[Leica] The Times Have Changed

[abridge at gmail.com (Adam Bridge)]

The more I read about this more I feel that Sacramento is one of the
great havens. I have had ZERO problems carrying my gear through either
terminal at Sacramento: M's, R's, telephoto it doesn't even draw a
comment although often they look at my bag a little longer and a
couple of times the screener at the X-Ray machine used called over
what I think was a trainee to show something (I say that because the
body language and facial expression suggested that teaching was
happening.) And I've not had a bad experience at Sky Harbor in Phoenix
either.

The eastern US seems different, however. Just after 9/11 I had to fly
to the East and on that trip I had a security agent look through my M
to make sure it was a camera. But I had a lot of time and there was no
one in line behind me so I took the time to show her how it worked.
She seemed nice, was a little defensive at first, but I showed the way
to tell a range finder camera.

I now never go to a security gate with film in my camera just in case
I might need to demonstrate that it does, indeed, have all the parts.

Adam


On Mon, 04 Oct 2004 13:08:25 -0400, Scott McLoughlin
<scott@adrenaline.com> wrote:
> I have a friend. His career took a dive when his industry tanked. He
> got a job in airport security. He says that his co-workers are un-educated,
> low class thugs. You can't put stuff in the little locker room because 
> stuff
> is stolen (by employees) on a regular basis. Turnover, absentesim and
> even fighting. You get the idea.
> 
> Yes, there are alot of uncooperative passengers, but most of the security
> staff is divided between agressive thugs who like to harass the passengers
> and a much larger group who don't do their job at all.  Of course, there
> are a few good apples in the basket.
> 
> The security is actually incredibly lax. He reports that all you need is an
> airport staff badge and you can walk right onto the tarmac with no
> screening.
> He figures that getting such a badge would be trivial if you had a mind
> to go
> and do some real damage. Go figure. Really sad.  Needless to say, he's
> been looking for gainful employment elsewhere :-)
> 
> 
> 
> Ted Grant wrote:
> 
> > Leo offered:
> >
> >>> I went through an airport last week and they had me take the lenscap
> >>> off of my noctilux so they could look through the lens of the M7.
> >>> Didn't bother to explain that it didn't work that way.<<<<<<<<
> >>
> >
> > Scary part about this is that we entrust our lives to these same
> > people to keep us safe in the air! :-(
> >
> > I had a similar thing happen in Vancouver a year ago with an M7!. And
> > neither did I say anything at first simply because, I figured they'd
> > want to take the camera apart to make sure it was a camera. Along
> > with  the same person telling me to "turn the camera on so she could
> > look at the screen."
> >
> > OOPS!  "This camera doesn't have a screen." says I.  "Then what's
> > behind this little door if there isn't a screen?".she says.:-(
> >
> > "Film!" says I. "And I can't open it or I'll spoil my pictures and the
> > roll isn't finished yet."  "Just a minute." says she.
> >
> > And off she goes for the chief guy and as they return he says... .
> > "What's the problem here that you can't turn the camera on and show
> > the screen?" says the missing link of human kind.  "It's not an
> > electronic digital camera because it uses film and there's nothing to
> > turn on. But you can look through the view finder and see it's OK
> > without spoiling the film." says I.
> >
> > Neanderthal man takes camera looks through view finder and says, "OK
> > that's fine. have a good flight."
> > At this point you keep your teeth clenched, sort of smile and move on.
> >
> > Security eh? Well OK if you say so.
> >
> > ted
> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Leica Users Group.
> > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
> 
> 
> 
> 
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