Lighters to be banned on airline flights

Yahoo News ^ | Feb 28, 2005 | Kimberly Morrison

[sailor4321]

Lighters to be banned on airline flights

2 hours, 38 minutes ago

By Kimberly Morrison, Knight Ridder Newspapers

WASHINGTON - Airline passengers will have to ditch their lighters or lose them to airport security screeners when a new ban on lighters takes effect in April.

The ban reflects Congress' fear that lighters could be used to ignite bombs on planes or otherwise damage or destroy them. The Transportation Security Administration until now had banned all but butane lighters and said each passenger could carry no more than two.

TSA's new ruling extends the ban to all butane lighters, effective April 14.

Proponents of the ban, including Sen. Byron Dorgan (news, bio, voting record), D-N.D., cited the case of convicted "shoe bomber" Richard Reid, who tried but failed to light explosives in his shoes with matches. Had Reid been using a lighter, he might have brought down the plane, Dorgan said. Reid was sentenced to life in prison in 2003.

The butane lighter ban is expected to streamline security procedures, because in the past screeners had to distinguish between butane lighters and types that were banned.

The Department of Transportation bans lighters in checked baggage, so passengers wanting to keep them have few options aside from returning to their cars to stow lighters or handing them off to non-fliers.

The U.S. Postal Service considers lighters to be hazardous material and will not mail them.

Passengers can continue to carry up to four books of matches, but that, too, is under reconsideration, said TSA spokeswoman Amy Von Walter.

[Larry Lucido]

Lighters to be banned on airline flights

They are also requiring musicians to leave heavy instruments behind. That way (drum roll):

Bands to be lighter on airline flights.

[The Chief]

It's not impossible to create a water bottle that looks totally normal, one that liquid can actually be drunk from, but have a hidden second compartment. I saw this done on a news report a couple of years ago.

So I guess the only way to insure airline safety is for everyone to fly naked, but of course true safety can only be assured after a body cavity search...

[Tall_Texan]

I'm just stunned they banned nail clippers and not this.

[peyton randolph]

And your better solution is?

Model our system on Israeli airport security. If nothing else, it would get rid of the 90%+ incompetents who currently hold TSA positions.

[Final Authority]

I have commented in the past three years or so on this forum that there are indeed large holes in the security restrictions and prohibited articles related to commercial flight. An example of which I have written about extensively but no one seem to be concerned and that is of cans of soft drinks. I often fly and I never get enough to drink on a three hour flight so I bring several 12 ounce cans of soda pop on the flight in my carry-on. I have never been questioned. It would be not difficult for a determined bad guy to obtain equipment and packaging to fill cans with liquid materials that would, upon ignition, destroy a passenger aircraft. Your scenario of a reaction caused by reactants held in separate containers is a reasonable possibility.

The question I ask and others have as well is if the fanatical Muslims desire to do us harm and if all of these scenarios are available to them then why hasn't more terrorist activities occurred? I don't have an answer and anything beyond that is uniformed speculation.

[Smartaleck]

"they banned nail clippers"

Not according to TSA
http://www.tsa.gov/public/interweb/assetlibrary/Permitted_Prohibited_8_23_2004.pdf

[Smartaleck]

"If nothing else, it would get rid of the 90%+ incompetents who currently hold TSA positions."

%90? Yikes! Where'd that number come from?

[Tall_Texan]

Yes they did right after 9/11 then rescinded it later. It was Exhibit A on how the TSA was overreacting to the whole mess.

[armymarinemom]

This is getting ridiculous. A lot of everyday items can be used as weapons so you can't ban everything. During my first week of Nursing School we all had to attend a self defense class after several Nurses were murdered in parking lots. We were taught how to kill or disable someone with car keys or a Bic pen.

[peyton randolph]

%90? Yikes! Where'd that number come from?

My guesstimate based on personal experience at numerous airports within the U.S., articles, and discussion with security experts. IMHO, it is a conservative estimate.

[B Knotts]

Ban everything, and put everyone in prison.

[Mears]

Madness!!!!!!

The only way to get anything resembling security on planes is to profile,the way that Israel does.

This crap drives me nuts!

[Gabz]

Me too!!!!!!!!

[Smartaleck]

How many who think this silly are aware that lighters are regulated hazardous materials, probably for at least 30 years, that they are classified as "compressed flammable gases" and that they must pass the scrutiny of the Bureau of Explosives or DOT testing before being shipped in commerce in the US?

Lighters and matches are already prohibited in carry-on luggage?

You are right Psycho, some are artful.

Some of the artist's work are on display
http://www.tsa.gov/public/display?theme=8&content=090005198004c2ca

Since February 2002, TSA screeners confiscated 4.8 Million items 1.4 million
knives,. 2.4 million sharp objects, 1101 guns, 15666 clubs
million sharp objects, 1,101 guns, 15,666 clubs, more than 125,000 incendiary items and nearly 40,000 box cutters. Sources:TSA, CNNSources:TSA, CNN

And some 90% of screeners are incompetent according to some.

[Smartaleck]

"It's not impossible to create a water bottle that looks totally normal, one that liquid can actually be drunk from, but have a hidden second compartment."

Did you hear the one about the jeans manufacturer who was taking the chemicals used to fade the jeans to a conference and the lye and other corrosives began leaking from the over-head bin sending a passenger to the hospital?

Wouldn't you have liked to have been that passenger? Could ruin your whole day!

How about the guy who was carrying muriatic (hydrochloric) acid, it leaked and he paid a million plus for damage to the aluminum airplane?

[Squantos]

Hmmmm could crimp my artistic moments......

[Smartaleck]

"if all of these scenarios are available to them then why hasn't more terrorist activities occurred?"

It's not a matter of "it won't happen" but when?

No system is perfect but it can serve to cut down on the possibility of occurrence and the number. Look at the assasination attempts on the President. After all the previous attmpts and the adjustments made who would have ever thought Reagan would be hit. Anybody doubt the dedication and effectivness of the Secret Service?

[Smartaleck]

"Yes they did right after 9/11 then rescinded it later."

So they do indeed re-evaluate and make adjustments?

If you knew this you might want to state it that way so that people aren't mislead. IMHO

[Psycho_Bunny]

Please......I could do far more damage with 4 packs of matches than I could do with a Zippo.  If they want to be serious, they should include books of matches, otherwise this is just stupid.

And, frankly -if banned- it wouldn't be all that hard to get matches on a plane if you really "needed" to.