FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - are pax required to take shoes off?

Sep 22, 2007 | 9:36 pm

#27

DevilDog438

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Quote:

Originally Posted by padilla_pet

both parties working together...they can bring you in with your shoes and you can remove them (for diabetics who must be careful where they walk) while you are sitting, run them through the x-ray (which can indeed pick up the presence of explosives in a shoe) and bring them back to you. no need to explain anything more than that you have a medical condition that makes it difficult to walk w/o your shoes.

Per the first complete paragraph on page 3 of this document from the TSA, persons with medical conditions are NOT REQUIRED to remove their shoes.
Would you mind providing a detailed scientific explanation of how a standard X-Ray machine is supposed to detect all possible variants of explosives? The only thing an X-ray image is going to show to a screener is a variance in density within the shape of the shoe. It will not provide any additional evidence to determine whether said density variation is the result of an explosive compound or not. In order to determine whether it is an explosive or not, other means of testing (aka swab testing) is required.

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