cordelli

The news is reporting that cleaners on Friday found a stun gun on the plane that was used for flight 1179 from Boston to Newark. They notified the TSA, who turned it over to the FBI.

They had all the usual questions, how did it get there, was it a dry run, is the person still flying, how did they clear security, why did they leave it, etc.

http://www.wpix.com/videobeta/d78273...e-Newark-Plane

for one video, it has not yet hit the usual news sites.

Can't wait for the blog post on this one (assuming they can go back and identify the passenger from the seat area) about how they watched the video blah blah.

tkey75

And TSA will claim it as a victory.

janetdoe

I'm conflicted on this. Part of me wants to rail against the TSA's incompetence; part of me wants to ask: "Why should I care that someone has a stun gun on a plane?"

Of course, the real issue is why they took it out of their baggage and then left it in the seat pocket - sounds to me like someone was just taunting the TSA.

Lara21

Now are we certain a passenger left it on the plane. Remember we have all those trusted people who get to bypass the TSA security checkpoint.

fishferbrains

Suggesting a "dry run" is laughable. If you successfully perform a dry run, you don't advertise it. I don't know what FAMs pack, but it could as easily as been a forgetful one.

The fact that it was cleared so quickly (30 minutes is record time for TSA to do anything), seems to indicate the person/situation was pretty quickly identified one way or the other.

kirkbauer

As a computer security person I'm always thinking about security as I fly (which is way too much). I normally don't post because I don't want any government agents busting down my door. But this made me realize: a taser is just electronics. I think it would be very easy to make a taser that looked like something else (cell phone, headphones, etc).

Lara21

Maybe they were one of those dumb ones who just didn't know they were suppose to hide it so it couldn't be found that quickly..

Or TSA was being tested and failed to find the taser during the security check, and that is how they manage to clear it so quickly. Because the person who managed to get it past them was one of those people they knew was testing them so they knew the taser was going to be on the plane.

Affection

A taser also has gas-propelled darts connected by long wires. An ordinary stun-gun would be easier to disguise, but the output of commercial stun-guns is too low to be effective.

...but, as another poster said, why ban stun-guns? Is there really a threat of air pirates armed with stun-guns?? The passengers and crew wouldn't even need to find handcuffs... we could just laugh them back into their seats.

--Jon

tev9999

First TSA screw-up story of the week before 8:00 EDT on Monday. ^ Lets hope the good press (for us) continues through the week.

Clamqueen

Just another example of what a crock it is to go through all the security at the airport.

Boggie Dog

Not all Tasers have the darts. Most available to the public are direct contact devices and really should be called Stun Guns. The picture of the device found I believe was a Stun Gun.

http://www.familyhomesecurity.com/de...-buyers-guide/

spd476

While I wouldn't want to get zapped with one, this really isn't that much of a risk to the flight. I wonder if the person who brought it on the plane didn't realize that they brought it with them. Then they found it while the plane was in the air and tried to get rid of it by putting it in the seatback.

I wonder how the TSA will spin this one. The guy with the day old boaring pass and invalid id was screened and posed no threat per the TSA blog. This person brought a weapon on the plane, although we know that a stun gun wouldn't take down a plane.

cordelli

Stun Guns that look like cell phones are easily available commercially.

I honestly don't think the issue is what you can or can't do with them on the plane, the media was jumping all over the fact they allowed a banned item through. My guess is somebody realized they had it, they had to make a connection to another terminal, and decided it was just easier to leave it on the plane (though throwing it out would have been a better choice).

Last night when I saw the story on WCBS, there was nothing available online about it at 11:15 or so. A few minutes later, there was one story (the one I linked to), and this morning there are hundreds, with it all over the place. One has to like the Boston Herald version of it on their blog, just mocking away at recent events.

One of the stations has said it's a Striker 1800 stun gun, which is available online for under $20

tev9999

It was picked up by Drudge by 7:30 this morning, which seems to push it onto all the other sites. The media seems to like to bash the TSA these days. ^

mikemey

Another TSA failure.

The sooner the TSA is taken out of the security equation, the safer air travel will become.

The sooner the DHS is taken out of security equation, the sooner we'll get our constitutional rights back.

So, lets roll.