Although not OSH, my grandson and I were at SnF. He had his pocketknife in his backpack. We wanted to go to the Fly-Market. When he realized bag checkers were going to store our day packs, he began to get nervous and asked if we could just leave. I could see his panic setting in so I began asking why he suddenly seemed so scared to go to the Fly-Market. He whispered that his pocket knife was in his day pack and he was basically scared to death that he was now doing something extraordinarily wrong. In front of the people checking in bags I explained to him that having a pocket knife is not a crime and that aside from his school, probably most people don't even care. I then pointed out that I had one in my front pocket as well and considering the number of hobbyist etc. that are in there looking at cool junk, that I would wager a good 25% of them have at least one as well.
I am glad that the bag checkers were quick to back me up by pointing out to him that it was perfectly ok to have a pocket knife in your bag. As we left I heard the one bag checker comment to the other "it's the schools, they have all these kids scared to death about everything."
Last edited by RickFE; 08-23-2017 at 07:02 PM.
What would the bag checkers do if they found any contraband? Give a "don't bring that next time" warning? Didn't see any boxes with confiscated material at any checkpoint.
Pocketknives and boys. I have a couple of old editions of the Boy Scout Handbook (or rather Handbook for Boys) where it says that a good pocketknife is something that every boy should always have with him. Even more recent handbooks say that the pocketknife is the most essential tool a boy can have and to always have one when outdoors -- with the current versions warning not to bring them to schools or airports. (I suppose it depends what side of the airport you are going to. As we already addressed, OSH is OK.) The current prohibition on pocketknives past security at the airport terminal, I read, did not come from the TSA. They actually lifted the restriction when the Europeans did. That lasted for a couple of weeks when the restriction was reinstated due to pressure from Flight Attendants' Unions. So I read. If someone knows differently, please correct me.
Not nice to shame or ridicule someone who volunteers. But really, EAA, this is on you, you get what you pay for.
After I woke him up (to make sure he didn't have a health issue) he told me that this security job was a paid position. So I guess, in this case, EAA didn't get what they paid for.
As a volunteer that was there all week, I saw a wide variety of security at the gates I used. At the beginning of the week it was like Fort Knox, but by the end it seemed like none of the paid security (the blue shirts) really cared what happened.
Over worked? Under paid? I don't know but it would be nice to have consistent standards all week.