Flying With Fish The Blog for Those Who Fly & Those Who Want to Fly Smarter

Yesterday afternoon a story in Chicago Tribune dropped a bombshell on airline travelers.  In a statement to the Chicago Tribune, Kathleen Petrowsky, the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) Director at Chicago O’Hare Airport (ORD), stated that she believed full body scanning, using new body scanning machines, would become mandatory in the future to guard against improvised [...]

Since the start of President Barrack Obama’s term in office I have been writing about the need for the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) need for a Permanent Administrator.
Earlier this week President Obama nominated retired U.S. Army Major General Robert Harding the permanent position of TSA Administrator.   At first glance General Harding is an idea candidate [...]

As a photojournalist I began documenting airport security on September 15th 2001 and since creating Flying With Fish in January 2006 much of my research on airport security.  The reoccurring information that I have consistently encountered since 2001 is that everyone hates the airport security experience. In many cases people dislike the airport security experience [...]

A few years ago I saw possibly the worst tourist slogan t-shirt of all time, “London Is For Lovers.” Now granted I love London, but it isn’t a city exactly known for its romance. Despite London’s lack of romantic sense, it seems that a mere 211 miles to the northwest, Manchester may be a better [...]

There are times on the road when every traveller finds themselves needing a screw driver, bottle opener, knife, eye glass screw driver. There are always “I wish I had” moments when opening something, repairing something or any number of other daily situations that require ‘basic tools.’
Given the strict limitations of what travelers can carry on [...]

8/2/2010 – How Does A Dead Man End Up In An Airplane Wheel Bay?
On Sunday afternoon Delta Air Lines Flight 59, a Boeing 777-232, touched down at Tokyo’s Narita International Airport following a 10hr 18min flight from New York’s JFK International Airport.
The flight went as expected until routine maintenance revealed an unexpected piece of cargo [...]

5/2/2010 –TSA Hires Felon & Forces Airport To Issue Security Badge
It appears the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has placed Richmond (VA) International Airport (RIC) in a troubling situation regarding the issuing of a security access badge to a convicted felon … and that the TSA’s own policy for criminal background checks of Transportation Security Officers [...]

18/1/2010 – Oh Canada … No Carry On Bags … What Is A Photog To Do?
The war on terror takes many forms and the target of terrorism seems to have a very clear primary target … The United States of America.
Given the obvious target of terrorists it makes absolute sense that nearly a month after [...]

5/1/2010 – Who’s Handing Security At US Airports? It’s Not the TSA At 11 Airports
When the Transportation Security Administration was placed into airports in November 2002 it had the primary goal of unifying airport security procedures throughout the United States. More than seven years later, 11 airports around the United States continue to use private [...]

4/1/2010 – The TSA’s Lack Of Leadership & The Saga of Not Having A Boss

At the start of 2009 I wrote about the installation of Gale Rossides as the Acting Administrator for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), followed up discussing the TSA’s need for a permanent Administrator.

Given the significant lapses in the TSA’s ability to [...]