I know some people like to tempt fate by seeing what they can get away with carrying on a plane (sharps disguised as keys, etc.) It might not be a good idea.... <img src="/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" />

Arrested

DETROIT ? A 22-year-old Yemeni immigrant has been sentenced to one year in jail for carrying a knife hidden inside an address book at Detroit Metropolitan Airport.
Wayne County Circuit Judge James Callahan said Tuesday that the 2.5 inch blade posed little threat but said he was concerned that Mohammed S. Ghanem of Hamtramck had brought it to the airport.
"It didn't really have any sharp edges to it," Callahan said. "Why would someone do it? ... One of the possible reasons to do that was to see if the security system could be breached. Thank God, it was not."
Ghanem said he had no idea the blade was embedded in his address book when he left for what was to be a one-way flight to Yemen on Sept. 7. He is a legal permanent resident of the U.S. and said he was returning to his homeland to find a wife.
On Dec. 19, a jury convicted Ghanem of possessing a weapon in a secure area of an airport. Callahan also ordered Ghanem to complete two years' probation after leaving jail. Ghanem has been jailed since his arrest.

Life is a game and pushing the edge of the envelope is the only measurement some people can make to prove their self worth. It is another typical example of a girl or boy hiding inside the body of an adult. They are certainly not ready to pay the price of failure. And yes, STUPIDITY is a serious crime.

One way flight too? Bet that raised eyebrows.

I'm looking through my address book right now to make sure there aren't any blades hidden in it....because if there were, I wouldn;t know about it. Give me a break! The only thing that guy probably didn;t know about was that it would be found.

One of the best responses to 911 and airline security I heard was in 2002....the response of a pro-knife, pro-gun electronic surveillance equipment manufacturer...."I think there ought to be a 9" blade sticking straight up out of the armrest of every seat on the plane. You think these guys would want to start some s**t then?" It made me laugh for a few seconds.....until I realized how much sense it made.

I have always thought that a plane load of people who don't want to go to Cuba, or crash into a building or the ground, can beat a blade, no matter what the length, every time. Sure, you might get cut or stuck, but the alternative is worth the risk...

"...a plane load of people who don't want to go to Cuba, or crash into a building or the ground, can beat a blade, no matter what the length..."

Right! I'm willing to bet that the distance between your shoulder and the tip of your knife is shorter than the distance from my torso/throat to my heel as it smashes violently into your knee.

Sue

Pre 09/11 ....

Once, before taking a plane, I carefuly removed the various (i.e. 2 or 3...) knives I EDC and put them in my checked luggage.
Then I proceeded to the secured boarding area.
BEEEEEP .......................
I had completely forgotten to remove my Leatherman PST II from my belt !!!!!! <img src="/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" />

"...my heel as it smashes violently into your knee...

Or maybe a tad higher.

I have always felt that I would rather go down fighting, rather than sit there meekly and let one or three bad guys control 100+ people with a little bitty box cutter or something...

"Why would someone do it? ... One of the possible reasons to do that was to see if the security system could be breached. Thank God, it was not."

How naive some people are! The security is breached all the time. Do they think that since they don't catch anyone else that it doesn't happen??? Bad logic that.

I had a pocketknife make it through three screenings before it was finally found and confiscated. I guess since they didn't catch it the first three times they don't count???

A few years back after our liferaft tests I was boarding my flight. I was one of two people pulled aside and had to take off my shoes. I can only guess the Camillus utility knife and Doug's gifted leatherman in my baggage tagged me as a person of interest. I hope it wasn't the ETS ballcap! Pilot gave me a look when I boarded in my socks, like I'm going to wait? Of course nobody objected when I took the over the wing emergency exit seat! Flight attendant even interrupted my relacing to ask if I was comfortable operating the door? I replied I was former Coast Guard. The very obvious airmarshal sitting behind me let out a sigh ( they're the guys who until recently boarded first.) Funny part was the second person of interest to be shoe checked sat down next to me. A turban, full beard and magazine in Sanskrit ( anybody know where this is going yet?) had profiled him. Ah yes, a SIKHE from India, except this Sikhe was a 5th generation central valley farmer.Yemenis are interesting. They still have small, but ancient communities of jews and christians that have not been destroyed or persecuted like in so many other nations. This may have been something sinister, or, just a stupid mistake by somebody with the misfortune to be the wrong ethnicity. I asked my new Sikhe friend ( in english) where his farm was. "Oh, two are in the Central Valley, and one is for apples in Manzanar."

Naw, go for the knee. A guy can/will instinctively protect the family jewels, but there is simply NOTHING he can do to protect his knees from being folded backward.

I discovered just how well this works <img src="/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> when I got a slight bang on the side of my knee from my exuberant 50# dog and couldn't move at all. I couldn't put any weight on that leg at all. Prepared to plant roots until I leafed out in Spring, I finally saw my neighbor, and called for her to go to the house and fetch my mother's walker. It took a week to get over just this little bump.

You know how you stomp a stick to make it a shorter piece of firewood? That's how you strike. Very, very effective.

Sue

"...there is simply NOTHING he can do to protect his knees from being folded backward..."

I shudda known that. A PR-24, spinning at close to the speed of sound, really wrecks a knee. Of course, what used to be known as a "groin strike A" has been outlawed as a potentially deadly blow. Both hurt like the devil...

Post deleted by AROTC

I carry a master lock when I fly. Clip that to your belt buckle and see how close a guy with a box cutter will get.

Sounds like an upgraded version of the rock in a sock thing...

Suggested reading for anyone who plans on fighting back is "Kill or Get Kill" by Col. Rex Applegate. Its available here in PDF format. Not everyone has the time and inclination to become proficient at a martial art, but Col. Applegates book is geared towards making a person dangerous in a couple of hours accumulated several minutes at a time. A lot of it is police and military training ranging from unarmed offense and defense up to rifle marksmanship and riotcontrol. But the first couple of chapters on unarmed offense and defense are really helpful.

The Thought just hit me!,...-Perhaps someday Fly an Air France Concorde if you havn't already!

Oh, I almost forgot. She may yet still be grounded.

Its got to be one of my Top Five Aircraft! Our SR-71 Blackbird, -and whatever successor that it may now have, -is in all great liklihood my Number One! [color:"black"] [/color] [email]ScottRezaLogan[/email]

Been there, done that, frenchy.

Had to go to Poland for work, took out all the pointy stuff and gadgets from my briefcase. I knew I would possible need my leatherman whan I got to site so it went in the hold.... on the way out.

Got to site, needed the tool, got it out did the job and put the tool in my briefcase. Next went to airport, with briefcase. Went through the first security check in Krakow no problem, went on to Warsaw for the next leg of my journey when they found the leatherman. I was asked to one side by some very large gentlemen with even bigger guns. At that point I didn't understand why I was being taken to one side until I remembered the leatherman, OMG, that's it 3 yrs Polish prison. I confessed I'd forgotten it was there. I explained what it's use was for, for me it was lost and I was sure they were going to confiscate it or worse to me.....idiot.

The next thing I know the tool is put in a security pouch and I'm been frog marched to the door of the aircraft with 3 armed guards and escorted to my seat, having walked past everyone else. The pouch was given to the aircrew. I got to Paris and the aircrew gave me back the tool as I was leaving the aircraft.

My only regret was I didn't pick up a Lotto ticket that day. Someone was smiling on me.