Virgin America flight attendant on landing: “If your mobile device is within reach, you can stop pretending it’s turned off now.”
— Andy Baio (@waxpancake) May 14, 2013
Travel tweet of the day
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Tag Archives: air travel
TSA pulls the pornoscanners
TSA has announced that it is removing all the remaining pornoscanners from the nation’s airports.
However, replacement scanners will be put in place. The replacement scanners will not display a clear body image, but will rely on displaying avatars. So they are more private, but not necessarily any safer or effective. And even worse, the TSA says that the pornoscanners will not be mothballed, but rather will be moved to other government facilities “that might not require the same level of privacy called for in a crowded airport.” I suggest that they be put to use in all offices of the TSA, beginning with the headquarters of the TSA.
Russian dash-cam comes through again
Here is a Russian dashcam video that shows the crash of a Russian airliner into a highway in Moscow yesterday. Look on the right about 8 seconds in to see the skidding airplane.
More info on the crash here.
(via NYC Aviation)
Wear a t-shirt, lose your seat
From Jonathan Turley comes yet another TSA story. It seems that a passenger was wearing a t-shirt that mocked the TSA. The TSA and/or Delta Airlines blocked the passenger and he wife from flying because they said the t-shirt made TSA and Delta employees “uncomfortable.”
The shirt logo makes a play on the TSA’s logo, with the eagle holding untied shoes and pouring out a bottle of liquid. Around the seal, it says, “Bombs ZOMG/ZOMG terrists,” and “Gonna kill us all ZOMG ZOMG alert level bloodred run run take off your shoes moisture.” (“ZOMG” means “Oh my God”.)
Here is the story from the passenger’s point of view.
Needless to say there are free speech issues involved, and examination of why the TSA or a common carrier can block US citizens for rudeness is needed immediately.
South Park on the TSA
South Park has taken on the TSA. In this case, it is the Toilet Safety Administration, but I am sure you can note some parallels to the better known TSA.
Americans are as likely to be killed by their own furniture as by terrorism
Last year, a total of seventeen U.S. civilians were killed by terrorists.
According to the report, the number of U.S. citizens who died in terrorist attacks increased by two between 2010 and 2011; overall, a comparable number of Americans are crushed to death by their televisions or furniture each year.
Comparatively, ladders pose a staggering risk to the safety of Americans, claiming 300 lives each year, while drunk driving claimed over 10,000 lives in 2010.
TSA quote of the day
So finally an actual plot has been foiled, a real-live bomb has been kept off a plane, and what role was played by the TSA? None.
In fact, the Christian Science Monitor reports that, “It was not clear whether new body scanners used in many airports would have detected” the Underwear Bomb 2.0. And speculation has been revived that al-Qaeda is working on bombs implanted in the wannabe martyrs’ bodies.
In other words, the next (as Janet Napolitano calls it) “little ping” on your privates will be completely pointless. The terrorists have already beaten the system.
But that’s been the problem from the beginning: You can’t beat the terrorists by playing defense. Forget the fact that the TSA didn’t stop this bombing. Can you name a bomb plot they have foiled?
* * *
So why do we treat every passenger like an al-Qaeda suspect? Why do we as citizens put up with it?
I love how the reaction to this new, undetectable bomb from TSA supporters has been “This proves we should be abusing passengers even more!” The answer for their uselessness and stupidity is more useless stupidity.
– Michael Graham, countering the TSA calls for even more offensive, ineffective airport security in the face of the fact that TSA had no part whatsoever in the undercover work that turned up the plot.
Related articles
- U.S. BOMB EXPERTS are trying to figure out if Al Qaeda’s upgraded and recently seized underwear bo… (pjmedia.com)
- Screening machines to detect nonmetallic bombs not tested (washingtontimes.com)
- TSA saves America from 16yo diabetic, breaks $10K insulin pump which totally could have been a bomb (boingboing.net)
The latest TSA “terrorist”
The latest victim of TSA abuse is a 7 year old girl with cerebral palsy and developmental disabilities. After reviewing the situation, the TSA declared that nothing was done inappropriately.
“TSA has reviewed the incident and determined that our officers followed proper screening procedures in conducting a modified pat-down on the child,” the agency said.
So much for “TSA Cares.”
Related articles
- TSA Aggressively Pats Down 7-Year-Old With Cerebral Palsy (alan.com)
- TSA screeners in LA ran drug-ring, took narco bribes (boingboing.net)
Four year old terrorized by TSA
The TSA is at it again.
“When my Four-year-old daughter noticed her Grandmother, she excitedly ran over to give her a hug, as children often do,” Michelle Brademeyer wrote in a lengthy Facebook post detailing the ordeal. “They made very brief contact, no longer than a few seconds. The Transportation Security Officers(TSO) who were present responded to this very simple action in the worst way imaginable.”
According to Brademeyer, a TSO “began yelling” at Izzy and ordered her to wait for a pat-down. She was prevented from approaching her mother, and told to “come to them, alone, and spread her arms and legs.” Frightened, Izzy screamed “I don’t want to” and bolted. She was returned to the security area, but not before a TSO threatened to shut down the airport and cancel all flights if Izzy was not restrained.
And check out this one.
Related articles
- TSA Pats Down 4-year Old Girl after Suspicious Hug for Granny. (dvorak.org)
- Mom: TSA agents at Wichita airport treated daughter, 4, like a terrorist (kansas.com)
- TSA Accuses 4 Year Old of Attempting to Smuggle Gun (tsaoutofourpants.wordpress.com)
- Conquering the Terrorist Threat by Terrorizing Little Girls (reason.com)
Harry Shearer on the TSA
TSA: grope and pillage
It takes one to know one
Kip Hawley, head of the TSA from July, 2005, to January, 2009, has an op-ed in today’s Wall Street Journal that is worth a full read. He admits that the current airport security operation is broken and he offers his suggestions for reform, including allowing knives, liquids and lighters onto aircraft. A breath of fresh air from a (former) regulator.
Excerpt:
More than a decade after 9/11, it is a national embarrassment that our airport security system remains so hopelessly bureaucratic and disconnected from the people whom it is meant to protect. Preventing terrorist attacks on air travel demands flexibility and the constant reassessment of threats. It also demands strong public support, which the current system has plainly failed to achieve.
The crux of the problem, as I learned in my years at the helm, is our wrongheaded approach to risk. In attempting to eliminate all risk from flying, we have made air travel an unending nightmare for U.S. passengers and visitors from overseas, while at the same time creating a security system that is brittle where it needs to be supple.
Any effort to rebuild TSA and get airport security right in the U.S. has to start with two basic principles:
First, the TSA’s mission is to prevent a catastrophic attack on the transportation system, not to ensure that every single passenger can avoid harm while traveling. Much of the friction in the system today results from rules that are direct responses to how we were attacked on 9/11. But it’s simply no longer the case that killing a few people on board a plane could lead to a hijacking. Never again will a terrorist be able to breach the cockpit simply with a box cutter or a knife. The cockpit doors have been reinforced, and passengers, flight crews and air marshals would intervene.
Second, the TSA’s job is to manage risk, not to enforce regulations. Terrorists are adaptive, and we need to be adaptive, too. Regulations are always playing catch-up, because terrorists design their plots around the loopholes.
TSA quote of the day
In 2004, the average extra waiting time due to TSA procedures was 19.5 minutes per person. That’s a total economic loss—in–America of $10 billion per year, more than the TSA’s entire budget. The increased automobile deaths due to people deciding to drive instead of fly is 500 per year. Both of these numbers are for America only, and by themselves demonstrate that post-9/11 airport security has done more harm than good.
– Bruce Schneier, as quoted by Andrew Sullivan.
TSA debate is over
The debate hosted by The Economist that I wrote about earlier is now over.
And the proposition “This house believes that changes made to airport security since 9/11 have done more harm than good” has won overwhelmingly.
Voters have roundly declared that the frustrations, the delays, the loss of liberty and the increase in fear that characterise their interactions with airport-security procedures vastly outweigh the good these procedures achieve. For some, indeed, the benefits are essentially non-existent: any sensible terrorist can find a work-around or choose a different point of attack, as Bruce Schneier explains. And so the widely expressed hope is that changes made to security in the (near) future will make the whole regime less reactive, more rational, more flexible and more intelligence-driven. The results of this debate suggest that these changes should be made with some urgency: passengers are angry.
Related articles
- Bruce Schneier hands former TSA boss his ass (boingboing.net)
- Friday Fun Flight Link: TSA Trashed by Bruce Schneier (reason.com)
- Nice description of how traveling in America now mimics our worst stereotypes of authoritarian regimes (amanwithaphd.wordpress.com)
- Aviation Security Debate: Bruce Schneier V. Kip Hawley (Former TSA Boss) (tech.slashdot.org)
Crop Dusting
This is a new one to me.
(via Andrew Sullivan)