Nitroglycerin and hand lotion? WTF!

[hobie331 0]

Posted this on an old thread in Gerneral Discussions but thought I'd stick it here too since more people seem to hang here. I'll let the mod's decide what to do with it.

Leaving PHX yesterday from a Eloy trip. Both my rig and my wife's get pulled for inspection. They do the explosive test on hers and the machine goes off. The guy calls for his supervisor and asks her to observe while he retests. Uses a different machine and it goes off. Tells me he will have to have me open it for inspection. I politely discuss this with him to no avail. I figure no sense in being an ass because its a two day drive home and a repack is cheaper anyway. He is very careful not to just start tearing things apart and quite honestly looked as if he new his way around the rig. Long story short, I asked what the machine alarmed for and he said, "NG, a component to explosives." I asked, "since there obviously isn't any in here then why did you machine go off?" He explained that there are also additives in hand lotions and sanitizers that will leave the same marker. When we got home I asked a TSA rep at that airport and they told me the same thing.
Anybody else have this problem and/or know how to avoid it?
Oh, when we we're leaving for Eloy and they ran our rigs the lady behind the x-ray hollered for a supervisor because she saw what looked like a "detonator," which she hollered loud enough for people 30 feet in bought directions to hear. Luckily the supervisor was retired military with airborne training. He was pretty cool. He looked at the screen, pulled the rig, walked over and said, "don't worry I got your back," visually inspected it, said, "I still have to do an explosive test," did it, on bought hers and mine and let us go.

I guess my biggest issue is that with todays technology they don't have a machine that can be more accurate.
Enough rambling.

It's a gift, I don't try to explain it.

[CSpenceFLY 1]

i had a friend get popped once. They didn't open his rig though. They just ran it through the x-ray again.TSA is a crock of shit.

[DJL 235]

I've heard of this before but don't remember the source. Regardless, though shalt be careful about putting lotions/creams/soaps on your hands and then handling your rig. Some items can cause the material to break down and most leave a sticky residue that collects dirt.

"I encourage all awesome dangerous behavior." - Jeffro Fincher

[WatchYourStep 0]

Bitch, bitch, whine, whine. I don't feel bad for you at all after you got 30+ jumps while you visited

Obviously just kidding, that blows or sucks depending on how you look at it and what you are into.

"You start off your skydiving career with a bag full of luck and an empty bag of experience. The trick is to fill the bag of experience up before your bag of luck runs out."

[ZeG 0]

It would be quite funny to see the faces of bystanders when the x-ray lady calls out "I have detonator here!"

Maybe they dive for cover

[Brains 2]

There is a TSA guy at PHX who jumps at Eloy. A girl pulled our rigs and called him over to check them. He swabbed them and told us that sometimes the rigs test positive also because of the fertilizers used on the grass at the dz. His comment was that the swoopers rarely DON'T set off the machine.

Never look down on someone, unless they are going down on you.

[mnealtx 0]

Quote

His comment was that the swoopers rarely DON'T set off the machine.

I wonder what mine would do with all that gumbo mud residue from SF 06....

Mike
I love you, Shannon and Jim.
POPS 9708 , SCR 14706

[Broke 0]

If you really want to set a machine off, use hand lotion, and wear ben gay.

Divot your source for all things Hillbilly.
Anvil Brother 84
SCR 14192

[ZeG 0]

Yeah good plan... I only say one thing: BODY CAVITY SEARCH.... have fun lol

[Broke 0]

I'll see if I can find some info online somewhere, but there are a lot of products that set off false positives

Divot your source for all things Hillbilly.
Anvil Brother 84
SCR 14192

[warpedskydiver 0]

It is Glycerin, not not NitroGlycerin.

The supervisor you spoke with is obviously not an explosives expert or chemist.

[shropshire 0]

Going through Stanstead to Emp' last month, I take my rig as hand Luggage. We get to the x-ray and I hand the lady my Cypress x-ray card ... She says "what's this?".... I say it's what your looking at on the screen.... Oh well, she let us through and she probably learnt something.

(.)Y(.)
Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome

[nerdgirl 0]

Quote

It is Glycerin, not not NitroGlycerin.

The supervisor you spoke with is obviously not an explosives expert or chemist.

Just furthering [warpedskydiver]'s comments, it's most probable that the detector picked up a non-explosive chemical compound (a false-positive) that was had some chemical signature (e.g., similar part of structure) to that of of nitro-glyercin.

Was it one of the "puffer" style detectors, e.g., General Electric's Entry Scan or Smiths Detection's Sentinel? Both are known to have issues specifically w/glycerin-containing lotions.

False positives is a technical challenge to any detector. There should be an "orthogonal" detector, such as X-ray or human intervention to exclude false positives, which is what it sounds like was the case.

VR/Marg

Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters.
Tibetan Buddhist saying

[RB_Hammer 0]

From the USPA site:
"Flying with a rig"

Check out the 3rd paragraph.

Edited to add reference to paragraph.

"I'm not lost. I don't know where I'm going, but there's no sense in being late."
Mathew Quigley

[hobie331 0]

Quote

There is a TSA guy at PHX who jumps at Eloy. A girl pulled our rigs and called him over to check them. He swabbed them and told us that sometimes the rigs test positive also because of the fertilizers used on the grass at the dz. His comment was that the swoopers rarely DON'T set off the machine.

They did fertilize early Tuesday morning and I know she had one landing that she slid in. Hmm?

It's a gift, I don't try to explain it.