You remove shoes and belts, signs warn you to toss some personal cosmetics, your body and belongings are scanned and x-rayed. It's all part of TSA security at airports, and still a Florida man managed to carry a cane sword on a plane.
Passenger Linda Hills noted, "They need to catch it. There's a reason. I'm not sure why they didn't, but yeah, I think I would rather them catch him than not. So I would say, yeah, it would probably be unsafe."
According to incident reports, a man boarded a flight in Corpus Christi with the cane sword as part of his carry on luggage and flew to DFW.
The 14-inch blade went through an x-ray machine but was missed by TSA agents in Corpus Christi. While waiting on a connecting flight at DFW the man stepped outside to smoke. It's when he tried to re-enter the boarding area that the knife was found.
Aviation Consultant Denny Kelly says, "It happens a lot more than people know because it's not publicized."
Denny Kelly is a former pilot and aviation consultant, and says the security breach could have had serious consequences. "It just depends on how willing that person is to do whatever they want to do."
The TSA released a statement saying, "The biggest threat to aviation today, explosives and explosives components. While edge weapons such as swords remain a prohibited item it will not cause catastrophic damage." Still, some passengers say a weapon of any kind aboard a flight and the slightest motivation might not down a plane, but someone could still be injured or worse.
Passenger Aron Fields added, "Well, they're not doing their jobs is what I think, because there's no way that you should be able to do that. I mean, it's everybody's safety's in jeopardy."
TXT 24
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