through testing, faults in the system ranging from a 90% failure rate in the detection of hidden guns and explosives ( Dummies) cleverly disguised and tucked away making it through.
FAILURES IN PERSONNEL - Another investigative event occurred when agents were mis-using the equipment in a vulgarly suggestive way and so forth. Retribution was short and swift. Some are back to flipping burgers and they still should be watched, some of our food handlers could be classified as terrorists, based on what they serve the public as “food”.
A high level senior manager was transferred hopefully to a position where his insight level is justified like as a parking lot attendant. Hopefully crashes in the parking lot will be less than last years level.
BOTTOM LINE
The majority of the TSA are really nice people, I have never been mistreated or mis-spoken to. I get along great with them, I just follow the rules and pay attention. They are just doing their job as instructed but sometimes…they misinterpret. They do however need to smile more and simple words like, “ Thank you, have great flight” might improve their image. Reminding folks they care about your safety! Those parting words from a Federal employee would be the best and simplest way to improve their image.
RECORD NUMBER OF GUNS 2014 - The Transportation Security Administration found more than 2,200 guns in airport carry-on bags in 2014. For context, that's almost 400 more guns found in 2013, and more than three times the number found in 2005 and over 80 percent of those guns were loaded, Every day, transportation security officers interact with nearly two million travelers across the United States with a single goal in mind – ensuring the safety and security of the traveling public.
Here are examples of the continued vigilance of TSA officers in protecting our nation’s transportation systems, including some of the most unusual items discovered at checkpoints.
TSA had a busy year in 2014, screening more than 653 million passengers in 2014 (about 1.8 million per day), which is 14.8 million more passengers than last year. 2,212 firearms were discovered in carry-on bags at checkpoints across the country, averaging more than six firearms per day. Of those, 2,212 (83 percent) were loaded. Firearms were intercepted at a total of 224 airports; 19 more airports than last year.
There was a 22 percent increase in firearm discoveries from last year’s total of 1,813 Obviously the South shall rise again as many of the the firearms were discovered at Shreveport, Gulfport, Knoxville, San Francisco, Austin, Lubbock, Atlanta, Las Vegas, and Birmingham.
MY PERSONAL SAGA
I consider my self a good guy! Now I have the following forms of identification which I can travel with if needed:
• A secured and paid for TSA frequent flyer number
• Military ID
• If needed, A 40 year old copy of my AF DD214 showing Class-Q Nuclear Clearance
• State concealed carry permits. I do not travel on aircraft with weapon
• I am a certified weapons trainer and instructor with certificates
• My Pilots license and Pilot Medical Certificate, I owned six airplanes
• A press ID when working
• And most important, I have a Gold Secret Decoder ring and ID card for the Secret Squadron, issued personally by Captain Midnight. The ring, there were many fakes, this is a real one with the Newt Gingrich look alike on it
BOTTOM LINE - They still made me go through the whole frickin drill after the Tampa branch TSA failed or did poorly during the tests on security last month that hit the papers and TV. Rumors had it Tampa did poorly. Everyone got the drill. The TSA pass means nothing just a different line. One or two less processes like not removing shoes, might get you through faster. I thought next time save your money. Before the tests it worked.
So I questioned things, on one occasion the X-ray revealed I had a secretive device on me. Yes, I did , a 1/2 Oz. bottle of prescription eye drops buried deep in one of the myriad of pockets in my jacket since the AC in the aircraft is very dry. I thought I had lost or misplaced it. I calmly asked if they could forward the X-Rays to my doctor and save my medical insurance some money since they took more pictures than he does. So much for expediting airport time.
DEAR TSA - I had checked my luggage since it had some of the displays and securely locked it with an approved TSA lock I bought that when I bought it swore the TSA had keys and could they could open it. Past experience told me I would never see this lock again. That would be five APPROVED TSA locks I have lost in two years. Get some keys and return the locks back to the consumers as they are not yours.
If you break them at least stuff them back in the bag with six dollars. Never again will I succumb to the TSA lock scandal, since fingernail clippers are legal now.
GOOD NEWS - There have been no cases of an Airbus 320 or Boeing 737 being brought down by fingernail clippers severing hydraulics or steel control cables (they have none, the new ones fly by wire).
So I have twenty or so small plastic wire ties stored (Home Depot, bags of 100 or 1000) in the tops of my luggage with a fingernail clipper to cut them off. I grabbed six cheap clippers for 49 cents each at a Dollar Store sidewalk garage sale and have the clipper in each bag with the ties in a ziplock. I can clip the zipper ends together and they don’t appear to instigate an employee to see what I am hiding with a lock. And the black ones hardly show so the agent usually goes right past it.
Besides with all the compartments on luggage you need three locks per bag which is and always there will be none when you get there. One company has a GPS built into the lock. And I had some retribution thoughts after calling the police.
I NEEDED A NEW STRATEGY - My way is frugal, does the trick and you don’t need to remember the key code. If they do cut it when I claim my bag, I just pop a new one on as soon as I retrieve my luggage for the hotel staff or transfer company.
BETTER IDEA, RESEARCH and a SOLUTION
Now my usual travel apparel is old soft dungarees, a soft cotton fishing shirt, with zip off sleeves, comfortable slip on boat shoes, and an overpriced Photographers jacket with a million pockets for odds and ends I accumulate as I go along, such as glasses, thumb drives, gum, candy ear plugs, pills, cords, etc., a MaxPedition Mil-Spec cross shoulder bag and Dark Sunglasses. (Picture to the right)
Confession, those jackets are not worth it, I can never find what I’m looking for, and they don’t wash well and expensive to dry clean and are a trigger because of the complexities and layers of their construction.
I was determined to try something different on the return trip since I looked like an Air Marshall, two passengers had asked me if I was. It seems they thought I was a test. AHA!, years of tribulation explained.
Then it dawned on me. I was creating a profile. And sometimes it’s not hard to trigger a response. A look, maybe thats what triggers the inspection, how I appeared to them.
Tampa ate me up alive, I got the whole drill even with enough ID to walk through the Whitehouse. After casually meeting with a supervisor, after showing some credentials, like a press card she explained they are tested all the time and my look (see photo) was a trigger. I immediately invoked the next steps.
- STEP ONE - I dumped the photo jacket, when I got to Vegas, it was too tight anyway, I gave it to the female valet at the hotel who thought it was cute, she liked photography, I thought she was cute and smaller than me. I made a friend and my car was always kept close.
- STEP TWO - I traded my 200 dollar super dark Lear jet altitude RAY-BANS back into the luggage for something more studious and exotic, like fake Armani Square nerd look glasses about 16.00 dollars at the mall in Vegas. Fashionable and the knockoffs were cheap
- STEP THREE - I switched to a short sleeve golf shirt in neutral grey’s with Tailor-made on the logo. I used to cover golf matches and always got the tournament shirts but my personal experience in Golf has been compared to the playing of a Stradivarius Violin with a hacksaw blade.
- STEP FOUR - I changed the everyday Maxpedition man-bag holster I carry everyday (In the Photo) for my .40 cal to a SWISS GEAR laptop small backpack I found in Las Vegas at 40% off. I go to the range a lot and the MaxPedition is one of my favorite bags. But think about it, dogs trained to sniff gunpowder will hit on the bags residual which doesn’t go away. I tried it at Macdill AFB and since I shoot, practice a lot it took the puppy two seconds and I thought the pup was going to rip it apart.
SUCCESS - RESULTS - VOILA! - I went through the TSA line in five minutes. Next trip to Vegas same thing, five minutes, didn’t get the, “You were selected randomly", excuse coming or going. Something to be said about first impressions and profiling. In four trips since I changed, I did not get pulled aside and travel is good again.
2016 and SOME BAD PRESS - BAD PRACTICES
AIRPORT SECURITY at several major airports are stretching boarding times to three hours and some of the lines literally circle the terminal. This is not only unconscionable for the consumer in time but this is a terrorists bombers target of opportunity, at a grid point of unchecked luggage, women and children strollers, bags, it’s a gift to the bad guys.
How soon we forget what happened in Brussels airport. Non screened, they walked in took out the terminal, you don’t need a plane to cause chaos. The flip side is this grids and delays reflects lots of anger, missed flights, millions of hours and dollars wasted.
So the cure as defined by the TSA was got hire more recruits. 750 more TSA guards and personnel to speed things up. But it’s more of a cultural problem within the TSA and more incompetence doesn’t solve the root issue.
Their theories is defunct, reactive to ten year old philosophies that anyone has the potential to be a mad bomber. Infants with formula to the elderly getting body searched in a wheelchair supplied by the airline with a porter alongside. Please spare me, I have seen it often enough. Ridiculous, degrading and ineffectual. I gave a woman my coat once for modesty so she could breast feed her kid, she had pumped milk but could not carry the bottles on board. That was too much.
THE MAJOR GREED BY AIRLINES - I understand the bag check, with the airlines charging ridiculous fees for baggage, folks are stuffing what they wish to take along beyond the capacity of the bins, common safety and common sense and the amount of time it takes to go through all these bags for harmless items and liquids.
It's the airlines fault, forcing high fees to handle baggage only makes the job harder for the crew and the passengers not to mention passenger safety in case of an occurrence. One hundred sixty to one hundred eighty passengers times a modest thirty pound bag equals 5400 pounds of dead weight hanging over your head, and a mess if a forced evacuation or aircraft incident occurs.
Lets get real, if the airlines just added fifteen dollars a ticket, and include the baggage handling, it would work as it really balances out. Faster loading times, less confusion, the revenue will pay for the extra baggage handlers (creating jobs) and everybody gets treated equally.
Limit the inside to computers, gifts for the tribe, the usual tablets, tombstones and stolen Inca relics, barbecue grills, statues of the ISIL, or the Ayatolla, golf clubs, massive backpacks, adult coloring books, and kids toys. Toys? I'll bet you never flew out of Disney in Orlando. One trip Goofy took up more than the kids seat. It took an entire bin.
OFF THE GRID and ROME IS BURNING - The system processes two million passengers every day. More bodies solve nothing, a better system is needed. None of the checkpoint rules after 9/11 would have prevented 9/11. The terrorists planned their attacks out of the box. It was both brilliant and devastating, they hit us with a different approach and we were not ready, no passenger or crew awareness, of cockpit entry protocols, and, communication by the various agencies our FBI and CIA, both of which had been tracking the hijackers.
• TSA’s PreCheck program has been a step in the right direction, but there’s a long way to go.
• Better training through profiling techniques. The Israelis in the most dangerous part of the world do. Adopt more of their measures. A percentage of screeners now working at airport checkpoints and re-train them to work away from public view, inspecting luggage and cargo, reviewing passenger data,
• Do we really need the liquids and shoe removal rules and the “bag check” protocol that calls for the entire security line to come to a stop, because something is not recognizable and this tops the line.
• The focus should be on explosives and the vulnerability on the tarmac with access to aircraft as in the Egyptian flight brought down by a sweeps Can of Soda.
• Engage the PRECHECK system. Personnel could be trained to choose low-threat travelers would, such as PreCheck qualified and allow them to pass.
• Training for foreign governments allowing American security personnel to operate at their airports, but certainly some level of this is possible. Already in many countries US carriers hire third-party contractors to assist with passenger and luggage screening.
• Better equipment, wider scanners, faster lines, more line at peak time.
2015 PET GRIPES - TRAVEL IS ANNOYING - MY WORST TRIPS
• On my last trip we got out about 20 minutes late after all the fighting over the bins, oversized bags and some of their bags that had to be way (weigh) over the weight limit. I had to help three women who couldn’t even lift theirs or we never would have never gotten off the ground. One bag took myself and a strong male helper to dump it in the bin.
• And the darling little girl about ten who screamed and screamed till we got a game on the backseat console she could play. That lasted about ten minutes. I felt sorry for the poor guy in front of her. Five hours, all the way to LAX this kid prompted me to want to stuff her in the bin. Good samaritans tried and gave up. I used my gun range earplugs and my headset helped a little.
• Five hours of shrill screaming and grandma didn’t know what to do. Enough people complained to the stewardess who told us, she’s cute and wouldn’t fit in the bin anyway, they were filled. Her hands were tied and no-one wanted to swap seats. My solution was to give up my favorite OREO cookies I had sneaked on board. It was quiet for an hour. When the sugar hit it got worse. Bad move on my part, the steward reimbursed me with a suitable strong drink and more Delta Dog Biscuits. Finally we landed, two Naproxen and went for my rental car.
SNOOKUMS SHOULD BUY A TICKET:
I am an animal lover and animal rescuer. My pet “pet” gripe lately of many gripes I write about, is scammers promoting illegal service dogs with fake ID's called “ Companion Animals”. The fake documentation is readily and easily available.
Similar and maybe the same scammers selling Dr. Of Divinity Ordination Reverend, Official Priest or Bishop Certificates from ULC the well known fake preacher website. I copied one off the web, I have a Doctor of Divinity Certificate, it makes me a superior ordained Jesus Lover, protector of the faith. Unfortunately I was born, raised, had my Bar Mitzvah when I was thirteen and have stayed Conservative Jew ever since and thats the last sixty years.
Now hand-calligraphed and personalized, this honorary and non-accredited Universal Life Church Ministries Doctorate of Divinity is awarded by the ULC Ministries and grants you all the rights, privileges, and honors of being a legally ordained religious leader.
This impressive honorary degree allows you to become a legally ordained minister and present yourself in a professional manner in a position of public leadership. Our educational Guide to Divinity is included along with the degree.
GET YOUR DOG ORDAINED - For the pooches, you can get the fake coats, leashes and letters on the web. Folks think they can get away with anything and a free ride for Snookums is worth attempting. If you want to really see how this scam with fake service animals works check here. Posing as bonfied agencies is quite common in this scam.
http://servicedogcentral.org/content/fake-service-dog-credentials
This problem is becoming rampant as more and more people enter the market of selling fake certification, registration, and fake IDs (including laminated cards, collars, leashes, and vests) for companion dogs to anyone, for a fee, and without any oversight and not legal.
MY SOLUTION - A nice swift ten thousand dollar fine would stop owners from buying and participating in these scams. Yes, tag the owner and he can go after the seller. Both are committing a crime. The lure of selling something that costs less than a buck to make (such as a certificate or ID card) for $40 and more, is just too tempting to pass by for some scammers. I saw this happen on a flight from TPA to LAX.
SEPTEMBER 2014 - As I went to my seat location the medium size terrier mix obviously was not a happy camper or frequent flyer for that manner, he went off the map and he snapped at he guy in front of me. He missed. Obviously not properly trained or acclimated. And not an approved agency tag. Before I advanced, I told the woman to handle her dog, if not the airline has a right to refuse service. Worse if anyone got bit, she would be liable, evicted from the aircraft and I’m sure the lawyer would contact her.
Couple other people complained of the yapping. Too late to get her off the plane. Not a good move because she was in front right before the rest rooms. One of the busiest places on a five hour flight.
Only Federal or state issued ID's should be accepted, no fake companies or agencies issuing them. and a certain row only isolation policy should be worked out. Otherwise downstairs in the cargo hold and paid for. The ID on “Pebbles" was not Federal Handicapped and I indicated it to the stewardess.
I hate going to LAX, it’s always five hours, of cramped seats, fighting hunger, one trip dog bites, one trip little miss shrill, and not a devotee of any airline food you have to a pay for. Sometimes I vote for a one-step like in Texas to break up the trip. I sustained because I managed to consume a huge subway sandwich and six Delta Biscott Bars. I like them since many like me are sometimes peanut allergic, and we call them DELTA Dog Biscuits. I like the cinnamon sugar combo made by Nabisco called BelVita at home.
THE NEW HEADACHE TRAVELERS FIND ANNOYING
Our latest mess is the reclining seat back and some inconsiderate bastards who should have been thrown off the plane at 36,000 feet and told to walk home. My knees have been whacked, drinks almost spilled, more than a few times. That in reality is not their fault, inconsideration is their fault. On one trip I told the guy in front of me to warn me if he was moving things as my hot coffee might just wind up in his lap. He got the message.
However it is the direct fault of the airlines crushing as many seats into the rails in economy as possible, that is the real fault. More seats are more money and follow the money, it’s always about money. Allegiant air solved the problem, they disconnected and secured the seats so as not to recline. Great idea. Their fares are cheaper and people will suffer for a few hours, proven by heavy bookings, and the most profitable airline numbers in the US. No Montebello Pinot Noire or Faux Gras, nothing but a lesser fare and pay for snacks.
Israel’s Commercial Jets Will Soon Be Firing Lasers
Israel is finally ready to combat shoulder-launched missiles and they’re going to do it with lasers.
Israel’s Ministry of Defense announced Wednesday that SkyShield, developed by Israeli defense contractor Elbit Systems, had successfully completed testing and is certified for commercial use to combat the threat of man-portable surface-to-air missile systems (MANPADS) by combining advanced laser detection and disruption technologies.
C-MUSIC, the commercial version of SkyShield, integrates laser technology with a thermal camera to deflect incoming threats by jamming. After detecting incoming missiles with an infrared sensor, it fires a laser that disrupts the missile’s navigation system, taking it off course and detonating the missile a safe distance from the aircraft.
Images: Elbit Systems
“SkyShield has been validated under the most complex and sophisticated testing conditions ever conducted in Israel and is now ready to protect Israeli airlines,” said Israel Air Force Brig. Gen. Eitan Eshel, director of research and development at Israel’s Defense Ministry.
The technological advancement is a direct response to the 2002 attempt by terrorists in Mombasa, Kenya in which two surface-to-air missiles were fired ay an Israeli aircraft shortly after takeoff. The missiles missed their target and its more than 250 passengers, but the event prompted then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to call for an urgent defense response.
Although the project was supposed to be expedited, it was delayed for several years because of conflicts among competing defense firms and government agencies over which one would foot the bill. Once the contract was awarded to Elbit Systems, completion of the project took about three years. The system will first be implemented on all El Al airliners, but Elbit says it has contracts with several other countries around the world.