TSA breaks insulin pump
#16
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Baltimore, MD USA
Programs: Southwest Rapid Rewards. Tha... that's about it.
Posts: 4,330
During an earlier point in my career, I performed software installations. After a few incidents where the tape would not load at the client side, I would always ask for a manual inspection at the checkpoint. About 50% of the time I would get push back (pre TSA days) where they told me it was perfectly safe.
I started asking the screeners to run the tape through the x-ray several times on the way back after the successful installation. It was just an experiment. Many times the tape would not work back in the office where I would also get the same parity errors I would previously get on site.
These tapes were low density and media today is much higher density. I would expect that the same results might be found on computer equipment. Some sites were always fine but others would damage the tape repeatedly. Some x-ray machines must have been really cranked.
I started asking the screeners to run the tape through the x-ray several times on the way back after the successful installation. It was just an experiment. Many times the tape would not work back in the office where I would also get the same parity errors I would previously get on site.
These tapes were low density and media today is much higher density. I would expect that the same results might be found on computer equipment. Some sites were always fine but others would damage the tape repeatedly. Some x-ray machines must have been really cranked.
However, an x-ray machine is obviously an electrical device. I don't know how they generate, or detect, the x-rays they use to form the image, so a large electromagnet could be part of the process, and the magnetic field from that may be what disrupted your tapes.
I've passed magnetic media through the carry-on x-ray scanner a few times - floppy disks, various VHS tapes, and of course the hard drive of my laptops - without incident, but I did once have a shipment of floppies scrambled like a dozen eggs when they were shipped to me via FedEx. I always suspected that Fed-Ex had x-rayed the box in transit, but never could be sure. Whatever happened, the disks' FATs were scrambled and the computer wouldn't even recognize them as formatted media; after formatting, they seemed usable, though of course I tossed them out as untrustworthy anyway. Out of an abundance of caution, as it were.
#17
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Tucson, AZ USA
Programs: Membership has its benefits, or so I am told.
Posts: 265
This poor kid. Me, as an old lady, I know better than to even talk to the thugs at TSA....just opt me out, feel my boobies, swab my hands after you make me fondle the device you find "hidden" in my bra, and let me go disinfect myself!
#18
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: DFW
Programs: AS, BA, AA
Posts: 3,670
During an earlier point in my career, I performed software installations. After a few incidents where the tape would not load at the client side, I would always ask for a manual inspection at the checkpoint. About 50% of the time I would get push back (pre TSA days) where they told me it was perfectly safe.
I started asking the screeners to run the tape through the x-ray several times on the way back after the successful installation. It was just an experiment. Many times the tape would not work back in the office where I would also get the same parity errors I would previously get on site.
These tapes were low density and media today is much higher density. I would expect that the same results might be found on computer equipment. Some sites were always fine but others would damage the tape repeatedly. Some x-ray machines must have been really cranked.
I started asking the screeners to run the tape through the x-ray several times on the way back after the successful installation. It was just an experiment. Many times the tape would not work back in the office where I would also get the same parity errors I would previously get on site.
These tapes were low density and media today is much higher density. I would expect that the same results might be found on computer equipment. Some sites were always fine but others would damage the tape repeatedly. Some x-ray machines must have been really cranked.
I'm not an expert, but I've always been told that x-rays don't, in and of themselves, disrupt magnetic storage media, particularly at the low exposure levels used in carry-on baggage scanners (which are limited in their power levels due to unshielded human proximity).
However, an x-ray machine is obviously an electrical device. I don't know how they generate, or detect, the x-rays they use to form the image, so a large electromagnet could be part of the process, and the magnetic field from that may be what disrupted your tapes.
I've passed magnetic media through the carry-on x-ray scanner a few times - floppy disks, various VHS tapes, and of course the hard drive of my laptops - without incident, but I did once have a shipment of floppies scrambled like a dozen eggs when they were shipped to me via FedEx. I always suspected that Fed-Ex had x-rayed the box in transit, but never could be sure. Whatever happened, the disks' FATs were scrambled and the computer wouldn't even recognize them as formatted media; after formatting, they seemed usable, though of course I tossed them out as untrustworthy anyway. Out of an abundance of caution, as it were.
However, an x-ray machine is obviously an electrical device. I don't know how they generate, or detect, the x-rays they use to form the image, so a large electromagnet could be part of the process, and the magnetic field from that may be what disrupted your tapes.
I've passed magnetic media through the carry-on x-ray scanner a few times - floppy disks, various VHS tapes, and of course the hard drive of my laptops - without incident, but I did once have a shipment of floppies scrambled like a dozen eggs when they were shipped to me via FedEx. I always suspected that Fed-Ex had x-rayed the box in transit, but never could be sure. Whatever happened, the disks' FATs were scrambled and the computer wouldn't even recognize them as formatted media; after formatting, they seemed usable, though of course I tossed them out as untrustworthy anyway. Out of an abundance of caution, as it were.
I will check and see if I can find anything out about magnetic storage and x-rays.
I agree that the manufacturer's warning is probably more an "we can't prove it's safe" rather than a "We're really worried about the damage". HTH is an engineer supposed to quality check a radiation exposure with no specs, dosage, or calibration records?!?
#19
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: ORD
Programs: AA Platinum, HHonors Diamond
Posts: 1,177
I am certainly no expert in this field, but I do get a chance to speak to technical experts --- and so I did. According to someone who is qualified to testify in court about such matters, without knowing the specifics, this person would advise never to pass the insulin pump through any x-ray or magnetic device.
The reason he gave was the same one about the full-body scanners. The levels of radiation / energy are given when the technology is functioning properly and well-calibrated. However, there is no procedure in place at the airport to make sure that this is true, and the testing is not done to test the probability of malfunction when operating all day, every day.
Bottom line, normal levels could be safe, but no way to know how often abnormal levels occur because monitoring procedures are not in place.
The reason he gave was the same one about the full-body scanners. The levels of radiation / energy are given when the technology is functioning properly and well-calibrated. However, there is no procedure in place at the airport to make sure that this is true, and the testing is not done to test the probability of malfunction when operating all day, every day.
Bottom line, normal levels could be safe, but no way to know how often abnormal levels occur because monitoring procedures are not in place.
#20
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2005
Posts: 38,320
As an engineer I am somewhat surprised as I don't see what in the pump could be sensitive enough to be affected. My suspicion is that the manufacturers of the pumps have simply not tested or qualified the pumps under these conditions and are CYA themselves just in case.
#21
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2005
Posts: 38,320
The Fark thread on this incident had someone who appeared knowledgeable that said that x-ray generation involves big magnets. I have no confirmation on this, though.
#22
Join Date: Jun 2009
Posts: 616
I am certainly no expert in this field, but I do get a chance to speak to technical experts --- and so I did. According to someone who is qualified to testify in court about such matters, without knowing the specifics, this person would advise never to pass the insulin pump through any x-ray or magnetic device.
The reason he gave was the same one about the full-body scanners. The levels of radiation / energy are given when the technology is functioning properly and well-calibrated. However, there is no procedure in place at the airport to make sure that this is true, and the testing is not done to test the probability of malfunction when operating all day, every day.
Bottom line, normal levels could be safe, but no way to know how often abnormal levels occur because monitoring procedures are not in place.
The reason he gave was the same one about the full-body scanners. The levels of radiation / energy are given when the technology is functioning properly and well-calibrated. However, there is no procedure in place at the airport to make sure that this is true, and the testing is not done to test the probability of malfunction when operating all day, every day.
Bottom line, normal levels could be safe, but no way to know how often abnormal levels occur because monitoring procedures are not in place.
Maybe this scanner was putting out too much energy when this pump was destroyed or maybe the pumps are sensitive to the scanners. I don't know if the TSA has allowed or will allow the pump manufacturers to test their pumps using the TSA's scanners. They would probably claim SSI or some other nonsense to prevent the testing.
The two pumps I've used seem to be robust. If a scanner can damage this pump, what else can it damage?
#23
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: ORD
Programs: AA Platinum, HHonors Diamond
Posts: 1,177
Your cells. The expert I spoke to always ops out. Not because the backscatter or MMW is unsafe, but because they could be unsafe if the machine malfunctions. He thinks with the right malfunction even the MMW can cause problems. There is no reliable testing to say that is not true.
#24
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: BDL
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Posts: 5,351
Your cells. The expert I spoke to always ops out. Not because the backscatter or MMW is unsafe, but because they could be unsafe if the machine malfunctions. He thinks with the right malfunction even the MMW can cause problems. There is no reliable testing to say that is not true.
Please note the in the medical world it is not uncommon to test the calibration of devices that produce radiation and find that 10% or more fall out of calibration over the course of a year.
#25
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Join Date: Dec 2007
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A friend of mine was going through security at PDX and was stopped after getting into the machine that they had to re-calibrate before they scan her. I'm not sure I trust the guy who was hired off an ad on a pizza box to be calibrating this type of equipment.
Last edited by CDKing; May 11, 2012 at 4:42 pm
#26
Suspended
Join Date: Dec 2010
Posts: 3,728
It's also worth noting that no medical equipment gets used at the rates the TSA uses theirs. I'd expect the calibration to drift even farther with more use.
#29
Join Date: Jan 2010
Posts: 4,750
BUT... her plane didn't blow up. So #missionaccomplished .
#30
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The pax said it was an insulin pump, but unless the screener rubbed and jabbed it hard enough, she couldn't be sure it was an insulin pump and not a bomb.
Maybe she thought the pax had marijuana or >$10K cash or a suspicious book stashed under the pump. That's what they told her at the 'academy'.
Maybe she thought the pax had marijuana or >$10K cash or a suspicious book stashed under the pump. That's what they told her at the 'academy'.