I went to the Canberra airport the other day...

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Dingoboyx

New member
on my way home from the range,( had a black powder shoot) to see a friend off, on her way to Brisbane, I wanted to go into the departure lounge with her to wait for her flight to be called.

Well, I had to go thru the metal detector, set it off didn't I! I ended up taking all my keys out, allen keys & a few screws and bolts, some change out of my pockets..... it still went off :eek: Took off my belt & steel cap boots and watch..... finaly it was quiet, whew...... headed for the departure lounge, then there was this little black labradore dog nearly doing hand stands and cartwheels around me, its handler/officer pounced on me and bailed me up :eek:

He asked me if I was carrying any explosives, I said no.... He asked if I had shot a gun lately? I said, well, now you mention it :D Yes, 4 about an hour ago.... meanwhile, my friend was on her plane & gone.... while I spent a nice hour or so talking to some nice airport cops about shooting, showed them my licence.... they made a few phone calls (to the firearm registry I guess) and finally I was escorted out to the carpark & told never to return :eek::D

Has anyone else been baled up at the airport or had similar dramas like this?

Boy, was I glad to get out of there.... I felt like a real criminal, got treated like one too..... Lucky my name isn't Akmed I guess :D
 
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Dingoboyx

New member
bale up

cornered, apprehended, questioned :eek::D

Bomb dogs.... sniff out folks trying to book bomb filled luggage onto aeroplanes, or carry them in hand luggage :eek: The Postal service uses sniffer dogs to sniff out letter/parcel bombs in the mail too ;):D
 
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hogdogs

Staff In Memoriam
Bailed up=bayed up or in this case I am guessing cornered, surronded and utterly overtaken:D:eek: Am I close? Just going by what I learned from my kiwi buddy hog dogger...
Brent
 
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Chipperman

New member
So what do you mean by the term "bailed me up"?
Click to expand...

What do you do with a bail of hay? You tie it up.


I wonder if the dogs are trained to sniff black powder but not smokeless powder. I have been around many a bomb-sniffer and have yet to have one "hit" on me. This is while carrying, and often after I've been shooting. I don't shoot any black powder, though.
 
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Dingoboyx

New member
You got it HD

'Bale up' was what Ned Kelly & the Kelly gang used to holler at their victims before they robbed 'em blind, like 'stand and deliver'..... oh, no thats what our government says to us at tax time :eek::D
 
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hogdogs

Staff In Memoriam
My hold up at an airport had nuttin' to do with guns unless you count the holstered 10 or 15 on the hips of the cops as I was getting miffed that their silly metal detector kept alerting on me and I was about to peel off my jeans and skivvies as I was utterly miffed... Then I finally found a very thin folgers single cup coffee pack made of mylar plastic coated with aluminum foil in my back pocket...:eek: sensitive bugger that machine was!:eek::D Then wouldn't ya' know it I got seated beside a nice gentleman with a dark complexion and thick mustache and beard and very elegant turban...
Brent
 
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maestro pistolero

New member
Told never to return? A little bit of over-reaching, there, considering no law was broken. There was legitimate concern, at first, but once verified to be law abiding, you deserved as much respect as anyone else.
 
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hogdogs

Staff In Memoriam
maestro, You speak as a typical American... Unfortunately the USofA is one of the last nations where we are not OFFICIALLY servants of a monarch/dictator... Them down under folks are screwed blued and tattooed! we are headed that way if we ain't careful.
Brent
 
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44 AMP

Staff
The dogs have very sensitive noses...but

They don't get everything.

A couple years back, where I work (Fed property), I was in the parking lot when they brought the dog around. It was the bomb dog, not the drug dog, this time. I had a nice chat with the handler, as I was interested in finding out if the dog would go "off" on my van. I have been shooting the day before, standing at the back of the van, and I thought there might also be a cleaning patch or two left inside. I had emptied out the van, but not a detailed search.

He said he couldn't take the dog to the van, but would run it down the line of parked cars. I stayed to watch, as I didn't want to be called out from work, if the dog hit on my van.

The dog did pause, but did not "hit" on my van. That night after work, I did a detailed clean out, and of all things, found a Speer bullet box with 12 rounds of .45 ammo (in half moon clips for my Webley) inside it, under the middle seats!:eek:

Apparently while the dogs are good, they aren't infallible!
 
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Trooper Tyree

New member
I went into a courthouse with steel toed boots shortly after that shoe bombing incident. I forgot they were steel toed and when the wand got down there and lit up I thought, hmm, this could get interesting. But it didn't, they just waved me through. I suppose they get a lot of people with steel toed shoes through there.

Another time at the same courthouse, something in the lining of my leather jacket kept setting it off. Turned out I had a hole in my jacket pocket and a pack of gum had fallen through into the lining, I guess the silver foil was setting it off.

Then there was the time I went to the airport with a tool kit in my carry on. I'd checked beforehand to make sure everything I had was OK'd for carryon. My bag lit up like a Christmas tree when it went through, and they all oooh'ed and ahed and I winced and said, "It's all ok, I checked" but I couldn't believe all the stuff they said I could bring myself, and figured I was going to be in all sorts of hot water, but they just pulled it all out and looked at this and that and measured this and that and put it all back in the bag and said, you did your homework, you're fine. I couldn't believe it. I could have taken the plane apart in midair, or used the things in all sorts of inventive ways I won't name on the internet. They won't let you have a pen knife, or clippers or a bottle of water, but they let you bring things on board that I wouldn't have let anyone bring on.

I was just going to pickup a car and drive it home and wanted to have my tool kit with me in case I had a breakdown. I was glad they let me bring it without having to check it, but I wasn't happy to think that anyone else on board might be carrying one. :eek:

But no, never had any firearm or powder residue issues.
 
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jhenry

New member
I was at the San Diego airport a few years back. The friendly TSA types used some sort of wand on my luggage to look for explosives etc. Anyhow, the thing used swabs, and detected residue on my carry on bag. I also use it for a range bag sometimes. I told the nice TSA man with his sewn on cloth badge why his anti-mohamed wand had gone off. They searced the bag fairly well and let me on past. No problems.
 
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SKULLANDCROSSBONES65

New member
G'day. A coworker of mine went to Brisbane to visit his family. He was going to take the entire day off work so he could catch a 5:30 flight as he didn't have a car he was going to walk to the airport. Well I had a big day booked and needed his help to be completed on time. I told him I would take him to the airport if he came in to work for the day. As this meant he would not lose a days pay or have to walk to the airport he was happy to help.
The days work went well and we finished our job on that piece of mining machinery. I took him home, he showered, dressed (like a home boy) and grabbed his gear. He got to the airport on time, everything went well, one of our company supervisors/managers was also on the flight.
Upon arrival at Brisbane everybody departed the plane, picked up their luggage and headed out. Then a friendly little dog (a Beagle) sat next to my coworker, the man walking the dog was so pleased. The man with the dog and some of his friends spent the next hour talking to my coworker. The supervisor saw the dog sit next to the young follow, so he went in another direction. My coworker was asked all sorts of questions about why he was there, what he had been doing, etc, etc. After about an hour of questioning they told him the dog can detect explosives. That was when the penny dropped. He had spent the day working on a machine that loads explosives into drilled holes in an underground mine. There were traces of explosive material on him.
 
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Csspecs

New member
Had a buddy that had a couple hand fulls of .40sw ammo go through twice in carry on.. Found it when he got home.

Best guess was that the lap top and other electronics made it look just more chunks of junk in the bag.

And another went through with a 12 inch knife in his carry on and only noticed at the next airport... Just went the the mens room and wrapped it up in paper towel and dropped it off in the trash.
 
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