Just failed explosives test
 

I opted out today, as always, and gotnthe standard patdown. I never gave the explosives residue test any thought before but when I saw them conferring I knew there was a problem. Sure enough, I was invited back to the private room for a more thorough pat down.

As it turns out, the super secret pat down is no different than the regular pat down with the exception that they run the fronts of their hands several times across the crotch, side to side and then up and down. It's as if they are crotch obsessed.

Anyway, I handle both firearms and fertilizer on a regular basis and was told this could have triggered the super secret finely calibrated and regularly tested machine. Who knows. It never happened before.

I just thought y'all would feel safer knowing that TSA was diligent enough to take this lifelong frequent flyer into the back room for some additional crotch screening. I would continue but I am now attempting to evade the wandering TSA mall walkers,, errrr, I mean behavior cue experts.

Enjoy :)

How can they tell that your balls are not little land mines?

WHY Is this Necessary?
 

:confused: IF you pass the pat down and are cleared except for sniff test, why is this necessary?
You are clean....so what if you test for explosives? It meant nothing. You flew!
It does not affect security.:(

I think we all know the answers to these questions. We need to be asking different questions, not of each other but of our representatives and state and federal agencies**. Because clearly the questions we pepper them with aren't getting anywhere.

**With notable exceptions.

I'm not sure of another question or statement I could pose to my representatives to get a real reply of any kind. They seem like groundhogs, they come out to see their shadow and get reelected, then dive back down into their hole. I think I would practically have to quite my job and drive to DC so I could visit their offices frequently to be heard. Or I could sell my house, car, cash in my 401k and donate it to their campaign fund, then they would probably let me write any law or legislation I want while jumping on them like a trampoline. Although neither of these options are particularly practical for me.

It might be gauche for one to link to a thread they started themselves, but I'm doing it anyway. We discussed the private room pat down a bit in this thread: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...vate-room.html

They are expecting to find another underwear bomber. Now that you have disclosed what happens in the super-secret private room pat down, all the world's terrorists know to not hide explosives in their BVDs.

What would have happened had you recently had prostate surgery and were wearing a man's pad to catch drips?

How do pads for bladder incontinence or menstrual cycles feel different than bombs?

Haven't you ever felt a "bomb"?

I may live in the middle east but I hope never to have the privilege. ;)

In a way, the bolded statement is true. However, anyone that does any kind of personal search tends to be that way. When you are doing a personal search at least 8 times out of the 10 that you find something hidden, be it a weapon, illegal substances, contraband, stolen merchandise you name it, it will have been in the crotch area. A considerable amount of time and effort is spent in law enforcement training to get the officer to overcome the very human trait of being uncomfortable searching there. The Federal Academy that I attended taught that the body was split in to five quadrants that had to be searched. The crotch area was included in four of those five quadrants. That means if it was done as it was trained the crotch area was searched four times during the pat down.
Also, pat down is a generic term. We were taught to grab, twist, and feel. In the crotch area, more feel less grab and twist.

FB

It would seem then, that the procedure used by the TSA would be significantly less effective.

So if someone were to fail this resolution pat down with an ETD alarm, what's the next step to clearing the person?

Does anybody know if its illegal to carry fertilizer on a plane? Something like Scotts turfbuilder?

Imagine if someone had a small package of it and accidently spilled some in the TSA grope down lane.

Even a small amount would transfer to everyones shoes, then to the bins, then to x-ray belts.

Something as simple as this, could effective render EVERYONE at the checkpoint positive for explosives for days. And if everyone is positive then the test is essentially useless.

Seems like a terrorist could easily render the test useless.