In a fair fight

I was hanging out with family at my brother’s house last night. Some of us had just flown in that very evening, so at some point the conversation came around to airport security, as it often does these days. The threat of terrorism is of course very real and very serious, but sometimes the steps taken to deal with it can seem a little mysterious.

My mother said that she recalled a time, many years ago, when she and my dad had carried a circular saw onto an airplane. “I doubt,” she said, “that they’d let me do something like that today.”

It was pointed out that a circular saw on a flight is less of a threat than one might think (at least on domestic routes), because there’s no place to plug it in.

“Yes,” I agreed, seeking to add some perspective to the issue. “In a fair fight, a terrorist on a plane with a circular saw would totally lose to a terrorist with nail clippers.”

One thought on “In a fair fight”

  1. A recent flight on a domestic 737 featured electric outlets at every seat, presumedly for charging laptops, etc. Now I’m curious if they’ll source enough current to run a circular saw before the breaker trips.

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