Horrifying reality of what airport X-ray scanners could see when you walked through them
Although airport security scanners are annoyingly important for our safety, the old full-body ones weren't leaving much to the imagination.
Nowadays, we're awaiting the launch of Next Generation Security Checkpoints (NGSC), and when they're finally launched nationwide they should do away with the dreaded 100ml liquids rule.
But previous airport security measure were much more controversial.
On Christmas Day in 2009, airport security changed forever when Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab tried to bomb a plane.
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He attempted a failed 'underwear bombing' after concealing plastic explosives in his boxers on a Northwest Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Detroit.
Thanks to heroic actions by passengers and crew, including one who jumped over seats to subdue him, the attack was prevented.
Abdulmutallab, who had connections to Al-Qaeda, was sentenced in 2012 to multiple life sentences without parole.
The aftermath, however, was particularly terrifying when airport security brought in the Rapiscan scanners.
Costing $180,000 each, a whopping 174 scanners were reportedly in installed across 30 US airports.
They were also installed in UK, across 10 of the country's largest airports, back in 2013.
The rollout itself was pretty smooth-sailing, that was until people found out that the TSA scanners showed everything - and I mean everything.
Instead of your standard scan, the images were more reminiscent of an OnlyFans account, displaying a full 'nude' X-ray of each passenger.
By June 2013, TSA had no choice but to remove the tech from airports because of the backlash.
Even to this day, people are horrified.
Over on X, one person wrote: "I honestly thought X-ray meant you can only see the bones."
"Is this why I always get put aside?" another joked.
"Definitely tucking my junk next time through just to see if I get a reaction," penned a third.
"Imagine the TRAUMA the American TSA staff have to endure," a fourth said.
Well, TSA did put out a statement at the time, which read: "Due to its inability to deploy non-imaging Automated Target Recognition (ATR) software by the Congressionally mandated June 2013 deadline, TSA has terminated part of its contract with Rapiscan."
"By June 2013 travellers will only see machines which have ATR that allow for faster throughput."
UK security update
Thankfully the Rapiscan scanners are no longer a thing, and the UK is in the process of rolling out Next Generation Security Checkpoints (NGSC) across its airports.
Once fully implemented, the scanners allow passengers to keep 100ml liquids and electronics like laptops in their hand luggage during security screening.
This will make going through airport security a lot less of a hassle.
Airports with NGSC scanners:
As of 1 June, 2024, the following UK airports have NGSC scanners:
• Aberdeen
• London City
• Leeds Bradford
• Newcastle
• Southend
• Teesside
However, the 100ml liquids rule will remain in place until the UK fully transitions to the new scanners.
Anish Vij