UK Airport security and a VHF handheld.

[Leo Ticheli]

My favorite Gatwick security question was, "are you carrying anything that could be used as a weapon?"
Answering "no" is an obvious lie, but the only choice if one wishes to avoid unpleasant delays, so that was my reply after a couple of seconds of deliberation. I can but imagine what would have befallen me had I listed all the ways my belongings could be put to mayhem.

Fair winds,
Leo

[denverd0n]

Originally Posted by Leo Ticheli

My favorite Gatwick security question was, "are you carrying anything that could be used as a weapon?"
Answering "no" is an obvious lie...

Yep. Anybody who knows anything about self-defense knows that ANYTHING can be a weapon -- a hat, a glove, a pen, a newspaper, hands and feet obviously, ANYTHING!


So, the fact is that we are ALL carrying things "that could be used as a weapon" with us ALL THE TIME!


This is the fundamental problem with trying to screen dangerous objects, instead of dangerous people. In the hands of the right person, ANY object can be dangerous.

[tarian]

Originally Posted by denverd0n

Yep. Anybody who knows anything about self-defense knows that ANYTHING can be a weapon -- a hat, a glove, a pen, a newspaper, hands and feet obviously, ANYTHING!


So, the fact is that we are ALL carrying things "that could be used as a weapon" with us ALL THE TIME!


This is the fundamental problem with trying to screen dangerous objects, instead of dangerous people. In the hands of the right person, ANY object can be dangerous.

this thread is getting silly . lets all take a pot at security as we all know better because were on a forum next it will be an anchor twist to it , if I can kill some one with a hat please let me know how


I love the this place I can learn so much rubbish from the retired SAS , Delta force , SEALS and Marine Commandos on this site that can tell me how crap security is at airports (UK especially although the US has had some serious security breaches which I will not go into )

Give it a rest and stop the waffling IMHO OFC as some one who knows a little about it .

[undercutter]

Since the thread is getting silly, I guess it is acceptable to tell the story of how I got held up flying into Canada because all I had with me was a book and a pack of cigarettes.



Now I always drag around an empty suitcase so they don't get suspicious.

[StuM]

Originally Posted by tarian

, if I can kill some one with a hat please let me know how

One word: Oddjob

[boatman61]

What made me laugh entering the US was filing down a narrow passage single file to have our carry on luggage x-rayed after dis-embarking..
How the hell did they know I had bought an AK47 and some grenades on the corner of Cloud 9 and 10.

[AKA-None]

Funny thing. I had German security ask if I had any weapons so I asked for clarification. She said things like knives. I mentioned the airline was going to hand me a knife and fork at least twice during the flight. She wasn’t pleased so I said no I have no weapons.

[denverd0n]

Originally Posted by tarian

this thread is getting silly.

Only because the question asked by the security person was silly. Are you carrying anything that can be used as a weapon? Anyone who is carrying almost ANYTHING, and who answers "no" is lying. Plain and simple. Either that, or you are too stupid to realize how everyday items can be used as a weapon when necessary.

Internet commandos? How about a 65 year old woman, who used her purse as a weapon to drop a 20-something who was accosting her? Yeah. Nothing unusual in the purse, just the regular stuff she always carries. He grabbed at her, she whacked him in the side of the head, which put him off balance enough to put him on the ground with a knee to the groin. That was my wife. Boy am I proud of her!

So, yeah, pretty much anything can be used as a weapon.

[Montanan]

Years back my wife was chaperoning a group of Montana kids for a trip to New York City and they were all standing in a long line at airport security, when she overheard a man vociferously complaining about the process and its relevance as to safety of the public.

She asked the man simply and directly in a loud voice that others could clearly overhear: "Do you know of the twin towers in New York City? They don't exist anymore."

Enough said.

One could hear the echoes of the sound of silence in that TSA line.

The TSA have a job and they do it rather well, not perfectly. If they err is should be on the side of safety. An inconvenience to one, is the trade off of for assuring the well being for others.

I recall a TSA agent asking if he could swab check the outside of my briefcase for explosives. I said: "Certainly! Please do, and it likely should test positive." Which response peaked his interest and attention and that of his supervisor. Sure enough the briefcase swab tested positive in their machine. I then told them that I had been delivered to the airport by my father-in-law using his pick up truck and that I had placed my luggage in the truck bed that we had transported several hundred pounds of dynamite, fuse cord, and ammonium nitrate explosives in to our hobby gold mine in the nearby mountains the previous day. They then asked if they could search the inside of my briefcase, which I agreed to and proceeded to empty it for them to examine both its contents and the bag itself. I told them my checked in luggage would also likely test positive due to residue from the truck. I was glad to see that their screening technology was capable of discerning minute quantities of explosives.

[wolfgal]

following 911, i'd go back and forth to the states from europe at least once a year. my kids were babes then (nursing even), and i was amazed at how the security folk were so very agressive.

as a very, very tired mother of two, i got padded down and my stuff searched and the whole lot. it was not as though there was any outward sign that i could possibility be a fanatic with a bomb hidden in my baby's diapers or between my breasts. and my tots both had bright blue eyes and bond hair, so it was not as if i had reproduced with someone who had a deeply-rooted tradition somewhere out there in some feared community (let's face it, how you look does play in. don't come back to me saying it doesn't).

the thing is, years before, not long after the shooting at Ben Huron airport, about the same happened. i got stripped searched right down to my panties. my camera film was pulled clean out of my camera... all this because i had a stamp in my passport (egypt)... here again, the security people were so, so, so aggressive and angry.

in both cases, the way these folks treated me and others boils down to trauma. they were full of anger and fear.

when we think of someone being afraid or having fear, we usually imagine the Flight response. but we must not forget that the Fight response is just as natural. and it is a manifestation of fear.

and fear can have an ugly face...

as for our equipment and these stories of our VHfs and EPIRBS or whatever getting tossed at whim (in ignorance and lack of respect), this is absolutely incredible.

in a day and age when anything can be googled and identified in less than 12 seconds, there is no excuse!



wolfie

[Auspicious]

Originally Posted by boatman61

What made me laugh entering the US was filing down a narrow passage single file to have our carry on luggage x-rayed after dis-embarking..
How the hell did they know I had bought an AK47 and some grenades on the corner of Cloud 9 and 10.

Where were you coming from? There are a number of countries the US has security concerns about. If the security screening at the departure point is not trusted you will get screened at entry into many other countries, not just the US.

[Lake-Effect]

Originally Posted by Montanan

The TSA have a job and they do it rather well, not perfectly. If they err is should be on the side of safety. An inconvenience to one, is the trade off of for as set ofsuring the well being for others.

We can disagree about the balance of efficacy vs hassle. And about the approach of using low-paid, unhappy screeners and an incomplete set of arbitrary rules which sees screener A passing a marine VHF, and screener B seizing it.

[Mynard]

Originally Posted by Goodall_M1

Yes, like you, I have never had any problems before.

It seems to just depend on the security staff on duty when you go through.
And they have total control!

I just wanted to alert other members of the potential for trouble.

I think my hand-held will travel in the hold in future.

Just remember to remove the battery when sending it to the hold, and rather take the battery only in your carry on.



I've had it before that the batteries become all swollen from traveling in the hold. maybe a pressure or lack of pressure thing.

[chrisparker]

I'm an airline pilot and there are no restrictions on carrying VHF radios on flights in Europe. There are restrictions on Lithium and Lithium-Ion batteries, however, so you should check with your airline if you have those.

Usually, if the battery is removable you’ll have to carry it on.

Hope this helps.

[navtis]

That's a new one on me. I'm a yacht charter broker and many of my clients carry their own VHF in hand luggage. Which airline? It might be useful to carry printouts (or pdf files on your phone) from:


https://www.gov.uk/hand-luggage-rest...ectrical-items


- and



https://ec.europa.eu/transport/modes..._travellers_en (click "List of prohibited articles in your hand luggage."


One British, one EU. VHFs don't appear anywhere, so it looks like you were the victim of over-zealous security; difficult to argue with if you're in a hurry. The above information may help.