Makers of the WTMD and Hand Wands vs. Chertoff
 

Okay, does anyone know who makes the WTMD and hand wands used at the airports? I'm sure those companies aren't too happy that their products are being used less or even eliminated. Maybe we could send them letters saying that we miss using their products at the airport.

They are probably the same companies now making the NOS. I'm guessing the maintenance on them is so low that there's no money to be made off of them any more.

You'd probably have more success trying to resurrect the "puffer", which apparently is a cash cow for maintenance.

Now you're making me nostalgic for metal detectors. This Monday, I had jury duty at the county courthouse. I put my watch, wedding ring, and phones in my shoulder bag, but I still alarmed the WTMD. A deputy got out his HHMD, told me to stand with my arms out, and found out that my belt buckle caused the alarm. My total time through, including waiting in line, alarming, and a HHMD resolution, could be measured in seconds.

Considering that the WTMD alarmed on a normal-sized belt buckle, I doubt I would have made it through with a knife of firearm. Would a NoS stop a firearm or knife? Would the deputies in charge of keeping the courthouse safe trust a NoS to keep out the items they don't want inside?

I was 20 on 9/11, so my previous memory of airports is a fuzzy distant memory. How long were security lines at major airports before 9/11?

The wands are made by Garrett: http://www.garrett.com/securitysite/...wand_main.aspx

There are two kinds of WTMD. The great majority of them are made by CEIA: www.ceia.net. The balance are made by Garrett.

I'll bet they ain't pleased that their stuff is in a declining state of use.

While I'm only a few years older than you, I did a quite a bit of traveling in college. I would routinely arrive large airports (SFO, PDX,PIT) 25-30 minutes before departure and not even worry about it. While on a long layover in SFO, I got bored and decided to visit all the other terminals. Didn't even think twice about security.

Nonexistent.

I don't remember ever thinking about lines much, except maybe a little bit at holidays.

As far as I know, the HHMD are pretty much cheap commodity hardware - order online from China or whatever. Don't know who makes (or made) government spec ones, but the technically they're not complicated.

Imagine the lines/wait time at the airport if they just used more WTMDs. There could be multiple WTMDs, like the cash registers at a grocery store, and people could just choose a line and walk through them. Less work for the TSO's and less hassle for the passengers. I'm sure the WTMDs cost less too. The government hardly has enough money these days. There have been so many people out of work since 2008 and what does the government do with the stimulus money? They buy these expensive body scanners. I'm sure the money could have been better spent helping people instead!!!

I haven't heard any big stories about the new body scanners catching anything major. Seriously, no agency can prevent every single bad thing from happening. Why live in fear?

Are you kidding?! TSA said they found over 200 prohibited items since 2010! It only costs about $500k to find an item! They're TOTALLY worth it! :D

Wow, with that kind of math and thinking, no wonder the US government is in some serious debt!!!

Agreed.

Before 9/11, when I lived in Vegas, I routinely flew the quick flight on WN from LAS to PHX to see my family (about once a month).

I could leave work at 5 PM on Friday, drive to the airport, park, check in, clear security and have plenty of time before my 6:15 PM flight.

I miss those days.

An L-3 MMW unit costs about $250,000.

Your typical CEIA WTMD costs about $5,000; and it will alarm on a well-hidden weapon.

Best bang for your buck? Hmm...I wonder...

I noticed the WTMDs at HKG were actually made by Rapiscan. I believe the most common brand in the US though is Garrett.

I would say that the security lines didn't change much after things toned down after 9/11 until August 2006. I think many of the backups pre-NoS were the TSA's implementation of the war on water and shoe removal fetish. Even with most other countries doing the war on water, the time to get through security is non-existent. There's no TDC or shoe removal. If you're not traveling with a laptop or belt that sets off the WTMD, you can be through security in less than 30 seconds. With any TSA setup, it always seems like it takes me at least 5 minutes from the time I prepare before getting in line until I'm fully put back together after the checkpoint. (Add in another 5-10 minutes for a typical opt-out case.)