posted on March 15, 2004 09:46:59 AM new
Had a friend fly last month and they took away a small two C cell flashlight from him. Not a pen light but it wasn't a big flashlight like the cops carry you could use as a club either.
Anybody know what the reasoning is on this?
posted on March 15, 2004 09:53:33 AM new
No...I don't. But I've also heard they're trying to take away cigarette lighters now too. Saying that if the shoe bomber had had a lighter, rather than matches that didn't work, the plane would have blown up.
posted on March 15, 2004 10:05:03 AM new
Empty out 2 C cells, fill them with C4 and you can make a pretty big hole. You could hollow out a lot of things, but maybe a flashlight is more readily accepted and therefore easier to get through.
posted on March 15, 2004 10:09:32 AM new
What it comes down to is that a lot of the people they hired are just clueless, no common sense or clearly laid out policy.
posted on March 15, 2004 10:56:33 AM new
That idiot was too cheap to buy a good quality plastic coated fuse. And then if you are worried about it getting wet you should seal the end with clear nail polish or at least dab some grease on it so it can't wick from the end.
But what they never explained is he was supposed to have plastic explosive in the shoes. You can't initiate it from a flame. Perhaps he had a blasting cap with a fuse - but electric ones are much more common.
