No Scan, No Fly

I just returned from a week abroad and I was prepared for a scan to be performed by security at the airport. For whatever reason, there was only the usual metal detector and conveyor belt for carry-on items. No scan or pat down. I must say I was a little disappointed by the lack of the most up to date security system present at my flight. I want to fly with the knowledge that my fellow air travellers on board have been subjected to the greatest scrutiny possible.

People complain about the imposition on their privacy rights by being forced into these scans. I say if it improves security and lessens the chance of a bomb being smuggled onto the plane then I am all for it. I don't even want the option of a pat down. If you fly you must be scanned, period. A pat down, I believe, is more susceptible to human error and I do not want to take the risk that an error was was made on my fellow passenger resulting in a tragedy. If you refuse the scan then you do not fly. No exceptions.

People complain about the radiation risk. I saw a statistic that the amount of radiation exposure from a security scan is equivalent to the exposure while flying at 30,000 feet for 30 minutes. The risk of terrorism is greater than the risk of cancer from the radiation exposure of a security scan. A trivial argument.

People complain that the TSA person will be able to see you essentially naked and object to the scan on that basis. It is not as if the person who is watching the scan is the one at the security counter looking at the image of your naked body while looking up at your face. The image is piped to another location where the agent/computer evaluate the image without a facial image. No connection at all between the body images and the individual.

I can tell you as a doctor that after seeing complete bodies hour after hour and day after day, it is not an erotic experience. In fact, the constant exposure diminishes the experience when it should be stimulative, as in marital relations. Furthermore, if you see the average person travelling in the airport most of them you would not want to see naked. With obesity rates over 50% and morbid obesity rates at 15-20% you couldn't pay me enough to sit behind a monitor and look at fat bodies all day.

So lets drop all the modesty nonsense and lets make the safety of the flying public the major goal. Lets also drop the claim of the reach of government going too far. Air safety is a good role for government as it can be combined with intelligence to maximize our safety and not be motivated by profit. They should try to hire ex-military and ex-police as they have the experience to ensure security.

Scans should be mandatory. If you refuse to be scanned you do not fly, end of conversation. Flying is a privilege, not a right. Remember, there's always Amtrak.