Jaunted

Full-Body Scanning / Airport Security / TSA / Technology / BUF / Airports / Naked Travel / Nude Travel / Terrorism / → All Tags

What It's Like to Go Through a Full-Body Scan: A Firsthand Account

A picture we sneaked of the full-body scanners at BUF

So yesterday we told you about the march to the scaffold approach to a full-body scan. Today, onto what it’s like to have one.

We ran into our first full-body scan the other week at Buffalo International Airport and although those pictures made us a bit squeamish (especially as we’d been hitting the Buffalo wings while we were there), we thought it was something we needed to try. This is what happened.

There was no fanfare from the TSA types telling us we were going through a full-body scanner. In fact, either few of the other passengers had cottoned on, or they were delightfully unbothered about some guy/girl in another room seeing them in the all-together. Everyone was just following instructions and going through the scans.

Talking of the scans: what happened was that, as normal, we unloaded our belongings onto the conveyor belt, and then instead of going through the usual metal detector, we went through the Backscatter machine – which basically looks like two big blue boxes that you stand between.

The TSA apparatchiks guided us through the process – you stand between the boxes, put your feet on the places marked out for them, cross your hands over your head, like you’re making the A in YMCA and stand there for about five seconds.

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Full-Body Scanning / Airport Security / TSA / Technology / BOS / BUF / CLT / Airports / Naked Travel / Nude Travel / Terrorism / → All Tags

This Is What You'll See on Approaching a Full-Body Scanner

The most visceral memories of this member of Jaunted’s recent All You Can Jet experience? Not seeing Niagara Falls or hitting up New York Fashion Week, but dealing with the full-body scanners we found on our travels.

We saw a few of them so we had time to suss out what it’s like to have one, to refuse one, and the best ways to dodge them. More on that later in the week, but for today, we’re showing you what the set up looks like.

This is what you’ll see as you approach the scanner. Or rather, what you should see. We were greeted by these pictures in Buffalo, Charlotte and Boston, but in Pittsburgh, where they also had the scanners, there was (eeek) no warning.

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Airport News / Airports / New York Travel / Niagara Falls / BUF / → All Tags

New Niagara Airport Has Free WiFi But No Flights

If Pam and Jim’s wedding on The Office got you feeling all warm and fuzzy inside, then a new airport wants to help you experience Niagara Falls for all its worth. The Niagara Falls International Airport is almost ready to go as the finishing touches are being completed on the almost $32 million terminal. The place is more than ready for visitors to arrive as the runway and jet bridge are designed to easily accommodate a Boeing 747—too bad there’s none scheduled to land anytime soon.

The new airport has some of our favorite airport amenities, including free WiFi. However, the best thing going for it is totally free airport parking. You’re welcome to swing your vehicle right up to the front of the airport without the need for any parking ticket, but if you’ve got a big SUV, you will need to use the adjoining lot because you’re just too darn big for the prime parking spots. There’s one problem with the new airport: there won’t be too many daily flights once it officially opens on December 11.

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Flight 3407 / Tragedy / Continental / EWR / BUF / → All Tags

More Info, More Mysteries For Buffalo Crash

As investigators rush to recover information about Continental Connection Flight 3407, which took the lives of 50 last Thursday night when it crashed outside of Buffalo, the pieces still don't add up. But here's what we learned about the flight from this weekend:

Flight 3407 did not nosedive, but rather crashed flat. This pattern may explain why the plane only landed on one house, killing Douglas Wielinski, a man who lived there (and sending his family to the hospital with minor injuries), but sparing his neighbors.

The plane did, in fact, have major ice build-up. The theory floated early Friday that icing may have hastened 3407's descent is given grounding by the black boxes, which demonstrate that the flight crew both noticed the ice and had the plane de-icer on at the time of the crash.

The plane may have been on auto-pilot, violating airline regulations. It's the policy of Colgan Air, which operated Flight 3407, that pilots manually operate the plane in cases of "severe" icing, which may not have been present that night. Still, it's chilling to think that anything might have kept the captain and crew from righting the plane in case conditions in the air suddenly changed.

Related Stories:
· Flight 3407 Plummeted Straight Down, Killing 50 [ABC News]
· Stunned N.Y. town mourns amid questions about Flight 3407 procedures [LA Times]
· Unease Over Weather’s Role in a City Known for Snow [NY Times]
· Friday: 49 Dead In Upstate N.Y. Continental Crash [Jaunted]

[Photo of Buffalo Niagara International Airport, Flight 3407's final destination: darkwater]