Marine arrested at Logan airport with gun, ammo, rocket engine and detonator

by Scott Carmichael on

A US Marine was arrested at Boston Logan airport yesterday when baggage screeners discovered a gun, boxes of ammunition, three rocket engines, various fuses, switches and the detonator from a hand grenade.

The Marine was on his way from Las Vegas to Charlotte when the discovery was made.

Now, carrying a gun in your checked baggage is not against the law, as long as you declare the item, which he had not done.

Carrying the kind of explosives found inside a rocket motor is not permitted though, and the Marine is currently in custody of the state police awaiting a court visit later today.

The most amazing part of the discovery is that it was made entirely by accident – the airline had inadvertently routed his bags to baggage claim instead of to his connecting flight which meant they had to be screened again.

This also means that screeners at Las Vegas airport completely missed the stuff.

Thankfully, the TSA says they will “actively investigate” how their Las Vegas staff were able to miss all the parts required for a bomb inside someones bags making its way on a commercial flight.

Passenger makes bomb threat on Delta flight to LA

by Scott Carmichael on

I’m not sure whether it is something in the water, or just a general increase of insane people, but another fool has managed to get arrested after making a bomb threat on his Delta Airlines flight to LA airport.

The man got up out of his chair upon approach to LAX, and announced that he was carrying a bomb.

Several passengers on the flight then subdued the guy, and used plastic ties to keep him from creating more trouble. When the plane landed, the guy then attempted to leave the plane through an emergency exit.

The photo you see above was taken by a passenger on the flight, and was sent to the CNN iReporters site using his Blackberry, talk about a live action report!

Of course, the various federal agencies are now involved, and will be investigating the motives of the suspect, as well as checking the plane for any explosives.

It’s one thing to joke about a bomb, it’s a completely different ballgame when you actually stand up and make such a threat, and hopefully the fool behind this will be locked away for enough time to think long and hard about his actions, and how the passengers on his flight must have felt. Pretty soon the greatest threat to aviation won’t be terrorists, it’ll be insane people.

A nice roundup of some of the dumbest things the TSA did in 2008

by Scott Carmichael on

The TSA has made quite a name for itself when it comes to making stupid decisions. Whether it is forcing a mom to drink her own breast milk, or claiming a thin laptop could be a dangerous weapon, when the TSA screws up, they tend to screw up quite badly.

I’ve compiled some of the best TSA screwups we reported on here on Gadling in 2008.

Do not try and bring a gun through the checkpoint (unless you work for the TSA)

Can you imagine what would happen if you tried to sneak a gun past the security checkpoint? All hell would break loose, probably involving a complete terminal shutdown and a taser.

Unless of course you work for the TSA.

Back in April, Justin wrote about the TSA agent who smuggled a gun through the checkpoint. Instead of being fired, the agent was merely suspended for 30 days. Brilliant.

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Mock bomb passes through the checkpoint – CNN was there to document it

What is worse than an incompetent checkpoint that misses a mock bomb strapped to a TSA agent? Having the incident filmed on CNN!

When CNN got up close and personal with TSA undercover agent “Jason”, they probably did not expect to document someone sneaking a fake bomb past the security staff.

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1000’s of TSA uniforms and badges unaccounted for

October brought us the brilliant story of the TSA coming to the conclusion that they have lost track of thousands of uniforms and badges. Not just any old badge; these badges actually provide access to secure areas of the airport.

Apparently the TSA did not have a suitable system in place to check that retiring (or fired) agents were actually returning their stuff. So, while they are busy making sure you don’t bring dangerous bottled water on the plane, potential terrorists might be out there buying real TSA uniforms.

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Is that an Apple branded bomb in your bag?

When Apple released their new ultra-thin laptop, I doubt anyone at the design department ever thought that the TSA might confuse the sleek lines of the Macbook Air with a bomb.

Apparently the TSA had not been keeping up with the latest technologies enough to understand that a thin computer does not always have to be an explosive device.

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Breasts + nipple rings + pliers = TSA embarrassment

One of the more high profile stories involving the TSA this year, was an incident involving breasts and nipple rings.

While these 2 usually make for a steamy story that beings with “Dear Penthouse…”, this incident was quite embarrassing for the TSA.

When Mandi Hamlin passed through the checkpoint, she set off the handheld metal detector wand. Instead of just asking for a manual search by a female agent, the male TSA agents decided it would much more fun to give Mandi a pair of pliers and demand that she remove her nipple rings.

Once Gloria Allred go involved, the TSA announced it would change the way it screens passengers with body piercings.

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Greed knows no boundaries with this TSA agent

In September, I reported on a TSA agent who was helping himself to goodies from our luggage. Not content with low priced items like MP3 players and digital cameras, this idiot thought it would be cool to snag himself a $47,000 HD video camera from HBO.

As with most thieves, this guy got caught when he became too greedy. The FBI purchased one of his items off Ebay, and apprehended him.

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TSA behavior detection, detects not much more than that

In 2006, the TSA started a highly promoted “behavior detection program” which involved training their agents to detect terrorists based on nothing more than suspicious behavior.

In total, 160,000 people were flagged by this method, resulting in just 1,266 arrests. Aaron covered this waste of time and tax money in November including a priceless quote from a Carnegie Mellon professor who calls the program “a sham”.

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Sprained ankle? Prove it!

It’s bad enough when the antics at your checkpoint are merely annoying, it’s another when the screeners actually cause bodily harm.

That is what happened to Lorna Dunlap at Pasco, WA airport and Jeffrey wrote about this insane incident back in October.

Poor Lorna has sprained her ankle, forcing her to travel with a leg brace. Apparently, the screener wanted more proof of this injury, so told her to remove her leg brace and stand on one leg.

The stupidity caused her to fracture her leg in 2 places, but I’m sure she’s relieved to hear that the TSA is “looking into it”.

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Another breast related incident

The TSA really seems to have a problem with breasts. When you read what happened to Nancy Kates, you’d probably suspect that the TSA agents all received a memo warning about boobie bombs.

Nancy is a big-busted woman, but when her underwire set off the metal detector, it was the beginning of a 40 minute dispute that resulted in her having to explain to a TSA supervisor how the Constitution works.

In the end, the TSA was so kind as to let her simply remove her bra and go through the checkpoint again, but that didn’t stop her from making sure the entire world got to read her story.

Despite the TSA’s best intentions, what strange things have been found on planes?

Bombs away! Air Force F-16 drops a dummy bomb on the Las Vegas strip

by Scott Carmichael on

Poor Las Vegas… Already struggling from declining visitor numbers, now sin city is in the news again when an Air force F-16 dropped a dummy bomb on the strip, hitting a truck.

The F-16 was stationed at Nellis AFB when the 25 pound bomb became unattached from the launching mechanism, falling 1700 feet. Police started getting reports that something was falling from the sky when the bomb dropped.

Thankfully the bomb first hit the tarmac at the base itself, then bounced over a fence and penetrated the front of the truck. Imagine the damage if the bomb had hit a strip hotel or pedestrians! The driver of the truck managed to escape with nothing more than a pretty bad fright.

A Spokesperson for the Air Force did not know how the bomb became unattached, nor did they know whether pilot error was involved.

10 tips for smarter flying


GADLING’S TAKE FIVE: Week of October 15

by Adrienne Wilson on

Last day of the work week has arrived and I’m ready to hit the town, but the week would not be complete without Gadling’s Take Five. So, I offer you these tasty little finds you may have missed and then I’m hitting the road. Have fun!

5. Antarctica: The Land Waaay Down Under:
I envy Erik, I envy Carolyn Swindel and anyone else who’s been to Antarctica and for good cause. (Always for good cause.) In this blurb, Erik touches on his travels to the land waaay down under and points us to Ms. Swindel’s details on the incredible icebergs and nature to be found in Antarctica. Read it and you’ll be just a tad envious too.

4. No Fly List Exposed:
Mmm… Having once worked in an environment that dealt both with a list similar to that of the No Fly list and the general public I understand the frustrations among innocent Americans. Not that it is too surprising, but in this piece I point out the 60 Minutes episode that calls out the many, many, glitches in the system. It is pretty upsetting even if your name isn’t Robert Johnson or John Thomas.

3. Milk Bombs on Planes:
If your a traveling breast-feeding mum you may have come across some recent challenges with airport security, but if there is a will there is a way. When Iva puts her feelers out there we soon discover ways to get that non-toxic breast-milk on board thanks to some clever readers. Check it out.

2. Parks in Winter:
Winter is more than a month away still, but the temperature is still dropping and making some national parks less desirable to visit. Erik turns the beat around so that all parks don’t get left out in the cold and names about seven worth parading through during the winter.

1. Removing the “Ugh” from Ugly Americans:
Why don’t we just remove the “Ugh” from all nasty travelers? Wouldn’t that be great?!? Until then we should ALL take a look at this piece helping to rid the world of the culturally Ugly American. And I really do insist on ALL nationalities reading this piece. I’ve met some so-so travelers from distant places before and thought they were pretty ugly if not nastier.