PhasmatisNox's leet skills hold up a plane for an hour

[EyeMWing]

Frankly, in today's climate, I'd MUCH rather put up with Amtrak's general brokeassedness than the TSA's innate scrutiny of anything with a circuit board. But if you can't afford to spend 48 hours on a train... Well.

 

[sygyzy]

What an utter baffoon. How could you *NOT* think this would be a problem? Oh, bceause they said it was ok at LAX? Because every airport in the world operates the same way right? Why don't you do us all a favor and fly out of Israel next time. If they saw your jerry-rigged setup (and yes, that's what it was) there, you'd have two to the chest.

 

[bsobel]

That's just the thing, it wasn't a wet-cell.

Actually that battery (at least the one he linked to) is a wet-cell. It's a sealed one, but still a wet cell...

Bill

 

[elektrolokomotive]

Originally posted by: theknight571
It's the only airport I've been to that forces you to take off your shoes to avoid a "hand" search. Everywhere else I've been will let you wear your shoes and only "hand" search if you set the detector off.

I don't find that to be true. I fly out of SEATAC on a fairly regular basis, and always have to remove my shoes. IIRC, Chicago Midway seems to require it as well.

 

[Armitage]

Originally posted by: Mark R
Lead acid batteries often cause problems with airlines.

Essentially, lead-acid or sealed lead-acid are prohibited unless they use a gel electrolyte. Basically, if your battery does not state that it is FAA approved for aircraft travel, you shouldn't take it.

Similarly, home made devices are likely to attract suspicion in the current climate. You should makes sure that if you do bring a home made device it can easily be taken apart into its component pieces and that you have documentation certifying that the battery is aircraft safe.

But if he had made it look like a proffesional off-the-shelf unit, it likely wouldn't have gotten a second glance. Slap a Dell label on it next time.

 

[markgm]

You left your bag unattended?

 

[whistleclient]

Come on, COMMON SENSE would dictate this is a bad idea from the start. You knew it would cause a problem, you just felt like pushing the envelope. So you end up delaying 146 people so you can play solitaire for a couple extra hours?

I hate people that think they need to bring every single damn item they own onto the plane. Then they hold up the entire plane for 5 minutes while they get their bags down when we land. When I get on a plane I have my ticket and a book. That's it.

 

[labgeek]

Originally posted by: PhasmatisNox

After another 20 minutes or so, an important-looking guy tells me that my battery is wet cell, and that I'm not allowed to have wet-cell batteries on the plane. I'm sure that the battery isn't wet cell, and I tell him as such- he assures me that I'm wrong, and that the battery is being restowed in the cargo bay in a battery box. I ask him what sort of batteries I'm allows to have on the plane, and again he doesn't acknowlege that I've said anything.

Well if's it's the same as the one in the ebay auction it's a wet cell...

BATTERY TYPE:LEAD ACID

Sorry Lead Acid = wet cell. I checked Yuasa's website too... It's a sealed wet cell.

 

[JoeKing]

TERRORIST!!@!1!!!!




get out of the ghetto world and buy a spare battery already

 

[Goosemaster]

LOFL

 

[Hammer]

nice job you idiot

 

[TitanDiddly]

General information: The particlular battery I had is gelled electrolyte. It doesn not spill at all. You can cut this battery in half on a bandsaw, and it will be two solid pieces with nothing leaking out. In fact, I saw a picture where somebody did that once. I don't have a link though.

 

[DBL]

Originally posted by: sygyzy
What an utter baffoon. How could you *NOT* think this would be a problem? Oh, bceause they said it was ok at LAX? Because every airport in the world operates the same way right? Why don't you do us all a favor and fly out of Israel next time. If they saw your jerry-rigged setup (and yes, that's what it was) there, you'd have two to the chest.

Seriously! When I travel, I try and make things as easy as possible for myself (flip-flops, no belt and as little in my pockets as possible). I find it hard to believe you didn?t think this was going to be a problem. I also think you are lucky. They probably would have been within their rights to prevent you from boarding that flight at all if they felt there was even a slight chance of a problem.

 

[mobobuff]

Could've been worse. They could've performed a cavity search for the detonator.

 

[TitanDiddly]

Originally posted by: DBL

Originally posted by: sygyzy
What an utter baffoon. How could you *NOT* think this would be a problem? Oh, bceause they said it was ok at LAX? Because every airport in the world operates the same way right? Why don't you do us all a favor and fly out of Israel next time. If they saw your jerry-rigged setup (and yes, that's what it was) there, you'd have two to the chest.

Seriously! When I travel, I try and make things as easy as possible for myself (flip-flops, no belt and as little in my pockets as possible). I find it hard to believe you didn?t think this was going to be a problem. I also think you are lucky. They probably would have been within their rights to prevent you from boarding that flight at all if they felt there was even a slight chance of a problem.

I know it would not be a problem because the battery is allowed under FAA guidelines- gelled electrolyte. Is it going to raise a few eyebrows? Of course- as I said, it's unusual, but perfectly safe and perfectly within the rules. I could have made it pretty, so that I don't bring attention to myself, but even having not done that, I'm still within the rules. In my mind, the's the TSA that screwed up here. The Pheonix people had an alert raised, and they checked it out- but it could have been done in 5 minutes with 3 people and not held up the plane at all. Better safe than sorry, true- but 5 minutes with 3 people is safe enough for the circumstances. Anyone who knows anything about elecrtonics could look at the label on the battery, see it's gelled, and tell me I'm good to go. Instead, they decided to kick some ass because they hadn't gotten the opportunity recently. The whole thing is overboard.

I decided to spend the extra 15 minutes going through security, foreseeably inconveniencing no one but myself and maybe the TSA guy who has to pull out a handbook- but that's his job anyway. To me, it's worth the 15 minutes of hassle to enjoy having a laptop to play games on during the long flight. It's not forseeable that the TSA would be so inept/bored that they had to pour all these unneccesary resources into this tiny thing. Hell, the whole thing happened in the 'Safe zone' of a terminal where everyone had already been inspected.

Also, I'm white as anyone and I went through the puffer.

 

[DAGTA]

So you inconvenienced 100+ people, possible causing them to miss connecting flights or other important appointments, just so you could watch a movie on the plane with your homemade setup that you KNEW would draw attention? Too bad the other passengers didn't show you their appreciation.

Next time, try reading a book?

 

[dnuggett]

Originally posted by: PhasmatisNox

Originally posted by: DBL

Originally posted by: sygyzy
What an utter baffoon. How could you *NOT* think this would be a problem? Oh, bceause they said it was ok at LAX? Because every airport in the world operates the same way right? Why don't you do us all a favor and fly out of Israel next time. If they saw your jerry-rigged setup (and yes, that's what it was) there, you'd have two to the chest.

Seriously! When I travel, I try and make things as easy as possible for myself (flip-flops, no belt and as little in my pockets as possible). I find it hard to believe you didn?t think this was going to be a problem. I also think you are lucky. They probably would have been within their rights to prevent you from boarding that flight at all if they felt there was even a slight chance of a problem.

I know it would not be a problem because the battery is allowed under FAA guidelines- gelled electrolyte. Is it going to raise a few eyebrows? Of course- as I said, it's unusual, but perfectly safe and perfectly within the rules. I could have made it pretty, so that I don't bring attention to myself, but even having not done that, I'm still within the rules. In my mind, the's the TSA that screwed up here. The Pheonix people had an alert raised, and they checked it out- but it could have been done in 5 minutes with 3 people and not held up the plane at all. Better safe than sorry, true- but 5 minutes with 3 people is safe enough for the circumstances. Anyone who knows anything about elecrtonics could look at the label on the battery, see it's gelled, and tell me I'm good to go. Instead, they decided to kick some ass because they hadn't gotten the opportunity recently. The whole thing is overboard.

I decided to spend the extra 15 minutes going through security, foreseeably inconveniencing no one but myself and maybe the TSA guy who has to pull out a handbook- but that's his job anyway. To me, it's worth the 15 minutes of hassle to enjoy having a laptop to play games on during the long flight. It's not forseeable that the TSA would be so inept/bored that they had to pour all these unneccesary resources into this tiny thing. Hell, the whole thing happened in the 'Safe zone' of a terminal where everyone had already been inspected.

Also, I'm white as anyone and I went through the puffer.

So I am assuming you are versed in TSA protocol since you feel they were picking on you and they were the ones that were making a mistake....

And since when is a label on a battery a sign that a device in question is ok? I guess labels are not transferrable heh? I tell you what- next time just put a label on your bag that says clear and maybe they pass it on through without inspection, after all the label says it's ok so it must be, huh?

It's not ineptness that caused TSA to closely scrutinize your battery.. it's diligence. I for one am glad that they take the time to resolve issues with moronic passengers who bring stupid sh!t on planes.

 

[lokiju]

Originally posted by: tami
that sucks. and to think -- my friend traveled from canada to the US a week after sept 11 with a large pocketknife in the bottom of his carry-on luggage. he didn't even get questioned. in fact, he was surprised to find it in his luggage thereafter and was shocked that he didn't get caught. i believe he filed a complaint with the TSA for not doing a thorough inspection.

people can be so paranoid

I went to TX two weeks after 9/11 and didn't even realize it until after I got back home that I had a box cutter in my laptop bag the whole time and no one even picked it up.

Opps.

But I'm sure it was to soon after 9/11 for all the safety measures to be in place or something.

 

[Noghri2112]

Originally posted by: tangent1138
Come on, COMMON SENSE would dictate this is a bad idea from the start. You knew it would cause a problem, you just felt like pushing the envelope. So you end up delaying 146 people so you can play solitaire for a couple extra hours?

I hate people that think they need to bring every single damn item they own onto the plane. Then they hold up the entire plane for 5 minutes while they get their bags down when we land. When I get on a plane I have my ticket and a book. That's it.

I agree. I hate these people that bring like 5 bags onto the plane with them. I wish they would take out overhead compartments. If you can't fit it under the seat in front of you, then it should be back with other luggage. I hate waiting for people to get their 5 bags from overhead just to de-board the plane. Everytime I travel, I take a backpack(which is stowed under seat in front of me) that has magazines, CD player, and a GBA. Ugh, don't get me started on babies.

That picture on Ebay looks like C4. If your battery looks like that, then no wonder they were suspicious.

 

[cavemanmoron]

Cliffs:
Made battery setup to keep my laptop going on cross-country flights
Flew across country with it once, TSA inspected
Flew back, TSA freaked out when the plane stopped
Bomb dogs and technicians come
Plane held up an hour
TSA people hadn't harassed anyone recently, they were PMSing
146 travellers inconvenienced because the TSA can't standardize

Jeez cant you just use some rechargable Dewalt/Milwaukee/Ryobi batteries?

 

[TitanDiddly]

Originally posted by: cavemanmoron

Cliffs:
Made battery setup to keep my laptop going on cross-country flights
Flew across country with it once, TSA inspected
Flew back, TSA freaked out when the plane stopped
Bomb dogs and technicians come
Plane held up an hour
TSA people hadn't harassed anyone recently, they were PMSing
146 travellers inconvenienced because the TSA can't standardize

Jeez cant you just use some rechargable Dewalt/Milwaukee/Ryobi batteries?

Nickel-chemistry batteries lack energy density to make it worthwhile, and IMO would look more like a bomb.

 

[dnuggett]

Originally posted by: PhasmatisNox

Originally posted by: cavemanmoron

Cliffs:
Made battery setup to keep my laptop going on cross-country flights
Flew across country with it once, TSA inspected
Flew back, TSA freaked out when the plane stopped
Bomb dogs and technicians come
Plane held up an hour
TSA people hadn't harassed anyone recently, they were PMSing
146 travellers inconvenienced because the TSA can't standardize

Jeez cant you just use some rechargable Dewalt/Milwaukee/Ryobi batteries?

Nickel-chemistry batteries lack energy density to make it worthwhile, and IMO would look more like a bomb.

So far your opinion hasn't worked out very well for you..... you have been wrong on most accounts.

 

[TitanDiddly]

Originally posted by: dnuggett

Originally posted by: PhasmatisNox

Originally posted by: cavemanmoron

Cliffs:
Made battery setup to keep my laptop going on cross-country flights
Flew across country with it once, TSA inspected
Flew back, TSA freaked out when the plane stopped
Bomb dogs and technicians come
Plane held up an hour
TSA people hadn't harassed anyone recently, they were PMSing
146 travellers inconvenienced because the TSA can't standardize

Jeez cant you just use some rechargable Dewalt/Milwaukee/Ryobi batteries?

Nickel-chemistry batteries lack energy density to make it worthwhile, and IMO would look more like a bomb.

So far your opinion hasn't worked out very well for you..... you have been wrong on most accounts.

Okey - dokey, mister TSA officer.

 

[dnuggett]

Originally posted by: PhasmatisNox

Originally posted by: dnuggett

Originally posted by: PhasmatisNox

Originally posted by: cavemanmoron

Cliffs:
Made battery setup to keep my laptop going on cross-country flights
Flew across country with it once, TSA inspected
Flew back, TSA freaked out when the plane stopped
Bomb dogs and technicians come
Plane held up an hour
TSA people hadn't harassed anyone recently, they were PMSing
146 travellers inconvenienced because the TSA can't standardize

Jeez cant you just use some rechargable Dewalt/Milwaukee/Ryobi batteries?

Nickel-chemistry batteries lack energy density to make it worthwhile, and IMO would look more like a bomb.

So far your opinion hasn't worked out very well for you..... you have been wrong on most accounts.

Okey - dokey, mister TSA officer.

Nah, I would have taken your cute little rigged up battery pack and shoved it up your ass and sent you the opposite way of the plane. That way if it was a bomb....... who cares but you?

I don't think it work out well if I worked for TSA...

 

[TitanDiddly]

Updated.