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."