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TSA May Recommend Stowing Laptops In Cargo For US Domestic Flights (cbslocal.com)
Matt.Battey writes: According to WJZ in Baltimore, the TSA may force passengers to check laptops on domestic U.S. flights. Based on the common fear, uncertainty and doubt that supports the TSA's security theater, the terror attacks in Great Britain could result in laptop bans in the U.S. TSA officer Camille Morris is quoted as saying, "A AA battery is fine. A AAA. A 9-volt battery is a huge power charge. The size of the battery that can take down a plane when attached to an explosive." Backed up by comments from Ben Yelin of the University of Maryland Center for Health and Homeland Security, his statement confirms the problem: "Airplanes have been the common threat that we've seen over the past several years." Personally, I'm just glad we have the TSA to recommend we "arrive two hours before a domestic flight, and three hours before an international trip."
AA battery - fine
AAA battery - ok
9V battery - Danger Will Robinson!
Please tell me that SOMEONE in that department is aware that a 9V battery is simply 6 AAAA batteries in a fancy wrapper...
Exploding Trousers is a real thing, apparently.
They absolutely can't impose this rule and maintain the current rate of pilfering valuables from checked luggage by TSA and baggage handlers. I learned long ago not to pack anything worth stealing in a suitcase that I'm going to check. In fact, last time I flew with my girlfriend, she didn't know about the level of theft and packed some jewelry in her checked bag. This was a totally domestic itinerary. The bag that contained all of her jewelry disappeared from her luggage. Happily, it was all relatively cheap stuff, so it wasn't a huge loss, but it's sad to me that I thought not packing valuables in checked bags was just common knowledge and didn't think to mention it to her.
I absolutely would not check my own laptop. Or, for that matter, anything else that I value that some TSA loser might want to pawn.
A 9V battery does not deliver more power than an AA cell. It delivers less. (AA alkaline cell: 1.5V@0.38A = .57W, AAA alkaline cell: 1.5V @0.3A = 0.5W, 9V alkaline cell: 9V@0.05A = 0.45W, all taken from Varta datasheets for fast discharge currents.) A 9V battery delivers more voltage, which in times of cheap, low-input voltage capable and super efficient (90% efficienty) step-up converters means exactly nothing. Also, depending on detonator-type, you can detonate with 1.5V directly.
The TSA has stepped from merely ridiculously incompetent to fully incompetent.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
The threat considered is shaped charges that a terrorist could hold against the inside cabin surface to create a hole in the fuselage. If the terrorist cannot predict where and how the explosive will be positioned, the amount of explosive (given those they can acquire/make) would have to be increased to achieve the same damage, probably beyond the available space in the laptop.
Not so vague:
And not theoretical:
But sure... keep complaining.
Hire a Linux system administrator, systems engineer,
Most airlines specify electronics are not covered for damage. This may have to change but for now don't expect electronics to be covered. If it's like the current international ban items lime DSLR cameras and even lenses (they contain electronics) are also banned.
No, they aren't. In fact, it is illegal to transport even Lithium ion batteries in the cargo hold of an aircraft under current FAA regulations, precisely because the halon fire suppression system inside the cargo hold is not particularly effective at putting out lithium fires, whereas there are means of suppressing a lithium fire in the cabin of an aircraft as long as a human being can get to the fire in time. Thus, the general consensus among experts is that a Lithium fire is considerably safer in the cabin than in the cargo hold.
Why is the TSA deliberately trying to make air travel less safe?
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Jets can't recover from sudden depressurization via gaping hole in the cabin
Jets certainly can, because it's happened a few times in the past - most notably that Hawaii Airlines one where a stewardess got sucked out. Flight crew have "proper" emergency oxygen masks and are trained in their use. Passengers, if they're strapped in, well they tend to black out in about 30 seconds at 30,000+ feet, and you won't be at that altitude for long, because the pilot be descending at 10,000+ feet per minute, pronto.
Down there in the cargo bay however you have a lot of vital aircraft components going past - power and hydraulics, the avionics bay, centrally mounted fuel tanks, etc. If I had a choice between blowing out a door in flight (for example) or blowing a door-sized hole down below, I'd pick the hole in the passenger cabin every time.
You are in a twisty maze of processor lines, all alike.
There is a lot of hype here.
While no fan, I at least recognize the deterrent they serve.
You are a supporter, because you imagine that they serve as a deterrent. They do not. The armed air marshals do that. The TSA exists to terrorize the populace and sexually molest them, nothing more.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
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