Congress bans lighters from airliners

Seattle PI ^ | Dec 8, 2004 | Leslie Miller

[oldtimer]

How about airport kiosks "rent a lighter". LOL

[jimthewiz]

However, I don't want the possibility of a fire on a plane.

Then you must be in favor of banning all electronics, batteries, in-flight movies, instruments and fuel.
Fires on planes are generally electrical and not intentionally started. In fact I have never heard of one that was started by a passenger and neither has my son in his 17 years as an airline mechanic. (Not including 7 years as a mechanic in the Air Force)

[Centurion2000]

Now, if I can't smoke from 6:00 in the mornig until 7:00 at night when my connecting flight finally lands, I may become a teensy bit irritated.

Try not smoking from 5pm one day until 1800 the next. Dallas to Moscow was BRUTAL.

[thackney]

ping

[RatSlayer]

You actually check luggage?

I NEVER check in any luggage. Everything I need for a three day business flight can fit in a carry-on bag. And probably 90% of the business flyers out there never check any luggage, so I suspect this is going to bee a big issue.

[NonLinear]

Prior to 9-11, please cite some examples of terrorist a**holes flying aircraft into large buildings . . .

Hijacking has been around almost as long as commercial flight. Hijacking has always been accompanied by the threat of death to passengers with or without the destruction of the aircraft. The non-confrontation model for dealing with hijackers assumed that the hijacker wanted the plane and passengers for collateral, as opposed to a missile. The model failed when the premise failed.

My point is that eliminating butane lighters, while allowing matches or other means of producing fires, which are almost limitless, is ineffective, feel-good nanny-state bs. Using your logic, shouldn't we actually eliminate large buildings, not butane lighters.

Excerpt from: http://pegasus.cc.ucf.edu/~surette/hijacking.html
Link

Hijacking frequencies and dates given below are based on Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) documents (1983)-' other references cited give detailed descriptions of specific incidents. Additional information on the history of aircraft hijacking can be found in scholarly papers (e.g., Aggarwala 197 1; Evans 1969; McWhinney 1.97 1; Turner 1969) and the popular press (Arey 1972; Hubbard 1971; Phillips 1973; Whelton 1972).

Aircraft hijackings prior to the late 1950s bear little relation to the later incidents in the United States.' However, the incidents that began occurring in the late 1950s are relevant. From late 1958 through 1969, aircraft hijacking was predominantly a phenomenon of the Western Hemisphere, centered on Cuba, and many of the hijackings of U.S. planes to Cuba are best understood in that larger context. Of the 177 worldwide hijacking attempts between 1958 and 1969, 80% originated in the Western Hemisphere and 77% either originated in Cuba or were efforts to divert planes to Cuba. ....

[steveo]

"My dad says butane's a bastard gas."

[reagankid]

Screw the trivial banning of this and that!

The single most effective way to protect our national security is tightening our borders...It's not even on the radar screen in our White House. It stuns me and p!sses me off!

This is an issue the Democrats are going to use in their behalf in the next election...just wait and see.

[RatSlayer]

RE: "Next items to be banned:
Shoe laces.

Then ballpoint pens.

Then leather belts.

Then paper-clips."

Mechanical Pencils (actually pencils in general I guess)

Socks full of loose change (which is my personal favorite jailhouse weapon)

[longtermmemmory]

For many a lighter is a personal item.

For smokers they just don't smoke on the airplane but they have the cigarets for the smoking lounges or areas.

(this is a feeeel good legislation. You can BUY nail cutters once you get through security)

[zoyd]

And your need for a cigarette that quickly is worth endangering the lives of everyone on the plane?

OH, PLEASE!

Back off the hyperbole and hysteria.

[supercat]

You wouldn't have a problem doing that with your lighter, would you? I mean, what possible need could you have for one during the flight?

Lighters have been forbidden from checked baggage for a long time, even before 9/11. The only way to transport a butane lighter to one's destination was either to ship it UPS, paying appropriate hazmat charges, or carry it on one's person.

[RatSlayer]

LOL. Looks like we have a boyscout in the forum.

Personally, I always prefered a road flare for emergency firestarting (if you can't get it to burn with a flare, its definately too wet to burn)!

I wonder if they've banned road flares in carryon?

[Blue Jays]

Hi RatSlayer-

"...Everything I need for a three day business flight can fit in a carry-on bag..."

---

You are absolutely correct. When traveling domestically on business, I similarly pack EVERYTHING that I'll need in a rollaway that fits in the overhead bin. Checked luggage marks you either as a business-travel amateur or someone on an extended vacation. True road warriors don't check their luggage...it just leads to hassles and delays.

Assorted inane restrictions have made civilized life more unpleasant on arrival. It used to be nice to have a razor-sharp folding knife so I could cut apples at my hotel room, open plastic packaging, and uncork bottles of wine. As a lifelong non-smoker, a small lighter is handy for candles and burning threads from your garments. We need to concentrate on finding terrorists not things.

~ Blue Jays ~

[RatSlayer]

I did Phoenix to Moscow (with stops in Dallas and Heathrow).

But I was in first class from Dallas to Heathrow and slept like a baby on that leg, so it wasn't too bad.

[Bluegrass Conservative]

Probably true. However, I'm convinced that smokers will never understand why non-smokers have a problem being around them at times too.

[Bluegrass Conservative]

Either take a small bag full of lighters to check or just purchase a cheap bic when you arrive at your destination then.

[Bluegrass Conservative]

Hijacking is one thing, using the planes as missiles to fly into skyscrapers is another.

[Lockbar]

Holy smokes, is that a real pic of the Concord that crashed in France 5 -6 years ago?

[Bluegrass Conservative]

I understand it's a personal item. I have some pocketknives that are very sentimental to me too. I don't take them on planes though.