Legislation is pending in the House that would prohibit the use of this equipment for routine passenger screening.
The expensive and time-consuming screening now routine for passengers at airport boarding gates has detected plenty of knives, loaded guns and other contraband, but it has never identified a terrorist who was about to board a plane.
Yet such modest vertical separation from military engagements, albeit hurtling at more than 800km an hour, is routine for passenger jets.
The latest plot differed in having made targets of the international air cargo network, with security systems that differ widely around the world, and which, especially outside the United States, tend to be far less rigorous than the checks routine for passenger flights.
OTHERS say the trend toward business aviation will subside as stricter security precautions at airports become routine and as passengers regain confidence in commercial airlines.
From inoculation certificates to quarantine and the routine 'disinsection' of passenger aircraft with powerful insecticides, modern air travel is replete with a complex set of procedures designed to lessen the risks associated with flying between different climatic and ecological zones.
At each location, the same routine took place: the passenger-side door swung open and the occupant lowered his feet to the ground, shifted his weight onto his cane, pulled himself upright, and began asking election monitors questions about voting irregularities, intimidation, and turnout.
Tells about the weiging in of passengers, and other routine matters.
The word dirigible means 'able to be steered.' "Zeppelin made dirigible flight practically routine, carrying more than 34,000 passengers around Germany from 1911 to 1914.
It may also remind you of comedian Bob Newhart's famous routine about the captain answering passengers' safety questions: "How long would the plane remain afloat if we ditch?
