Security Checks, Wheelchair Tie-Downs on Airplanes


Q. I haven’t flown in several years. What can I expect in terms of the security checks these days? Sometimes I use a power chair and sometimes a manual one. Is there any difference in terms of the security issues?
A. According to the TSA, how you are treated at security checks these days has nothing to do with your mobility device, but everything to do with your level of ability. “Passengers who can stand without a mobility aid, cane, crutches, walker, or other device for five to seven seconds with arms raised above shoulder level are eligible for advanced imaging technology screening,” says spokeswoman Sarah Horowitz. Advanced imaging is the controversial scan that produces a 3-D full-body rendering (including private parts, but without facial features) and shows any contraband in x-ray. The security agent doing the scan cannot see or otherwise identify the passenger in question.
Though four out of five Americans are fine with the new screening, a less detailed version called automated target recognition is in use at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport. As reported on CBS News, those scanners reduce the passenger’s image to a “stick figure,” but are currently not up to TSA security standards.
Travelers who opt out of an advanced imaging scan, those who are unable to walk or stand for the required duration, or who set off existing metal detectors, will be asked to undergo a pat-down. Pat-downs can be done in a secondary screening area, or a private screening can be requested at any point in the security check by the passenger, an attendant or a family member. The TSA can provide a disposable paper drape for privacy and the attendant or family member is allowed to provide assistance at any time during the process, but those who assist may have to be re-screened as a result.
As of this writing, 385 advanced imaging machines are being used at 68 airports across the United States, as well as at various transportation hubs in Canada, France, Nigeria, the Netherlands and the UK. A recent ABC News poll suggests that while one in two Americans approve of the scans, 50 percent say the pat-downs go too far in their inspection of inner thighs and chests.
In addition to a scan or pat-down, Horowitz says, all wheelchairs and mobility devices will still be “thoroughly inspected” and all removable items will be scanned by x-ray. Passengers with disabilities do not have to remove their shoes if doing so will be “detrimental to their health.” But their shoes may also be screened and inspected.

If a passenger refuses both a scan and a pat-down, they will be unable to fly in U.S. airspace. A passenger is always free to file a complaint at the airport, through the TSA contact center at 866/289-9673 or TSA-ContactCenter@dhs.gov, or through Talk to TSA. The complaint will be sent directly to the person in charge of TSA customer service at the airport in question.

Q. I can’t transfer. Is there ever an option for me to be able to stay in my wheelchair on an airplane? Has anyone come up with wheelchairs lockdowns like the ones in accessible vehicles? If not, is anyone designing such a thing for the future?
 
A. It’s highly unlikely that passengers with disabilities will ever see wheelchair tie-down spots on airplanes because of the way our right to fly collides with the FAA’s higher priority of passenger safety. The U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Regulation Code requires air carriers to provide access to airplanes for passengers with disabilities. However, FAA spokeswoman Alison Duquette outlined three serious safety concerns that prevent occupants with limited mobility from sitting in their wheelchairs onboard:
 
First, all seats on an airplane must meet FAA regulations to safely restrain passengers and minimize serious injury during an emergency landing. These include how strong the restraints and the seats themselves need to be, along with injury limits criteria. Ordinary wheelchairs cannot withstand the impact, nor protect the occupant up to FAA standards the way regular airline seats can. Plus, given the limited space on an airplane, all of the seats together act as a system that limits injury and provides enough space for quick evacuation. Someone sitting in his or her own wheelchair would not be able to benefit from the combined safety and evacuation plan of typical seating placement.
Second, regular airline passenger seats have to withstand impact forces that are 16 times that of gravity on both the seat and its occupant. They need to be very strong and very light. Airplane seats are also  designed to make sure that the forces placed on a passenger’s spine are kept within specific limits during a crash. “We believe it would be extremely difficult for a practical wheelchair to meet these demanding requirements. In addition, these requirements are far in excess of the demands placed on normal wheelchair tie-down systems,” notes Duquette. She adds that it would be hard to design a chair that would meet the needs of the user on the ground and simultaneously meet the FAA standards for an aircraft seat in the air. The battery on an electric chair would also have to be regulated to ensure it wasn’t leak prone or flammable.
Finally, even if the manufacturer were able to get a chair approved by the FAA, it would be extremely hard for the manufacturer, the airline and the FAA to make sure the wheelchair maintains flight standards over time. “For example, a wheelchair owner might damage or modify their chair in a way that compromises its crashworthiness,” says Duquette. “As a result, the FAA would have no method to ensure the continued airworthiness of each and every wheelchair that is used as a passenger seat.”

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