Talk about timing.
Last month my 3-year-old daughter was invited to her pal Chris’ birthday party. A few days before the party we went shopping for a gift. After 2 hours contemplating what constituted as the “perfect” present (for Chris… and my daughter’s next 7 birthdays) we settled on a remote control Jeep.
Believe it or not that Jeep turned out to be the hit of the party. Chris ripped it open and let it fly through the backyard. For the next hour or so party guests lined up for their turn to take the Jeep for a spin. That’s the good news. The bad news was that when it was time to leave my daughter thought the remote control Jeep was coming with us. Reasoning fell on deaf ears and the tears started flowing (hers, not mine). Yup, I folded. I ended up promising my daughter that she could get the same remote control Jeep for her next incentive chart reward. (Typically, the “rewards” are limited to books, puzzles, or a trip to Dairy Queen.)
In any case, the reason I am boring you with that anecdote is that now my daughter is determined to “drive” her Jeep to Hawaii. Meaning she wants to take her new toy on our annual trip to see grandma and grandpa in Hawaii (we leave in a few months). She already made room for it in her Hello Kitty backpack and announced that she plans to keep it on her lap during our 10-hour flight.
Great. No problem. Doesn’t bother me.
Well, it didn’t until yesterday.
Yesterday is when the Transportation Security Administration made an announcement regarding air travel and remote-controlled toys. (Honestly, the timing of the statement is just uncanny to me.)
According to the TSA, “credible specific information” indicates that terrorists are looking at using remote devices that can trigger an explosive.
Which means airport security screeners are stepping up scrutiny of remote-controlled toys because now, all of a sudden, terrorists supposedly are looking to use them to detonate bombs.
Wonderful.
The TSA is now warning all airline passengers (including children) who carry remote-controlled toys through checkpoints that they may face additional screening, such as a pat-down search.
Translation: Parents, unless you want to spend even more time at an airport security screening area and risk your child being stripped on his or her remote-controlled anything, you’re better off leaving the gadgets at home.
On the bright side, TSA agents said there’s no indication of a timeline or a plot.
“Intelligence and law enforcement have developed information that terrorists are interested in using remote-controlled toy vehicles as part of their tactics,” the chief of the TSA told news reporters. “There were some dots that came together.”
TSA screeners are being told to pay special attention to remote-controlled toys that are packed in cluttered carry-on bags. The concern, according to aviation security experts, is that remote controls on toys transmit radio waves and can be converted to crude detonators. The TSA also noted that one factor prompting Monday’s alert was the recent posting of a YouTube video explaining in Arabic how to detonate a bomb with a remote-controlled toy.
TSA agents are encouraging travelers who want to transport remote-controlled toys to place them in their checked bags.
As for us, I think we’ll just ask grandma and grandpa to purchase a remote-controlled Jeep to keep at their house and we’ll leave ours at home.
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