My brother-in-law went through security at Auckland domestic airport and witnessed a passenger having to fish out her nail scissors from her handbag and leave them behind. He went through security and then boarded his plane. After being seated he could smell petrol. He knew you shouldn’t be able to smell petrol on a plane, because planes don’t use petrol. The smell got worse and eventually he got the attention of one of the flight attendants. They started to look around to see where it was coming from. They found in the overhead compartment a chainsaw in a bag that was leaking petrol into the compartment. His plane was delayed as the owner was identified and the chainsaw removed and put with the main luggage. The owner of the chainsaw said security had stopped him but had let him through because it wasn’t one of the things on their list to confiscate.
From the You Cannot Make this Stuff up Department
Posted in * Culture-Watch, Travel
I read another a few months back where a guy who was licensed to carry a firearm on a plane had his nail file confiscated by the TSA. He boarded sans file, armed with his semiautomatic pistol.
I don’t know what flight he was on, but I know on Delta – chainsaws aren’t permitted. I know b/c I just flew recently with my kids and we were making fun of all the things we couldn’t take (like fireworks, chainsaws, explosive material) with one another.
e.g. “Oh, Sweetie, I KNEW you wanted to take your pet chainsaw along, but you can’t.”
TSA’s vision statement – “So long as we have rules who needs a mind?”
Realize the story was New Zealand but the mindset is absolutely ‘Piskie’ in its reach across the ‘abuse us to protect us’ community.
My favorite example of TSA excess is when the late Governor Joe Foss, then in his 80s, was not allowed to take his Medal of Honor on the plane because it could, somehow, be used as a weapon.
Being in New Zealand I know how erratic our security is. About six months ago I flew from our capital city Wellington to New Plymouth, a small provincial centre near the volcano that looks like Mt Fuji. On the way there we were searched and xrayed etc etc etc, because Wellington has security staff. On the way back all we had was a smiling hostess who checked we found the right seat. I suppose the logic is terrorists only hijack planes that are leaving the capital, not those about to fly over the top of the Parliament buildings!