the appearance of safety

[Dantilla]

The ultimate?

Fingernail clippers being confiscated before boarding a cruise ship, and then being able to buy fingernail clippers in the boat's gift shop.

[Drago]

Originally posted by island911
those cargo holds are pretty secure . . .right?

and unpressurized.

[tabs]

I don't bother with airports anymore...I just hop on my Flying Carpet and whisk myself away.....

[Eric Coffey]

Originally posted by Drago
and unpressurized.

Whatchootalkinabout? I thought they were pressurized? Or is it that just part of the cargo hold is? I know at least a few 747C's are, for transporting large animals/livestock.

[singpilot]

The holds are pressurized, but some are unheated. Every type of transport category airplane has a list of what (including live animals) can and cannot be put in what holds.

Some planes have small unpressurized and unheated storage areas, but they are for tools and stuff like that.

[island911]

"In September last year, McKinley sent himself in a cargo crate from Newark airport in New Jersey to Dallas/Forth Worth in Texas, to visit his parents. "

So, can you imagine the knives(understatement) that could be packaged with human cargo? yikes.

It really seem to me that the security focus ought to be on planes with out crowds of would-be anti-terrorists mobs. Cargo planes, air-craft on the ground. . .that sort of thing.

[Superman]

Israeli Airlines (El Al) has never had a successful hijacking, to the best of my knowledge. And they are as hated by terrorists as anyone on the planet. Clearly, they have excellent security procedures. But also, I think military service is simply mandatory for everyone. So, all adult Israelis are combat-trained. Both sexes. On an El Al flight, a terrorist with a small weapon would have only a brief moment to make trouble.

Oh, and I think TSA does now allow fingernail clippers on flights.

[Eric Coffey]

Originally posted by Superman
Israeli Airlines (El Al) has never had a successful hijacking, to the best of my knowledge. And they are as hated by terrorists as anyone on the planet. Clearly, they have excellent security procedures. But also, I think military service is simply mandatory for everyone. So, all adult Israelis are combat-trained. Both sexes. On an El Al flight, a terrorist with a small weapon would have only a brief moment to make trouble...

That is due in large part to their use of a well-known, very effective tactic that the US "can't" use (profiling). They are trained to look for people, not just the weapons themselves.

[Dantilla]

I have flown on El-Al.

You open your luggage in front of an inspector so he can rummage through it. Thouroghly. Yep. Every bag is opened and inspected with real eyeballs.