VIDEO: 15 Insane Things Found by Airport Security

Airport security may be annoying, but it’s also efficient!

You may be surprised at what people try to board on planes with.

This video brings to you the 15 most insane things found by airport security.

According to Wikipedia, large numbers of people pass through airports every day. This presents potential targets for terrorism and other forms of crime because of the number of people located in one place.

Similarly, the high concentration of people on large airliners, the potential high death rate with attacks on aircraft, and the ability to use a hijacked airplane as a lethal weapon may provide an alluring target for terrorism.

Airport security attempts to prevent any threats or potentially dangerous situations from arising or entering the country. If airport security does succeed then the chances of any dangerous situation, illegal items or threats entering into an aircraft, country or airport are greatly reduced.

As such, airport security serves several purposes: To protect the airport and country from any threatening events, to reassure the traveling public that they are safe and to protect the country and their people.

Monte R. Belger of the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration notes “The goal of aviation security is to prevent harm to aircraft, passengers, and crew, as well as support national security and counter-terrorism policy.”

Some incidents have been the result of travelers carrying either weapons or items that could be used as weapons on board aircraft so that they can hijack the plane. Travelers are screened by metal detectors. Explosive detection machines used include X-ray machines and explosives trace-detection portal machines (a.k.a. “puffer machines”).

In the United States the TSA is working on new scanning machines that are still effective searching for objects that aren’t allowed in the airplanes but that don’t depict the passengers in a state of undress that some find embarrassing.

Explosive detection machines can also be used for both carry-on and checked baggage. These detect volatile compounds given off from explosives using gas chromatography.

A recent development is the controversial use of backscatter X-rays to detect hidden weapons and explosives on passengers. These devices, which use Compton scattering, require that the passenger stand close to a flat panel and produce a high resolution image.

A technology released in Israel in early 2008 allows passengers to pass through metal detectors without removing their shoes, a process required as walk-though gate detectors are not reliable in detecting metal in shoes or on the lower body extremities.

Alternately, the passengers step fully shoed onto a device which scans in under 1.2 seconds for objects as small as a razor blade. In some countries, specially trained individuals may engage passengers in a conversation to detect threats rather than solely relying on equipment to find threats.

A single backscatter scan exposes the target to between 0.05 and 0.1 microsievert of radiation. In comparison, the exposure from a standard chest x-ray is almost 100 times higher.

Generally people are screened through airport security into areas where the exit gates to the aircraft are located.  Passengers are discharged from airliners into the sterile area so that they usually will not have to be re-screened if disembarking from a domestic flight.