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Thread: Bag checks and other comments

  1. #1

    Bag checks and other comments

    I can understand the need for increased security but the bag checks were very random and easy to bypass so making them pointless.

    Waking in via the Lot G gate the bag check was done each time but via the parallel road was not always done. No bag check when using green tram from bus centre or when coming back from seaplane base and being dropped in south 40

    Also found one particular EAA video taker who was aggressive towards a member of the public on the burn line.

    Volunteers , trams , food, toilets all very good. Overall the event is very well organised

  2. #2

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    I am usually walking around with a Bulldog fanny pack. I use it because it's tough enough for the abuse I give it. But it is sold to carry the very thing they're looking for. I was never asked to search it, though all they would have found was a spare battery, some charging equipment, and a crappy rain poncho.

    I am absolutely amazed that they pull this off with volunteer labor. I thought they did a great job.

  3. #3

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    I think that part of the 'security' success lies in just knowing that there IS a bag check for everyone going through the gates. AirVenture. like so many thousands of events in a thankfully FREE Country, will always be a soft target for ne're-do-wells. But in truth I feel safer there among airplane people than I do in my Chicago neighborhood. (No big surprise there I guess - lol)

  4. #4
    wallda's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Paul Chandler View Post
    I can understand the need for increased security but the bag checks were very random and easy to bypass so making them pointless.

    Waking in via the Lot G gate the bag check was done each time but via the parallel road was not always done. No bag check when using green tram from bus centre or when coming back from seaplane base and being dropped in south 40

    Also found one particular EAA video taker who was aggressive towards a member of the public on the burn line.

    Volunteers , trams , food, toilets all very good. Overall the event is very well organised
    I am all for the bag check. I was checked Monday thru Friday every time I entered the grounds regardless of where I entered. That stopped on Saturday. I even asked two different entrance points when I came thru if they needed to check my huge backpack (Photo gear and toddler support supplies). Both said Nope... we are only spot checking.... So the day with the most "non-airplane" people has the lowest level of security.

    Another gripe... on Monday my four year old was detained for a while at the entrance for bringing in a "dangerous object". The object happened to be the tool set he earned at kid venture. Really? The lady is yelling she needs security on the radio while my 4 year old stands there feeling like he did something wrong.
    “It's the greatest shot of adrenaline to be doing what you have wanted to do so badly. You almost feel like you could fly without a plane.”

    -Charles Lindbergh

  5. #5
    wallda's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Paul Chandler View Post
    Also found one particular EAA video taker who was aggressive towards a member of the public on the burn line.
    I also witnessed several instances of aggressive behavior by the flight line "police". They actually made a kid cry because his toes were over the line. I understand "enforcing" the line, but rather than ride up on your moped and scream at a kid. Take a couple extra seconds and explain to him WHY he can't have his toes over the line.
    “It's the greatest shot of adrenaline to be doing what you have wanted to do so badly. You almost feel like you could fly without a plane.”

    -Charles Lindbergh

  6. #6
    FlyingRon's Avatar
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    I didn't even know bag checks were happening. I flew in and even the few times I went through the gates during the show, nobody bothered even to look at my wrist band as far as I can tell.

  7. #7
    Pretty sure my Leatherman was in my backpack every day and not once was it caught. I got the feeling they were more looking for booze than anything else.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

  8. #8
    robert l's Avatar
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    If I have my pants on, I have a pocket knife, it's part of my wardrobe ! Never leave home without it. And if I do, there's one in the truck, and the car and oh yeah, the motorcycle. Oh, and the tool box and tackle box and on the entertainment center, my sock drawer, my gun safe, etc.
    Bob

  9. #9
    FlyingRon's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by robert l View Post
    If I have my pants on, I have a pocket knife, it's part of my wardrobe ! Never leave home without it. And if I do, there's one in the truck, and the car and oh yeah, the motorcycle. Oh, and the tool box and tackle box and on the entertainment center, my sock drawer, my gun safe, etc.
    Bob
    Be careful if you fly commercial

    I almost always have a corkscrew on me. One time I had it confiscated by the TSA (subsequent guidance says it's OK). I argued I'd flown with it the last trip. My wife pointed out that our last trip was in our airplane and hence I'd not been through security.

  10. #10

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    Quote Originally Posted by robert l View Post
    If I have my pants on, I have a pocket knife, it's part of my wardrobe ! Never leave home without it. And if I do, there's one in the truck, and the car and oh yeah, the motorcycle. Oh, and the tool box and tackle box and on the entertainment center, my sock drawer, my gun safe, etc.
    Bob
    I'm the same with my little Boker. 1 5/8" blade that I keep sharp for boxes, packages, and the remote possibility of needing to cut a seat belt in a hurry. I tend to forget about it.

    Going into the county building to get a passport it gave the cops a good laugh. At the time I didn't even realize they had metal detectors. I told them I was sorry if they had to deal with idiots who would take on two men with Glocks using a pocket knife, which made them laugh even harder and tell me it would be waiting for me when I left.

    Then on a Royal Caribbean cruise I picked the more sensitive detector when re-boarding the ship for the third time. It was like the security folks finally had something to do. I told them that they give me a steak knife just about every night in the dining room that could skin a deer with but they were unimpressed. It went into the contraband collection until the end of the cruise.

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