TSA Pat Downs, The Untold Story

As with all media bias, we only hear one side of the story. As the TSA pat downs and body scanners make news for what is spun by the media as being egregious, more positive news is left by the wayside. Stories about breast cancer survivors being made to expose their prosthetic breasts and people getting large blades through security despite the pat downs dwarf stories that show the real success of the program, stories like Jonathan McDougal's.

Jonathan is a single, 31 year old suburbanite, Pokemon trading card game champion, and an avid flyer that travels the country in an effort to catch 'em all. Jonathan loves America and loves making it a safe place to live. As far as Jonathan is concerned, the TSA pat downs aren't intrusive enough. Jonathan's story isn't one of sensationalism, just one of a satisfied customer -- a story not being told.

You see, Jonathan has felt unsafe for a long time on flights. He has been worried about the "lack of attention" to detail in security screening for a while now. "I feel much, much safer when I get a really good pat down, the more stern the pat down, the safer I feel. I like it really thorough," he said while grinning. "I mean, you know, like, because then I know everyone is getting that same security screen," Jonathan stated emphatically.

"I've opted out of the backscatter scans every time, I really appreciate the personal service by the TSA agents," Jonathan stated. When asked if he thought the TSA could improve security further, he responded, "There is a good 2 or 3 inches at the top of my inner thigh I could be hiding some sort of bomb that just isn't being checked. If the agents could just get up in there a bit more I'd feel a lot more safe." He later added that the TSA agents need to rotate their hands a bit and use additional strokes to increase their search coverage.

Jonathan is also quoted as saying, "Everyone is being babies about this, the TSA isn't even checking my crack and I could have a blade in there for sure. In fact, I told the last TSA agent that I might have a package hidden back there and she didn't even check. She kind of gave me a disgusted look like, 'Why would I check you, you're clearly a safe flyer' and sent me on my way".

I applaud Jonathan for his courage to step forward and take an unpopular stance in the wake of this media smear campaign.

Is This Amsterdam?

Driving around Paine Field and Boeing I see all these yellow bikes. Sorry for the quality of pictures they are poor even for my standards. I will hope to get some on my next trip out there. Where do these Boeing employees go on these bikes. I have seen them sitting at various locations around Boeing's exterior but have not seen anyone on one to follow them. Is there a secret bunker where gas vehicles would pollute the air too much? Is this Boeing's way of trying to cut healthcare expenses in bariatrics? Any ideas what they are for ?

One Way Transparent Aluminium

While browsing through some of the thousands of awesome airline pics available out there I stumbled upon this one. A windowless Boeing 777. While I didn't see any interior I will have to assume that based on the lack of visible windows they must be made out of one way transparent aluminium. I first heard of this substance back in the 90's (I was too young to see the original premiere) while watching Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. Scotty traded the formula for plexiglass to save humpback whales. While I know that was  science fiction, many of the technologies from Star Trek end up as the jumping off point for scientists. It appears Boeing may have had some success in this allowing for a very sleek looking aircraft. Thumbs up Boeing this looks great! 

Picture from: Drewski2112

Pepsi Corporate Jets

Looks like Pepsi ordered a couple new jets with what I can only assume is a sneak peak redesign of their new logo. Looks like these planes are the choice of a new generation of Pepsi flyers.

Putting an Engine together

Looks like I was fooled before, I thought it was a cool new engine design. I didn't know a half done plane would be sitting outside. I thought it was a cool new green plane with awesome engines but who knows if the green is even going to be its real color. Here are some pics of them putting the engine together I got before they started to notice me watching them.

What are they hiding?

If you are at Paine Field in Everett you will see a large number of Boeing 787s sitting around. They all have their windows and doors covered. But what are they hiding? Seeing as I don't have any contacts at Boeing I will have to guess. Boeing could be using them to hide immigrants, maybe they are letting homeless people live in them and don't want the public seeing cause they are doing it just for the true goodness of the act. Whatever they are doing in these planes, one thing is sure they don't want us to see.

Dream Lifter, the worlds largest passenger plane?

Last time we discussed how the Dream Lifter could be a new Vomit Comet. This time I will tell you about the most popular thought I have heard on what the Dream lifter is for, the worlds largest passenger plane. Based on the size it looks like it can hold about 2.5 times as many passengers as the 747 or around 1300 passengers. At first this sounds like there would be a lot of challenges around this many passengers, first how would you get this many people in and out in a timely manner, Boeing thought of this the whole rear end swings wide open meaning you can load all 3 levels of passengers at once. No windows you ask? The newest technology, HD interior window screens. Stewardesses can dim once in flight for the movies.