TSA declares - after 9 years - that plastic kiddie wings are OK, not weapons

wsuffa

wsuffa

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Bill S.
Read it and weep: Link

This practice had been curtailed in the wake of the 2001 terror attacks. If I told you the curtailment was done as a cost-cutting measure, well, that would be embarrassing enough (a set of wings can't run more than a penny or two). Actually, it's worse than that. The real reason is almost too pathetic to be believed: Transportation Security Administration banned the distribution of toy wings because of the small metal pin affixed to the backside.
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Please tell me that story was a joke.

Please?
 
Chuck Norris could simultaneously hijack 10 airplanes with one set of plastic pilots wings.
 
I recall as a kid on British Airways getting a set of metal wings, a log book AND getting an inflight tour of the cockpit. Sigh the good old days.
 
I have an old pair of American Airlines plastic wings hanging from the visor in the Yukon...

Found 'em in a fishing tackle box that Grandpa had stashed in his bedroom closet, when he passed away late last year, and Dad and I had to clean out the house. :(

They probably ended up in there on a summer fishing trip he and I took, long ago. Grandma didn't fish, but she came along to enjoy the Colorado Mountain scenery.

The AA wings originally came from the only airplane flight Grandma ever took -- she was terrified of flying, but hopped on a fancy new-ish 707, and flew out to see me when I was born a month and a half pre-mature. Dad was stationed nearby in the Navy, and I was born at Travis AFB which had the only premie equipment around, back then. Or I wouldn't be here today, most likely.

Grandpa held her hand the whole way, and the flight crew gave her the wings for her "bravery". She was going to see her only grandson if it killed her.

He kept those wings somewhere, somehow, and then gave them to me as a kid, once I was old enough -- and since I was already enamored with airplanes and everything that flew...

And then somehow... they ended up in that old tackle box. Glad I opened it to look inside.

Darn good memories from that little piece of plastic.

That pair of wings will be staying on the visor for a long time. They hang right next to the name tag, with my name on it, from the Colorado Pilot's Association Mountain Flying course that I finally got around to taking last summer.

They seem to go together nicely. Two different fishing trips in the mountains, so to speak: One for fish, the other for my soul.

Pretty sure the only way anyone could ever die from the things, is this:

If someone ever tried to take this particular pair of them... away from me.
 
I got an pair of TWA gold metal wings, got to play in the cockpit and walk on the ramp around the plane with the FO. The year was 1969 and that was just on a regular visit to the airport to look at planes with my dad. I was not flying with them at all.

In 2011 I cannot even get soda when I pay $600 for a coach seat.
 
AdamZ said:
I recall as a kid on British Airways getting a set of metal wings, a log book AND getting an inflight tour of the cockpit. Sigh the good old days.
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"Adam, have you ever been in a Turkish prison?"
 
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Taken from:

http://xkcd.com/651/

Comic strip author notes:
"A laptop battery contains roughly the stored energy of a hand grenade, and if shorted it ... hey! You can't arrest me if I prove your rules inconsistent!"

Psst: Don't let TSA know, OK?
651
 
Shouldn't that headline be in the "Let's make Friday Joke Day," thread?

Oh. I forgot. We're talking about the federal government, DHS and TSA. They already are the biggest joke in the country, if not the history of the world.
 
A lot of things could be weapons if you're motivated enough. The question is how safe do you want to be?

In theory one could turn most plastic items from cards to utensils to toothbrushes into weapons. Should we ban plastic too?
 
Pi1otguy said:
A lot of things could be weapons if you're motivated enough. The question is how safe do you want to be?

In theory one could turn most plastic items from cards to utensils to toothbrushes into weapons. Should we ban plastic too?
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If you wanted to carry a baseball bat into the cabin with you, there is a very good chance that you will be prohibited from doing it (at least I think that the rules are still this way, I haven't checked in awhile and things change on a daily basis with the idiots at the TSA). On the other hand, I have a walking cane that I make out of a hickory maul handle with a solid brass eagle head that I can carry and it is perfectly within their rules. They won't let me carry my pocket knife anymore, so fine, I carry a hickory club instead... The only problem is that the hickory club is not very good for cutting up apples (it would probably be pretty good for making applesauce though)...
 
The last flight I took commercially was delayed because of storms in Florida (and not from the giant spring blizzard overhead. Gotta give those guys some credit). I went forward and chatted with the pilots until we were ready to do. I didn't get a pair of wings, a pack of peanuts, or nuttin'.
 
Funny, I've been giving out plastic wings with pins for at least 4 years. I guess they never actually enforced it or it wasn't actually a policy to begin with.
 
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