Whistle or explosive device?

Whistle
1

Recently I took a trip from Atlanta to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, PA, and took along with me some music books and a couple of my whistles. At both the Atlanta airport and the S/WB airport, I was stopped at the x-ray machine and asked what were the long cylinders in my backpack. In Atlanta, when I said that the cylinders were pennywhistles, the attendant waved me on through. In S/WB, the attendant didn’t know what a pennywhistle was and made me show him. After I did this, he said that on the x-ray machine the whistle looked twice as big around. I said “Oh. Kinda like a stick of dynamite, eh?” He didn’t seem to think that was funny. Maybe I should have played a tune for him.

~ Thornton

2

I think a job requirement for airport personeel must be lack of sense of humor. I’ve run into the same thing with my round solid brass travel clock. Half the time I must take it out and show them the thing: I put it in my briefcase now.

Having been a Boy Scout, I take advantage of every little nook and cranny, including shoes. I had shoved the travel clock into the toe of a dress shoe once, which was at the bottom of the travel suitcase. Picture me at the security gate, with half the contents of the suitcase spread out on the belt, while I retrieve the brass closk to show the guard. That was the LAST time I packed that thing in anything other than a briefase I can quickly pop open.

Of course, now hotels have clock radios and wake-up-calls, so I haven’t packed it.

I haven’t traveled since starting whistles, but that looks to change soon, so I’ll probably pack a Susato or something like that…

3

Have some fun with airport security Tom and tie 3 or 4 whistles together

4

On 2001-07-17 08:24, ThorntonRose wrote:
Recently I took a trip … I said “Oh. Kinda like a stick of dynamite, eh?” He didn’t seem to think that was funny. Maybe I should have played a tune for him.
~ Thornton

I don’t mean to rain on the parade, but I’d like to make a couple of observations that may have that effect. Note in what follows that I am not a lawyer, nor do I play one on TV, and that I am not offering legal advice. I also am not a preacher, and don’t mean to preach, but this is not a trivial matter so please indulge me.

It’s been my experience that it’s best not to tweak the people who run airport security, regardless of how amusing it might seem to you to do so or how vulnerable they may appear to your sense of humor. They’re not paid enough to laugh at your jokes, and more than one traveller has spent time in jail for an ill-considered wisecrack about explosives or weapons indulged while re-stuffing pockets or bag. Whatever one thinks about the practice, saying or doing anything that can be construed as a threat to an aircraft or the people on board is treated as a very serious offense. If someone gets the idea you’ve got a few sticks of dynamite tied up in your bag, they won’t be gentle in dealing with you.

I have some experience in this, as I carry one of my fifes with me just about everywhere I go, and, now that I’m a whistler, I always have them in my carry-on bag as well. My instruments always generate a question, but “a soft answer turneth away wrath.” I’ve never seen the point of ruining my trip, and maybe my life, for the sake of a moment’s amusement. I have offered to play a tune to demonstrate conclusively that they are in fact musical instruments, but have encountered a general reluctance to attract the sort of attention that playing a fife in an airport would generate.

The waterproof match case I also carry everywhere with me almost always attracts attention as well, and I’ve had the wooden stick matches it contains confiscated on occasion while the passenger next to me doesn’t attract any attention with his disposable BIC lighter – which is a genuine bomb. Oh well; things like this happen. They recognize the BIC; they don’t know what the stick matches are.

Are some of these security people ignorant, even stupid? You betcha, just like the rest of us; but they’re holding the aces, aren’t they?

I’ve met others who were friendly and most helpful. One in fact noted the difficulty I always have in emptying the considerable contents of my pockets and getting them through security. ( If I don’t set off the metal detector, its BROKE. ) He suggested that I empty them into my carry-on ahead of time and put them through the X-Ray machine, which I now do.

Be careful, folks; no sad stories, please.

\

Best regards,

Neil Dickey

[ This Message was edited by: ndjr on 2001-07-17 12:06 ]

5

Many international airports I’ve used have prominently displayed “Do not joke with security personnel” (plus lots of little fine type I’ve never given up my place to read). As I always travel with instruments, I’ve had my share of encounters, and I’ve watched a fellow removed for heavy sarcasm. Neil’s “soft word” accompanied by a smile is absolutely the only way to go. And would you really want it any other way? Sure, it didn’t make your to-do list, but what about the person two-up in the queue? How can you know?

At the end of the day, I’ve plenty of opportunity for humour in my life (even the retelling of a security gate story after the fact). But when I’m on that airplane, I’m hoping to reach my destination in one piece. For that, I’ll gladly suffer humour-challenged gate-keepers.

FE
P.S I’ve also been asked to turn on my laptop to prove it hasn’t been alternatively wired - so make sure when you carry yours, the battery’s topped or you have the adapter. Just in case.

6

Yeah, I probably should not have said what I did, and I would not have said it in the Atlanta airport. However, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre is a small town with a small airport that has only two gates, and the attendants seemed like a couple of nice old guys. So, I didn’t clamp down on my tongue like I normally would.

~ Thornton

7

Try going through the X-ray maching with a concertina…all the internal mechanisms of springs & levers cause much confusion. And very, very few people know what you mean by concertina! I almost always have to pull it out and play a few notes.
Sue

8

A guy I know tweaks generation whistle by putting blobs of cobblers wax inside the tube between the holes.

Security staff get very curious when they see small, dark, resin-like blocks. For some reason they find the true explanation far less likely than their imagined explanation for why you are carrying the stuff!

(I’d like to see them try to smoke it!)