Man with gun and ammuntion arrested in Canadian airport

by Grant Martin on

Traveling with my parents to New York City this past weekend, my father was stopped at the security screening because his toothpaste was too large. He thought that gels were okay but they were not. An innocent mistake, and after surrendering his Colgate he went on his merry way (to his soon to be canceled flight).

It’s pretty hard to find an excuse for carrying a handgun onto an airplane though. That’s exactly what a man in Calgary, Alberta tried yesterday when he was caught with the weapon in his carry on luggage when it went through security.

He was arrested without incident and charged with four counts of weapons related charges.

Details on the incident are still a little sketchy; there is no word on what the man’s motivations or plans were. I’m just glad that the guy operating the x-ray machine was on top of his monitor and saw the weapon go through security. We’ll let you know what happens.

US Airways pilot’s gun discharges while in flight

by Grant Martin on

If there’s one thing that fires people up besides shirts with the F word on it, it’s guns.

At issue is whether or not pilots should be allowed to carry weapons in the cockpit. While it’s a definitive way to reinforce security at 30,000 feet, the presence of a firearm onboard increases the potential for accidents — and disaster.

That’s what happened last Saturday when a US Airways pilot’s gun accidentally went off in the cockpit during the flight. Nobody was injured and the aircraft landed safely, but wow, they were lucky.

Suppose that bullet went through the front window instead of somewhere into the fuselage. At that altitude could the pilots withstand explosive decompression? Would the entire cabin decompress and the pilots be killed?

According to the TSA, the pilot in question was trained under the Federal Flight Deck Officers program and last certified in November. Details are still sketchy on how the firearm was stored and what caused it to discharge in the cockpit, but I’m pretty sure that with the safety on and without a bullet in the chamber a weapon shouldn’t accidentally fire.

I suppose if it were up to me and on my flight, I would prefer the pilot to have a gun and thwart a terrorist at the small risk of having an accident. While flight deck doors are locked from the inside these days and any instigator would have a really difficult time getting access, the extra layer of security does supply a grain of comfort. I’m glad everyone was safe on the US Airways flight.

Company patents electrical shock device to be used for aviation security

by Anna Brones on

As an airline passenger, there are many things that you can’t take aboard. Water bottles, lacrosse sticks, snow globes… the list goes on. But what if, despite all of the measures taken by the Transportation Security Administration, someone still manages to cause some havoc on a plane?

Lampered, a firearm training system, has patented a bracelet that delivers shocks when activated. What does the company see as the ideal use for such a bracelet? Aviation safety. Lampered proposes that the TSA require every passenger to wear one of the bracelets, and as soon as any safety related problems arise in-flight, flight-attendants can give a disabling electrical shock to a suspect passenger.

Somehow I can’t keep images of large herds of sheep, all with collars to keep them from going past the electrical fence, out of my head. Oh the advances in security.

[Via Boing Boing]

MacBook Air or bomb? One guy’s trip through airport security

by Jerry Guo on

Apple’s newest doodad is 3/4th of an inch at its thickest point and weighs three pounds. But apparently that makes the Macbook Air the perfect bomb–at least in the eyes of airport security.

One Mac lover ran his Air through the x-ray machine without thinking about what the lack of a hard drive, CD drive, or ports would look like to the security guys. Pretty soon, there are dozens of security guards running around thinking they’ve got a terrorist dumb enough to carry a bomb through the security checkpoint.

It wasn’t until a new recruit with some common sense (and who reads the news) chimed in.

He tells the others that it is a real laptop, not a “device”. That it has a solid-state drive instead of a hard disc. They don’t know what he means. He tries again, “Instead of a spinning disc, it keeps everything in flash memory.” Still no good. “Like the memory card in a digital camera.” He points to the x-ray, “Here. That’s what it uses instead of a hard drive.”

Over at Reddit, there are some hilarious comments to this story. My favorite:

Ironic that the “Air” keeps him grounded.

In January, I raised concerns about the suitability of the MacBook Air for travelers. Add this to the list.

Israel: Passengers must be seated half an hour before landing

by Iva Skoch on

Israel is tightening its security again, because of the fears following the recent death of a Hezbollah terror mastermind Imad Mugniyah, UPI reports. Passengers on all domestic and international flights landing in Israel must now be seated 30 minutes before landing. The prior security arrangements required only 15 minutes.

The Transport Ministry said it is giving the flight crew more time to spot suspicious passengers and to make it harder for passenger to hijack a plane.

I would think that “more time to notice suspicious passengers” should happen in the beginning of a flight, rather than at the end, but what do I know about airline security.