Aanstekers weer welkom aan boord?
In 2004 besloot het Amerikaanse congres dat, om de veiligheid aan boord van vliegtuigen te bevorderen, aanstekers uit vliegtuigcabines geweerd zouden moeten worden. De maatregel was een reactie op het incident rond de schoenenbom.
Deze week pleitte de Amerikaanse luchtvaartautoriteit TSA voor een opheffen van dat verbod. Het controleren van elke passagier op aansterkers kost zó veel tijd, zegt de TSA, dat het ten koste gaat van de echte veiligheidsmaatregelen.
Elke dag worden er in de VS 30.000 ‘dodelijke’ aanstekers in beslag genomen….
Hawley said the lighter ban hurts aviation security because screeners are “spending time hunting through bags looking for items that are not the serious threat.”
The TSA says its screeners confiscate 30,000 lighters a day at checkpoints. Although lighters are just one of 68 items passengers cannot carry on planes, they represent 80% of the confiscated items, the TSA says. Matches are allowed on planes.
Hawley said some passengers try to beat the lighter ban by packing several lighters in their carry-on bags, in the hope that screeners won’t find the extras. Screeners will continue to confiscate lighters as long as the ban is in effect, Hawley said. Lifting the ban would require an act of Congress.
Lighters are the only item that Congress has specifically banned, Hawley said. The TSA decides the remaining items barred from an airplane cabin. They include guns, knives, box cutters and baseball bats.
Hawley said lighters “do not represent a particularly effective ignition source for terrorists,” who could use other means to detonate a bomb. Last year, Hawley lifted the TSA’s ban on scissors and tools less than 7 inches long so screeners could focus on finding bombs.
