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Comment by yard2010 | Hacker News Reader

yard2010

While I agree it's nonsense, I'm curious what would change without harming the personal security of everyone involved? I mean this system has many flaws but no one can steal a plane again and crash it into innocent people right?

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Modern airport security is beyond useless. It's hugely wasteful and ineffective. https://www.vox.com/2016/5/17/11687014/tsa-against-airport-s...

In the past quarter, TSA intercepted an average of 16.8 firearms per day, 93% of which were loaded. I'm quite happy with that many less guns on my flights (imagine what it would be like if there was no check - this is just from people who forgot that carrying onboard is not allowed).

People forgetting they are carrying a loaded firearm into an airport feels like a pretty US specific problem, and there are ways to screen for guns without the massive inconvenience that is TSA. Other parts of the world still have security checks at airports, just a lot more efficient.

Even if that’s true, which I’m very skeptical of, the TSA has little to do with that. The armored and locked cockpit doors? Sure. Air marshals? Possibly.

But the TSA has absolutely no bearing on whether or not a plane gets hijacked. It is far too easy to circumvent.

As someone who carries a 20 cm metal rod through airport security every time and has not seen a single warning light ever popping up because of that, it is quite difficult for me to understand how the airport security is supposed to add safety against anyone who is willing to spend any time working around it - and who is motivated.

(For the curious, there is a titanium plate in my body due to an accident)

I'm quite sure that if you carried the same in luggage or on your body (as opposed to _in_ your body), it would get confiscated.

Most roller bags have 20cm rods built into the handles.

The TSA explicitly allows hand tools up to 17cm (7 in.)

I think that at this point the TSA is more interested in explosives since hardened cockpit doors, and passenger willingness to intervene have pretty much killed takeover style hijackings.

If it was found, that is. If the metal detector does not see it, how do you think it was supposed to be found?

TSA gates at most large airports that I've been at use backscatter and can detect objects that you carry. A rod anywhere on you would be seen.

Why would a plate in your body set off a warning light? It's not a security risk.

They can rip off their leg and beat people with it. They should have to check that appendage.

I don't think a typical metal detector can distinguish between metal in my arm and metal taped to my arm.

That's why they use the full body scanner at most airport security now. One of those detected a small piece of scrap paper in my back pocket that I had to pull out and show to security. They showed me the image and even the shape of the paper was clear. For sure those scanners can distinguish between metal in your arm and taped to your arm.

Okay, haven't been flying that much in tje last few years, I thought they were still not universal - at least in europe.

Not universal even in the US, but you encounter them fairly frequently in Europe depending on the country.

That risk is effectively zero now due to locking cabin doors, to the point where actual pilots are the only ones who deliberately crash planes.

The irony being that it's exactly those locking doors that allow suicidal pilots to deliberately crash planes.

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