What sort of defensive blade can I get onto a plane?

[mnblade]

Answer? None (duh.)

Thought some of you might be interested in <a href="http://www.gopbi.com/partners/pbpost/epaper/editions/today/local_news_c3769522b0d9d07f008e.html">this item</a> from today's Palm Beach Post.


<b>Daughter: Man arrested at airport no threat

By Kathryn Quigley, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Monday, February 11, 2002

WEST PALM BEACH --</b> A 63-year-old traveler charged with trying to sneak a homemade knife onto a Dallas-bound flight is a Vietnam veteran and "true-blue American," his stepdaughter says.

"He's definitely not a terrorist," Melissa Breese said of her stepfather. "He is always prepared. He would be the one who saves my life."

William Martin Powers of Palm Beach Gardens was arrested Friday at Palm Beach International Airport after he was frisked in a random security check. He remained in the Palm Beach County Jail on Sunday awaiting a federal court appearance today on a charge of carrying a weapon onto an aircraft.

Powers was in line to board an American Airlines flight. The 6-inch knife was detected by airport personnel at the metal detectors after he was pulled out of line, said special agent Judy Orihuela of the FBI.

The knife was tied to his arm with a cord. Orihuela described it as a handmade sharp shank.

"It was not a toy," she said. "It was a weapon."

Breese said her stepfather routinely carries the knife so he can get to it easily in a dangerous situation. She said he is a Vietnam-era Navy veteran and a former boxer who always makes sure his flag flies correctly outside his home. His son, she said, is a Navy SEAL.

Powers works as an electronics specialist on oil rigs off Singapore and Vietnam, she said. From Dallas he was to fly to Singapore.

She said Powers works 28 days in a row and then has 28 days off. He has been in "scary situations" before during his travels, she said, and wanted to be ready. "He just really wanted to feel protected," she said.

Breese said her stepfather is an intelligent man who knows the seriousness of the felony charge against him, she said.

He is a combination of William Shakespeare, Willie Nelson and the Marlboro Man, she said -- the kind of person she would want around when things turned tough.

"I would feel very safe to have someone like him around me," she said.

 

[knifenerd]

It's a shame that this guy will probably end up doing some "time" for this transgression, but it just does not make any sense to try to sneak something like that onto a plane in today's environment.

 

[mnblade]

>"...it just does not make any sense to try to sneak something like that onto a plane in today's environment."

================================

I'd go you one better and say it's NUTS to try to sneak something like that onto a plane in today's environment. Sounds like an okay guy but he made a hell of a poor choice.

 

[Razoredj]

The single biggest tragedy of these new security regulations is the repeated destruction of the lives of innocent men and women, whose only crime is that they do not view common pocketknives as the Tools of the Apocalypse. Zero tolerance policies in schools, on a much smaller scale, do the same thing: they remove all human judgment from the equation, making a sweating, twitching shoebomber with a boxcutter in his shorts every bit as evil as a Vietnam Veteran with a Case Stockman in his fifth pocket.

 

[Seth Thomas]

New regs in SLC prohibit being out of you seat the last 30 minutes. Forget about knives... now it's a crime to get out of your seat. And, Everyone in the cabin must assume the position.

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — An airline passenger who allegedly got up
to go the bathroom less than 30 minutes before landing became the
first person arrested under a new federal flight regulation adopted
for the Olympics.
Richard Bizarro, 59, could get up to 20 years in prison on
charges of interfering with a flight crew.
Bizarro was on a Delta flight from Los Angeles on Saturday when
he allegedly left his seat 25 minutes before landing, despite two
warnings from the captain to the 90 passengers to stay put as
required under the 30-minute rule adopted for Salt Lake City by the
Federal Aviation Administration.<QA>
Because of the incident, air marshals aboard the plane ordered
all passengers to put their hands on their heads for the rest of
the flight.
Bizarro was jailed overnight and released on his own
recognizance
Authorities said a flight attendant instructed Bizarro to return
to his seat immediately after he left the bathroom. She said
Bizarro, who is 6-foot-2 and 220 pounds, ignored her orders and
stared at her for about a minute before returning to his seat,
according to the FBI.<QA>
The incident was seen by two of three undercover air marshals on
board, the FBI said. One of the agents said he saw Bizarro give
what appeared to be a “thumbs up” to another passenger as he
returned to his seat, prompting the marshals to take control of the
cabin.
The Salt Lake City rule requiring no passenger movement during
the last 30 minutes went into effect Feb. 5. It already had been in
effect for flights to Reagan International Airport in Washington.
AP-WS-02-11-02 1411EST

 

[Burke]

I too am 6'2", and if someone ordered me to get back to my seat after taking a whiz, I'd probably look at them for a few seconds myself...as to the thumbs up, I'm sure it meant "thank god my back teeth aren't floating anymore."

I'm sorry that I seem to have lived to see the death of common sense in our society.

 

[knifenerd]

Razor:

The evening news is reporting that the weapon recovered from this man was a homemade plastic device concealed on his person in a way designed to evade detection.

I'm not sure how the new regs are worded, but one has to hope that if he had innocently walked into the air terminal with a more or less "normal" pocket knife, that maybe the situation would have been handled differently. Especially if the knife was simply carried in a normal "non-evasive" mode. I sincerely hope that an otherwise "up-front" citizen is to be accorded reasonable and courteous treatment.

I think the problem this guy had was the perception of the screeners that he was acting in a surreptitious manner.

 

[Razoredj]

True enough; I glanced over the original article without really reading it. My mistake. (My comments about zero tolerance still apply, I think -- at least in general -- but anyone trying to sneak a plastic knife aboard a plane should expect to get legally barbecued for it.)

 

[Social cameleon]

It's doable, I haven't had the opportunity to fly since the pentagon got taken out by knives, but my trick should still work. I will say that I'm never flying unarmed again.
I'm also not stupid enough to post my methods on a public website, but if someone wants to know, I can be found.
In case you're wondering, this isn't chest thumping. I'm only offering to share to help prevent this sort of thing happening again. It worked the last time I tried it, but that was before last September. Looking at it, and the present "Security," I see no reason why it would be discovered by anything shy of a full strip search.

 

[Akwacko]

"I see no reason why it would be discovered by anything shy of a full strip search."

"Full strip search"!?! I'll never borrow a knife from you again!

Bruce

 

[lowlife]

you guy want to hear something funny?

well, my father went on a international. from JFK to Taiwan then Hong Kong. well his seat was in first class in front of the cockpit. i gave my father a timberline Envoy a while back. so during the flight to taiwan he got bored a decide to clean his carry on. when he reached into his bag on the very bottom what does he feels. a timberline envoy! he got by two security check points and not knowing he had a knife in his bag. how do you like that?

well when he landed he went the bathroom washed and dumped it in the garabe.