With all of these detectors, scanners and sniffers, it's pretty obvious that you're not allowed take a gun or bomb on a plane. But what else is prohibited?
Sign up for our Newsletter! Mobile Newsletter banner close. Mobile Newsletter chat close. Mobile Newsletter chat dots. Mobile Newsletter chat avatar. I used the CTX to keep bombs off your plane.
I also go elbows deep in your underwear. It was my third week on the job as one of 55, new airport screeners employed by the Transportation Security Administration, and the first day of the war in Iraq. The nationwide terror alert was at orange, and a pair of National Guardsmen patrolled the sprawling departure lobby of the US Airways terminal at LaGuardia, rifles at the ready, gas masks strapped to their thighs.
All this made the egg-timer click coming from the bag, a black rolling cart with a pull-up handle, a matter of some urgency.
I had picked up the suitcase after it was singled out by one of the cream-colored, SUV-sized machines that x-ray checked luggage. I put it on a metal examination table, as I had been trained to do, and swabbed the surface with a cloth-tipped wand.
It tested negative in the explosive trace detector. I unzipped the bag gingerly and faced a jumble of women's clothes, mostly polyester and flowered, then stuck in a latex-gloved hand to feel for solid objects. Almost immediately I discovered an item dense enough to have been flagged as a possible explosive - it was hair cream. But no clock, no bomb, and no explanation for the ticking.
The sound stopped when I lifted up the bag, then started again when I set it down. None of it could help. Once the machine identified out a suitcase as suspicious, it was my job to search it by hand. So far I had seen the machines flag plenty of deodorant sticks, toothpaste tubes, and shoe heels, which showed up on the screen outlined in red.
I had handled sex toys, machetes, and pistols legal in checked bags. But the closest thing I had seen to a bomb were manufactured images on the screen created by the Threat Image Projection System, a software package developed by the government to make sure we were paying attention. Every once in a while, I learned, police let drug dogs find contraband so they don't grow discouraged. I didn't much care for the implied comparison. The ticking was real enough, though, and I couldn't let the suitcase through until I'd figured out the origin of the sound.
A US Airways supervisor was hovering nearby, and jittery fliers were peeking at us through the breaks in the partitions. I took everything out, stacking clothes on the table. I felt around the lining. I turned the suitcase over once more, noted that the ticking stopped, and saw a bulge in a tiny pocket tucked between the rods for the extendable handle.
It was an electric toothbrush that turned on when it pressed against the table but was packed too tight to vibrate. Usually, those operating the scanning device will see an animated version of the person scanned. It usually looks like a silhouette of a human body without the kinky bits. The clarity of what the operator sees is usually dependent on the sophistication of the device technology. However, for privacy concerns, the person running the scan will never be able to see overly-detailed representations of a naked body.
As the scan gets carried out, the indicator marks any part that seems suspicious. The rise in the use of scanners began in the s when the attempts to smuggle bombs into airports and onto aircraft became a more common and credible threat.
Most airport security systems up until then were metal detectors. The discovery of an increasing amount of passengers transporting hard drugs became a rising concern as well. This led to the need for more powerful and smarter scanners at airports. The scanners are so sensitive that they detect mere hairpins, bra metal wirings, and so on. They even found a small paper clip in my pocket once, which is frighteningly thorough. They can also detect other types of contraband. The USA has the highest number of airport scanners in use.
Over airports are using them at the time of this writing. For the sake of simplicity, electronic scanners used at US airports for security screening get grouped into two main categories:. This kind of scanner, as the name implies, searches passenger baggage. The potential baggage to be scanned goes through the lead-lined curtains , which absorbs some of the energy as it crosses the X-rays path. This means that the absorbed X-rays have less energy than those that were reflected.
From this information, the inspection officers can calculate the density of each object, which informs whatever appropriate actions to be taken. Full-body scanners can detect metallic and non-metallic objects on the exterior of the body. Unlike the medical diagnostic X-rays, full-body scanners can neither see inside the body nor diagnose disease. There are two kinds of full-body scanners used at most airports namely the Millimeter-wave scanner and the backscatter X-ray scanner.
Millimeter wave scanners employ millimeter wave imaging technology to bounce electromagnetic waves off the traveler to provide an animated image like a paper doll to detect where potential threats are located. Millimeter wave scanners have been in use in many airports since May The scanner processes an image by using colors to mark out any areas that may require further screening. Millimetre wave scanners provide an alternative for people who are averse to pat-downs.
Millimetre wave scanners only detect what is worn on the body and hidden under clothing. The backscatter X-ray machine scans the body using ionizing radiation or X-rays deflected by the human body. However, the backscatter showed too many intimate details of the body allowing inspectors to see people virtually naked. Backscatter machines have now been sacked in most airports of the world because of these explicit images and replaced with AIT scanners millimetre wave scanners.
However, in major US, UK, and European airports where they remain in use, the officer viewing the image is in a separate area where they do not make direct contact with the scanned passenger. Backscatter scanners can detect both metallic and non-metallic objects, ranging from guns to foods, drugs, plastics, and so on. According to JAMA Dermatology, it has been found that some items that pose no security threats are flagged by new airport body scanners that use radio frequencies.
The major difference between the backscatter X-ray scanner and the millimeter wave scanner is that the former requires two pictures to be taken — a frontal and a rear picture. While millimeter wave scanners produce a single image and emit far less energy making them a lot safer. The principle of X-ray examination is based on the varying atomic composition of different materials. It explains why different atoms reflect or absorb X-rays differently.
The intensity or exposure time of the X-ray radiation can be increased or a physical inspection carried out if the image of the content of the container is not clearly visible. Therefore, to hide things from an airport scanner, the trick is to conceal the true identity of an object.
For example, semi-liquid explosives could be put into toothpaste tubes and shampoo bottles, which is why from experience, inspection officials restrict such items from carry-on bags.
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