You would be surprised what gets passed TSA/airport screeners.

Summer after 9/11 on a flight from S.F. to Honolulu my friend didn't check her luggage thoroughly enough and this slipped by the inspectors:



80/20 blend of isobutane and propane. Looks like a little landmine. She didn't know it was in there, she had so much crap in her 2 dufflebags that had been checked. When her luggage was checked again in Honolulu the screeners found it there. It was a stupid mistake on her part, but an understandable one. She was scared shitless, she thought they were going to take her to prison at that very moment, considering the climate after 9/11. They just took the fuel cartridge, checked her bags again and let her go.

If that thing doesn't look like a bomb on an X-ray I don't know what would, it's round, metallic and filled with flammable liquid. The point is, it's a dangerous world out there, ain't nobody, goin' to protect you.

The screeners there are contractors, not TSA, and as best I can tell the airport was selected as a 'test' site because the owners of the old private contractor pulled strings. I amuse myself by looking for security lapses when I fly and I wish I'd kept track of the number of times that I've seen luggage go through the X-ray machine at SFO without anyone looking at the contents.

With all my diving equipment including my foot long dive knife all in my carryon. If my scuba guages, regulators etc didn't look like a potential bomb in an x-ray machine, I sure don't know what does.