A friend who is an airline Captain told me of a TSO that was not gonna allow the mag-lite in the flight-bag (mandated by FAA as necessary equipment for the flight).

I carry either my Surfire Aviator (red/white) or E2E Executive Elite on EVERY commercial flight. In addition, my Benchmade ink pen accompanies me as well. I simply put them in the outer pocket of my computer bag for the flouroscope scan -- then transfer then to my pockets when I sit down to put my shoes back on.

http://www.benchmade.com/products/1100

I've yet to encounter a TSA screener who has been smart enough to question the self defense capabilities of the dreaded ink pen. It is, after all - just an ink pen...

I haven't been so bold as to try to take a "Honey Comb" made by Cold Steel on a flight - because even I can see it's intended use as a self defense weapon...

http://www.coldsteel.com/honeycomb.html

However, I have my doubts if the average TSA screener would even look close enough to determine the alternate usage of this item's design.

Careful. It made sense to me. My Coast P14 (checked so as not to lose a $100 flashlight) has a low setting just for that reason.

I carry the E2D. I can see how the Honey Comb might be a problem, but I bet less than half of the TSOs would even spot it.

isnt that just ridiculous :rolleyes:

The pilot looked the TSO steadily in the eye while calling to report a flight delay. The flight left on time... in full compliance with all FAA regs.:-::-::-:

Curious - what CPAP machine do you travel with and do you also travel with a humidifier (assuming your CPAP doesn't have a permanently attached one)?

And the TSO didn't give a crap about the CPAP? I've only had mine a few months and have never removed it from its own separate bag as required, and haven't been stopped yet. But I figure if I do, the CPAP will be the reason. Not my cheap, tiny drugstore-purchased aluminum flashlight buried in my carry-on.

I have a Resmed S8 Escape II. It has a detachable humidifier.

I never travel with the humidifier. It is too much extra work to fill/empty, and too much current for many plane electrical systems.

I have not had the CPAP manhandled in a while (knock on wood).

What does it mean that is has a scalloped leading edge? I understand the concept, but I'm not sure what else it could be construed as being used for, besides what you describe in #2.

I always travel with 2 flashlights. One is an iPhone app.

Why?

Dim hotel rooms and my age!

The TSO wanted that 'cool' flashlight. Betcha!

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

Surefire makes the "Defender" series, indicated by a "D" in the product name such as E2D or something similar. If you know what you are doing it is useful as a weapon apparently due to the hardness of the metal Surefire uses in their lights.

^^^

Always carry an ultra LED hi-power LED flashlight - single AA powered, but I purposely changed the tactical lens head with scalloped leading edge to a plain round one - it stays on my belted nylon pouch all the time, except when going thru security checkpoint (it's with the rest of electronics in the small pouch.) It's easier, lighter, brighter vs. the AA Mag-Lite & much better than the AAA Mag-Lite.

I have a 2nd. identical set using 2x AA (interchangeable spare/parts) that I keep in the carry-on/checked luggage depending on destination. It got pulled once going thru HKG in transit to PVG by security, they pulled it out (kept inside a backpack) & looked at it for 5 seconds, power on to see that it worked & put it back in without a fuzz. I wasn't sure if they were looking at the scalloped edge or just checking it out as a working flashlight & not something else .... But, now that I think about it, the fellow had sharp eyes to spot it & didn't "inspect" the small set of screwdriver tools.

Like others said, depending on how one hold it and use it, round or scalloped edge pointed away from the palm - one can surely used it a defensive tool.. Likewise, I sure can use my Dunhilll pen (or chopsticks ....) and do some serious harm with it, minimal or no training necessary.

If a TSO decides that they want something of yours that's not a prohibited item, what are you supposed to do? Demand a supervisor? And if the supervisor is on on the game, is there no recourse from TSOs who are organizing this type of thing?

I've heard of two interesting ways to handle it if you absolutely must make the flight, the TSO and supervisor are not going to let you through without the item, and you don't mind losing the item:

1- Physically destroy the item right there to prevent the TSO from having any productive use.

2- "Since you won't allow it on board, I'm going to go back to long-term parking and put it in my car". Do so, or if you don't have a car in parking, physically destroy the item and throw it in a trash can out of view of the TSOs.

The Christmas shopping season is upon us. If TSOs start declaring cameras, iPads, iPods, and laptop computers "prohibited" and start stealing these things from pax, it would hopefully become a very big news item and another strike against the TSA.

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

It would hopefully, and almost certainly, not happen.