A brush with the TSA today...

unsafervguy said:
my favorite story: the tsa rule on tools is they must be less than 7 inches in length. so for my service trips i found a cardboard box that is 6 3/4 inches long inside dimension. i put my pliers, screwdrivers, wire strippers ect inside the box and put the box in my service kit. this kit triggers added checks because of the tools and circuit boards inside. no problem there, one time a TSA mental midget takes the box out and takes each tool out and measures it, never even thinking to just measure the box.

bob
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Meh. If the tool is placed diagonally in the box, it could potentially exceed the limit, depending on the box' width.
 
PPC1052 said:
Meh. If the tool is placed diagonally in the box, it could potentially exceed the limit, depending on the box' width.
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But one could see if they were or not immediately upon opening the box.

One with a brain anyway, thus the reason every tool was measured.
 
EdFred said:
There's also been zero black bear attacks in my yard since the TSA has been founded. I guess we can credit the TSA with that too.

TSA: Stopping black bear attacks since 2000-whenever.

One is a moron if they believe the TSA does anything useful.
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What an idiotic argument. LMFAO!
 
mscard88 said:
Friend/relative a TSA agent? Spent 24 years at an airline, so I probably disagree with you. Yeah let's go with that.
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And that qualifies you how? The bus driver gets to decide how security should be handled? How about train operators? Should they also get to decide? Taxi drivers in NYC? How about we ask their opinion too.

You would think that as the bus driver up front you'd be happy someone is trying to prevent plastic explosives from being snuck onto the plane.

Again, amazed and staggered at the unbelievable depths of ignorance and shortsightedness being shown here.
 
Cavorter said:
And that qualifies you how? The bus driver gets to decide how security should be handled? How about train operators? Should they also get to decide? Taxi drivers in NYC? How about we ask their opinion too.

You would think that as the bus driver up front you'd be happy someone is trying to prevent plastic explosives from being snuck onto the plane.

Again, amazed and staggered at the unbelievable depths of ignorance and shortsightedness being shown here.
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And your qualifications?
 
Cavorter said:
What an idiotic argument. LMFAO!
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It's exactly the same argument you are using.

You can't prove a negative. IE: TSA works because there hasn't been an attack.

That is impossible to prove and is bad logic.


What is possible to prove is that the TSA when tested FAILS to stop 95% of contraband from being brought onto an airplane. That is public knowledge and any terrorist is pretty damn likely to Google Search "how to get past TSA" and would realize that TSA is a sham. Therefore you can't even argue the deterrent effectiveness as it's illogical to believe that someone beginning to plan an attack wouldn't do a simple search about it.
 
My question has always been this: What is stopping people with bad intention from becoming baggage throwers and inserting a device when they are tossing luggage into the hold? I installed baggage conveyor at a few airports back in the day and even post 9/11, it wouldn't take much to bring whatever you wanted into those places.
 
Cavorter said:
And that qualifies you how? The bus driver gets to decide how security should be handled?

You would think that as the bus driver up front

Again, amazed and staggered at the unbelievable depths of ignorance and shortsightedness being shown here.
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Oh my my, insulting me now with bus driver. That's rich. You can't defend your argument so you resort to labels. Well, honestly, I've been called a lot worse than that. As far as the POAers who have other views of TSA it's really simple. Don't log in and click on and read this thread. See, I didn't even call you a name.
 
Remember when the underwear bomber torched his naughty parts and was tackled by other pax? Homeland Security Secretary said that the "system worked".
 
I recall seeing a news report about the quantity of weapons (mostly handguns and knives) that had been confiscated by TSA, it was quite massive, but shockingly, no Martian ray guns or black bear paws.
 
CC268 said:
#TSA Lives Matter

Just kidding I hate TSA too...I don't feel bad about being a jerk to those people when they tend to be complete a-holes anyways.
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Ditto and these people are civil servants, what would be wrong with them approaching in a non threatening manner and identify themselves in a courteous manner and say "Sir can I help you'?" in a civil tone, rather the nasty stuff I have experienced and seen, these people think they can treat you like dirt anytime they feel like, but if you so much as say anything they do not like, look out for the sh*&T storm, what was that about TSA and Arby's?
 
The TSA is pretty much a useless make work bureaucracy for the otherwise unemployable. I found a couple of 'em on my plane before a flight. They started giving me grief because the drop down O2 mask panels didn't have tamper proof tape across the gap. I managed to get their names and badge numbers before I ran their useless asses off of my airplane.
 
Bobcat1 said:
The TSA is pretty much a useless make work bureaucracy for the otherwise unemployable. I found a couple of 'em on my plane before a flight. They started giving me grief because the drop down O2 mask panels didn't have tamper proof tape across the gap. I managed to get their names and badge numbers before I ran their useless asses off of my airplane.
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Am I correct in guessing that tape so applied would have rendered the panels inop?
 
timwinters said:
Late May back in 2010...when I was working in the Cleveland area...they were doing ramp checks at Put-in Bay. Yes, it was the TSA, not CBP.
;)
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How does that work? My understanding is that they aren't sworn LEO's. Do they really have any authority to check your paperwork or cargo?
 
GlennAB1 said:
I recall seeing a news report about the quantity of weapons (mostly handguns and knives) that had been confiscated by TSA, it was quite massive, but shockingly, no Martian ray guns or black bear paws.
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The likeliest answer is that these were always carried on planes before the TSA, and not for nefarious purposes. Probably forgotten items (hell, I accidentally almost brought a filet knife to a TSA checkpoint once but by pure luck happened to open my carry on to find a charger before I got there and found it).

So the TSA has been successful in seizing items that weren't going to be used for terror anyway.

I suppose that's a success of some sort or another...
 
I brought a 6 inch knife onto a plane (to Flordia and back)...on accident. It was in my mesh waterbottle holder on my backpack. Besides the fact that it was black and so was my backpack, it wasn't hard to find (although I didn't see it myself lol).

Got through security at both Sky Harbor and in Florida.
 
SkyHog said:
The likeliest answer is that these were always carried on planes before the TSA, and not for nefarious purposes. Probably forgotten items (hell, I accidentally almost brought a filet knife to a TSA checkpoint once but by pure luck happened to open my carry on to find a charger before I got there and found it).

So the TSA has been successful in seizing items that weren't going to be used for terror anyway.

I suppose that's a success of some sort or another...
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Nobody ever expected box cutters to be used for anything else, too.
 
mscard88 said:
Oh my my, insulting me now with bus driver. That's rich. You can't defend your argument so you resort to labels. Well, honestly, I've been called a lot worse than that. As far as the POAers who have other views of TSA it's really simple. Don't log in and click on and read this thread. See, I didn't even call you a name.
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o_O

Point is being the pilot/driver/whatever of a mass transportation vehicle does not make your opinion more important than mine as a passenger in the back of that vehicle.

You stated that point as if you're something special. You're not. Neither am I but I don't pretend to be either. I get tired of all the bashing of law enforcement and TSA and other people just doing their jobs trying to protect us. This thread is no different.

The huge majority of those in the TSA are doing a great job. There are a few well publicized bad events. Same as in law enforcement. Don't paint them all with the same stroke.
 
Cavorter said:
o_O

Point is being the pilot/driver/whatever of a mass transportation vehicle does not make your opinion more important than mine as a passenger in the back of that vehicle.

You stated that point as if you're something special. You're not. Neither am I but I don't pretend to be either. I get tired of all the bashing of law enforcement and TSA and other people just doing their jobs trying to protect us. This thread is no different.

The huge majority of those in the TSA are doing a great job. There are a few well publicized bad events. Same as in law enforcement. Don't paint them all with the same stroke.
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Whoa whoa whoa there haus...TSA is NOT law enforcement. At one time I was assigned to the airport AS LAW ENFORCEMENT, so that is something I have an informed an opinion on...
 
I posit that the root cause is not the TSA per-se (though they make it worse), it's:
1) That politicians have convinced the public that risk-avoidance is not only necessary but achievable. This is a key reason that so many folks support the TSA, the police, and others that infringe on rights and privileges. The watch words are: "If you're doing nothing wrong, you have nothing to worry about", while someone is grabbing your junk while trying to convince you it makes you "safer". And
2) That the government has decided that it is better to have the government decide (often in one-size-fits-all fashion) things for individuals rather than allowing them to exercise judgement. That substitution of "judgement" covers a lot of ground - I can point to any number of examples very quickly. And a lot of people would rather delegate their judgement to the government (follow the rules) rather than spend the time or effort to learn critical thinking and the ability to decide for themselves. You see that attitude in the current election with the use of fear: "If you vote for a third-party candidate you will ENSURE that he/she (whichever candidate I hate) wins, and those third parties will dismantle regulations that keep us safe". It's not limited to one party.

While the TSA has it's share of folks that don't belong there (like the one that insisted to me at IAD that "there is no freedom of speech rights at the checkpoint, you have no constitutional protection here" (he backed down when I asked for the terminal security manager and the name of the FSD), the core problem is not going to be solved by eliminating the agency. Bureaucracies exist to protect and expand themselves. Ultimately, it will require each and every voter to grow a pair and elect someone that understands risk management, critical thinking, and allowing freedoms..... rather than someone who panders to the public, trades on fear, and lives by the adage of "let no crisis go wasted".

Rant Off.
 
What the new TSA logo should be
ass_clown_text_medium.jpg


When i read about the mouth breathing, well i wont say anymore so i dont get banned for a string of obscenities, TSA throwing sick kids, old people, etc down to "search them" or because they don't understand and are a "threat", it ****es me off to no end. I deal with these chuckle heads on a weekly basis and most of them arent qualified to work the drive up window at a Taco Bell, much less be responsible for the safety of hundreds of millions of people.

But maybe if we hire another 30 or 40,000 of them to help the others stand around and ********, that will really prevent terrorism.
 
GlennAB1 said:
I recall seeing a news report about the quantity of weapons (mostly handguns and knives) that had been confiscated by TSA, it was quite massive, but shockingly, no Martian ray guns or black bear paws.
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GlennAB1 said:
Nobody ever expected box cutters to be used for anything else, too.
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And they never will be again but it won't be because of TSA.
 
Palmpilot said:
Am I correct in guessing that tape so applied would have rendered the panels inop?
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Actually you're right. With tape across the panel, the masks won't drop. That's why you don't see 'em taped.
 
Duct tape and tamper proof tape are two different animals. You gotta really tamper with the tamper proof stuff. In any event, I haven't seen tamper proof O2 mask panels before or since 9/11.
 
Cavorter said:
o_O

Point is being the pilot/driver/whatever of a mass transportation vehicle does not make your opinion more important than mine as a passenger in the back of that vehicle.
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You are mistaken. Perhaps you need to learn about the responsibilities and duties of the pilot-in-command. The PIC's opinion far outweighs any passengers.
 
As I stated in another thread... there were 0 hijackings of commercial passenger airliners in the United States in 14 years prior to 9/11.

So TSA must have successfully thwarted all of those too.

Also, if there is a staggeringly large pile of weapons that TSA successfully intercepted... and they have a 95% failure rate... think about all the weapons that successfully made it on to flights without incident.
 
https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2015/06/reassessing_air.html

For those of us who have been watching the TSA, the 95% number wasn't that much of a surprise. The TSA has been failing these sorts of tests since its inception: failures in 2003, a 91% failure rate at Newark Liberty International in 2006, a 75% failure rate at Los Angeles International in 2007, morefailures in 2008. And those are just the public test results; I'm sure there are many more similarly damning reports the TSA has kept secret out of embarrassment.

Previous TSA excuses were that the results were isolated to a single airport, or not realistic simulations of terrorist behavior. That almost certainly wasn't true then, but the TSA can't even argue that now. The current test was conducted at many airports, and the testers didn't use super-stealthy ninja-like weapon-hiding skills.
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http://www.cnn.com/2008/TRAVEL/08/20/grounded.jets/

Nine commuter aircraft were grounded for safety inspections Tuesday at Chicago's O'Hare airport after a federal security inspector climbed onto them by grabbing sensitive outside instruments, the Transportation Security Administration said Wednesday.

"It delayed a lot of folks getting to where they had to go yesterday," said American Eagle spokeswoman Andrea Huguely. "This was something we had never experienced before."

The inspector used the total air temperature probe and the jetway to haul himself through the open doors of seven of the nine planes he inspected, a TSA official said.
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Ignorance, laziness, and glorified McDonald's rejects.

"What is the TSA, Alex?"
 
Some people need to believe that there's an authority in control and watching over everything. Some government officials need to believe they're in control. That's who the TSA is really for.

Those of us who feel the world is too chaotic and complex for anyone to have that level of control can't stand it....

Thank god I have my own airplane.
 
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