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[2021-10-13 20:46:32 UTC; Update: Corrected story link.--martyb]
I feel sorry for the accused.
The “security incident” that forced a New-York bound flight to make an emergency landing at LaGuardia Airport on Saturday turned out to be a misunderstanding — after an airline passenger mistook another traveler’s camera for a bomb, sources said Sunday.
American Airlines Flight 4817 from Indianapolis — operated by Republic Airways — made an emergency landing at LaGuardia just after 3 p.m., and authorities took a suspicious passenger into custody for several hours.
It turns out the would-be “bomber” was just a vintage camera aficionado and the woman who reported him made a mistake, sources said.
Why in the world was the passenger in custody for “several hours”? They didn’t do anything wrong.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by maxwell demon on Wednesday October 13 2021, @08:22PM (38 children)
I'm wondering why they needed several hours to distinguish a camera from a bomb. I would have guessed that this should be possible in much shorter time.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 13 2021, @08:36PM (28 children)
Security theatre. They have to do the whole show to justify their jobs, because that is what their job actually is.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Immerman on Wednesday October 13 2021, @08:56PM (17 children)
Except in this case all they're showing their own incompetence. There's only two options:
1) it's not a bomb, and everyone involved should have been able to determine that it was a false alarm within moments of getting a look at it.
2) it is a bomb, meaning the huge amount of security theater before boarding was completely worthless.
(Score: 3, Informative) by DannyB on Wednesday October 13 2021, @09:10PM (14 children)
How many people know what a film camera is? Or film? Or know that there was a way to take pictures before computers? Nevermind a "vintage" camera.
Maybe a rotary dial telephone could be mistaken for a bomb timer?
Once upon a time, people got their mp3's on spools of mylar tape.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 13 2021, @09:19PM (5 children)
Any more examples while you're on a Rollei?
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday October 14 2021, @01:49PM (4 children)
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, telephones were connected to a wire coming out of the wall. You could only move the phone as far as the length of the wire.
The only way to put your phone on silent was if the cord was long enough to put the phone into the refrigerator.
Only fairly well off people could afford to make their YouTube videos which required an 8mm camera, and you could only show them to your immediate circle of friends that lived close enough to come over and view your videos.
There was no "reality TV". You could only watch a program at the specific time decided by network executive programming
dictatorsdirectors. TVs were a large box in your living room that you could not carry in your pocket.People had to carefully consider whether they could afford to buy a RAM upgrade.
People used a stick to point at information on a wall chart.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 14 2021, @07:13PM
As illustrated here in the first picture on the right [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 16 2021, @12:59AM
My phone sits on the refrigerator, you insensitive clod. Now, shut up or I close the refrigerator's door.
(Score: 2) by edIII on Saturday October 16 2021, @11:17PM (1 child)
Stop it. You're scaring the Millennials :)
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday October 18 2021, @04:06PM
They must grow up some day.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Immerman on Wednesday October 13 2021, @10:50PM (2 children)
Doesn't matter - I'm sure the guy would be happy to (and did) tell them "its a vintage model XYZ camera", which could be confirmed with 10 seconds on Google.
At which point they've established that the *only* reason to suspect it was a bomb in the first place was completely baseless, and thus have no further reason to suspect it actually is one. Maybe it still is - but that's true of literally everything carried by every person on the plane, and even the idiot shoe-bomber wannabe was smart enough to disguise his bomb as something that wouldn't draw attention.
If they want to be *really* thorough, have the guy, who to reiterate they no longer have *any* reason to suspect is actually a bomber, open it up himself in a bomb-safe location (usually plenty of fields around an airport), while they watch by video.
There's no good reason to have detained the man for any longer than it took to top off the fuel tanks to get him and the rest of the passengers back on their way. At best everything beyond that was a performance.
Paranoid and/or malicious accusations are only becoming more common, and police need to learn to recognize them for what they are and treat them accordingly.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Coligny on Thursday October 14 2021, @02:34AM
Karens have power…
Bit with low IQ “Better safe than sorry…” is taking a pounding…
If I wanted to be moderated by mor0nic groupthinking retards I would still be on Digg and Reddshit.
(Score: 2) by Username on Thursday October 14 2021, @08:11AM
Yeah, doesn't make sense. Even if it was a bomb, why would they let him hold it? Why would they keep it near all the people? Why didn't they take all the cameras near them if cameras are bombs? Why didn't they subject all the people holding cameras to this search? These questions only makes sense if they thought it was harmless.
and we don't even have the right to face our accusers anymore. I bet that woman had a purely political grievance against that guy. If they just asked the guy, "would this antifa woman do this because you had a maga hat?" Can flip this antifa-maga any way you like.
(Score: 2) by sjames on Thursday October 14 2021, @01:11AM (3 children)
Surely they have some supervisor old enough to remember their parents getting pictures developed at the drug store (chemist). Those not old enough to remember that should be good enough at google to pull up a picture and a web page about the camera based on what the suspect claims it is.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 14 2021, @06:43AM
There was that really creepy movie with Robin Williams in it, where he drove a Honda Echo, just like TMB. Creepy.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 14 2021, @02:16PM (1 child)
Face it, nobody cares about what old people know any more. And stop calling me Shirley.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday October 14 2021, @06:23PM
You're right. Once young people valued things older people had learned the hard way.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Thursday October 14 2021, @06:16PM
How many people know what a film camera is?
More than you think. Camera film was as nonexistent as vinyl records for a time, but I recently bought three rolls of 35mm film at Walgreen's for my 53 year old SLR. They can have it developed, too, but if you want the negatives back you need to take the exposed film to a photo shop like Creve Coure Camera.
And digital cameras are really a product of this century. Anybody over 30 remembers film cameras, even if it was in their childhood.
mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 15 2021, @02:54AM (1 child)
Over ten years ago. At the airport. Service call. I was to fix a broken power connector in the field.
During luggage check/boarding, I was asked if I had anything unusual. Yeh, the usual...personal toiletries, change of clothes, a few hand tools, VOM, and a soldering gun.
GUN?!!??
Hilarity ensued while my luggage was retrieved and numerous badgehats passed my tools, Simpson 630 , Weller solder gun , solder, flux, solder sucker, and the replacement connector around.
Thank goodness the pilot knew what they were for.
You know...those old Cannon/Amphenol circular connectors with the solder cups. Well, an installer misjudged a forklift a bit, and it was a helluva lot easier to move me around than to move that big console.
Gotta admit they were thorough. Even called my boss, through the main corporate line and would not use his direct access extension
I learned something that day... Just how few people were aware of common hand tools. It's a wonder we evolved beyond sticks and stones.
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Friday October 15 2021, @04:50PM
I hate to break it to you, but a soldering iron of any type isn't a common hand tool anymore, if it ever was. Not if "common" means "something most people have at least seen in actual use". And you can say the same of most everything more specialized than a hammer, screwdriver, or saw.
Modern civilization was built on specialization, where everyone learns more and more about less and less (until at the highest levels they know everything about nothing. Ba-dum-tsh.). In recent decades it's gotten even more dramatic, with a near-total move to non-user-serviceable products - "TV" repair shops went out of business precisely because modern electronics have become so small, complicated, and cheap, that it's very rarely worth fixing something rather than replacing it. While computer analysis and cost-optimization has brought most other products to the point that once one part fails, the rest probably isn't far behind.
The final result being - if it's not a hand-tool associated with a traditional craft, many/most people are barely aware that it exists, much less what it looks like.
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Wednesday October 13 2021, @09:58PM (9 children)
There is definitely theater going on but this is not it.
Once you think something may be a bomb moving slowly and carefully is probably a good idea.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 13 2021, @10:21PM
Wise words - there will always be a place for you in the Let's Go Brandon community.
(Score: 0, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday October 13 2021, @11:05PM (5 children)
Enjoy your life of fear. The point is, there was absolutely no reason to suspect that a 35mm camera is a bomb. There is every reason to suspect that the chick involved is probably an "influencer" on Youtube or somesuch.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 14 2021, @06:47AM
Runaway is an idiot. 35mm? Could have been more likely a 5x4, or an 8x10, the really good old cameras with the accordion thing out the front, and a cape, or a hood! But all those are prior to Runaway's experience, and he knows nothing he has not experienced, so he is just the kind of person to report an antique camera as a bomb. Ignorant moron.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Nuke on Thursday October 14 2021, @12:29PM (1 child)
I heard it was a twin-lens reflex camera, which usually take 120 film, are larger and rarer than a 35mm film camera, and look quite different. They were made in their day by Rollei, Yashica, Seagull, Mamiya and some others. Nevertheless, soon found by Googling. A 35mm film camera does not look much different from a modern high-end digital camera, although even those are also becoming rare these days except among professionals.
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Thursday October 14 2021, @06:22PM
An idiot might think a 35mm camera with a 1000mm lens was a bomb. A bomb with glass on the end...
mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org
(Score: 3, Insightful) by cmdrklarg on Thursday October 14 2021, @03:19PM
The only fear involved in this story is the paranoid passenger. The airlines are also paranoid about bomb threats, so they have to take all reports like this seriously.
Since we don't have any information about who the people involved were we can't suspect anything.
The world is full of kings and queens who blind your eyes and steal your dreams.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 14 2021, @06:18PM
just a dumb nosey whore. only dumb whores fly anyways. they all deserve the hours of bullshit.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 14 2021, @05:28AM (1 child)
Depends on the bomb. Might be best to quietly get a head start on running for cover.
(Score: 2) by cmdrklarg on Thursday October 14 2021, @03:20PM
Kind of difficult to run for cover on a flying aircraft.
The world is full of kings and queens who blind your eyes and steal your dreams.
(Score: 2) by looorg on Wednesday October 13 2021, @08:51PM
Call the bomb squad, wait, find out it's a camera, some standard cavity searching, use ancient camera to take some selfies, since it's not digital developing the pictures takes time.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Immerman on Wednesday October 13 2021, @08:52PM (2 children)
Yeah. In fact, I don't see why they should have even landed the plane.
If they really don't want to confront a potentially dangerous passenger, call them up front to deal with some made-up problem with their booking or something, and while they're in conversation with their bag out of sight (sorry sir, no bags are allowed in the hostess area), have someone take a quick peak.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 14 2021, @10:33PM (1 child)
We've seen MacGyver and know how many devilishly clever triggers every bomb has! She's lucky she didn't set it off by seeing it already!
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Saturday October 16 2021, @06:33AM
But if you've seen MacGyver, you should also know that such a bomb can easily be disarmed with a bit of duct tape and a few random things found in the plane. No need to land the plane.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by MostCynical on Wednesday October 13 2021, @10:27PM (2 children)
protocol
There is probably a checklist for every TLA involved, plus the airline
Each checklist is likely 20-100 pages long
Every page needs to be signed, counter-signed and initialed by the appropriate management levels, TLAs (and likely, also, the airline's lawyers)
None of these people were on site at the emergency landing location, so all had to GET there, check and sing all the forms, then spend alot of time making sure the 'offender' is cowed into NOT suing or making a fuss - which likely took several hours of 'you don't need a lawyer' and 'here, sign this now (or else)'
Then the plane had to be put through all the pre-flight checks, including possible re-fuelling, and pilot swaps, (depending on flight hours accrued), then re-load meals, etc etc
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 3, Touché) by Farmer Tim on Thursday October 14 2021, @04:50AM
Security light opera?
Came for the news, stayed for the soap opera.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday October 14 2021, @06:34PM
I hope the forms are in a key suitable for most vocalists.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 14 2021, @06:42AM
Karen just wanted the manager. This guy should seriously sue and be awarded 7-digit compensation from the cops, the airline and the silly karen (each).
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 15 2021, @06:12PM
Because US cops are crap? If cops weren't crap "SWATing"[1] wouldn't be dangerous and thus wouldn't be a thing.
e.g. kids call cops on someone and the cops actually put their lives on the line to serve and protect - including the alleged perp who is "innocent until proven guilty" (instead of being armed cowards who are dangerous to almost everyone they are exposed to).
And so nothing happens, in the end the kids try other stuff instead.
I mean if a prankster hoax called firefighters to a place, they don't mindlessly blast the place with high pressure water.
See also: https://abcnews.go.com/US/court-oks-barring-high-iqs-cops/story?id=95836 [go.com]
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swatting [wikipedia.org]