Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/09/19

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Subject: Re: [Leica] Re- new aviation rules
From: "Jim Laurel" <JimLaurel@earthlink.net>
Date: Wed, 19 Sep 2001 18:53:13 -0700
References: <B7CF0C38.13D17%tarek.charara@wanadoo.fr> <OE30yL2m9lHiu3fQtYd00000bd1@hotmail.com>

It's worse than you think!  I DROVE from London to Bombay over the course of
a year, detouring in the Middle East, and right down the road from Taftan to
Quetta, just south of the Afghan border.  I had various knives (Gerber
hunting knives and the like) as well as Leatherman and Swiss Army
multifunction tools, plus a machete, a saw, a hatchet, 6 still cameras, 2
video cameras, 2 computers, 2 GPSs, VHF tranceivers, and a whole bunch of
other stuff.  The only place that even looked twice at our stuff was India,
and that was only a cursory glance...  In Syria and Jordan, some polite
chatting with the customs guys helped us slip through with no checks
whatsoever.

We had all this stuff with us on the flight from Seattle to London too, all
packed in 4 large Pelicans and a couple of aluminum Zarges boxes.  A
security guy at Heathrow stopped us.  "What's all this, then?", he asked.
"It's all gear for an expedition we're doing.", I replied.  "Ok...right, off
you go."  He didn't so much as look at our stuff.  From Bombay, we flew to
the Philippines, then on to Seattle and our boxes were never inspected once.
And we all had the large multifunction tools in our carry on packs in
addition to smaller Leatherman Micras in our camera bags.  No one ever
blinked an eye.

- --Jim

- ----- Original Message -----
From: "Paul Jones" <nrg666@hotmail.com>
To: <leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us>
Sent: Wednesday, September 19, 2001 6:10 PM
Subject: Re: [Leica] Re- new aviation rules


> A friend of mine travelled through Europe and the Middle East for 2 years,
> for all this time he carried a small swiss army pocket knife in his carry
on
> luggage and was never asked about it once.
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Tarek Charara" <tarek.charara@wanadoo.fr>
> To: <leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us>
> Sent: Thursday, September 20, 2001 11:00 AM
> Subject: Re: [Leica] Re- new aviation rules
>
>
> > le 19.09.2001 20:33, Adam Bridge à abridge@mac.com a écrit :
> >
> > > I'm unwilling to give up "convenience" for the sake of a very very
tiny
> > > incremental increase in alleged security.
> > >
> > > If you wanted to have a "secure" flight you'd require that people
strip,
> > > wear airline provided coveralls, be shackled in their seats and full
> body
> > > x-rayed. In other words treated like carrying high-risk criminals.
> > >
> > > Clearly that extreme does not make sense.
> > >
> > > High heel shoes are weapons. Should they be banned?
> > > Ball point pens?
> > > Paper clips?
> > > How about that little screw driver you use to adjust your glasses?
> > > A metal cola can can be ripped to make a lethal edge.
> >
> > The security measures are mainly intended to calm the passengers. That's
> all
> > there is to it. If someone really wants to do something bad on board, he
> > will find a way. A ceramic knife is easy to smuggle on board... A friend
> of
> > mine discovered that she had forgotten a rather big pocket knife in her
> > handbag on a flight from Montreal to Paris last friday.... Security?
What
> > security???
> >
> > Tarek
> >
> > --
> > To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html
> >
> --
> To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html

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In reply to: Message from Tarek Charara <tarek.charara@wanadoo.fr> (Re: [Leica] Re- new aviation rules)
Message from "Paul Jones" <nrg666@hotmail.com> (Re: [Leica] Re- new aviation rules)