The steady tightening of security arrangements at airports in the war on terror is an inexhaustible source of silly-funny stories. One of the most mind-boggling and current ones centers on a bellows, the type you use to clean your photo equipment. Canon-Rumors reader Surapon, who faced the whole absurdity, was on his way home from a 2-week vacation in Greece, when he got held up and searched by security guards at the New York airport. Among two cameras and several lenses, he carried a Giottos bellows in his baggage.
Image Source: giottos.de
The Giottos, one of the models with small “rocket wings” on the back, puzzled the security guard. With his finger, he pointed at the little wings and asked whether the bellows could fly like a rocket. Surapon assured him that the gadget is harmless and that it is used to clean lenses and cameras. He even demonstrated its functionality, but to no avail, the security guard remained unconvinced. After a conversation with his supervisor, it was decided that the bellows needed to be confiscated, since it could be flying like a rocket if gunpowder got inserted in the back hole, where air is sucked in.
I don’t know how you feel about it, but I find it very reassuring to know that such clever minds are responsible for our safety in air traffic. 😛
