17 Ways to Keep Safe and Secure When Flying
Here are 17 ways to keep safe and secure when flying domestic or abroad. Air travelers need to keep a sharp eye and an ever present focus on what's going on around them. Even though it has been a few years since the September 11th 2001 hijackings, the threat of terrorist actions against air travelers is still ever present. Not to mention with the hustle and bustle of a busy airport. This is a prime place to be potentially burglarized by a professional thief or criminal.1. Keep Your Photo Identification Handy.If you do not have photo identification, make sure you have two pieces of some other form of identification, one of which must be issued by a government authority. Minors are not obligated to have identification. Failure to have proper identification may result in additional security inspection and search. Some airlines may also prohibit you from boarding without proper ID. For international flights, airlines are required to collect your full name and ask you for a contact name and phone number.2. Give Yourself Some Extra Time During busy hours, or when traveling.With elderly or disabled passengers, young children or infants, give yourself more than enough time to maneuver through a busy airport or to make necessary arrangements with airport personnel.3. Do Not Park Your Vehicle and Left Unattended in Front of the Terminal.The airport parking rules are being strictly enforced and your vehicle may be very swiftly ticketed and towed. So make sure to park in well-lit, designated areas. Find a parking garage or lot you are comfortable with and is well populated.4. Know What You Have with You.Watch your bags all throughout the airport terminal, shops, and lavatories. Don't accept packages from strangers or persons who you might have a casual conversation with. Be prepared to answer questions about who packed your bags and whether you might have left them unattended at any time. Focus carefully and answer honestly-previous history has shown terrorists and criminals use unaware passengers to carry bombs or other dangerous devices on board an aircraft, either by deceiving passengers into carrying packages or by slipping items into
unprotected bags. If you're unsure, make it known to airport security personnel.5. Beware of Unattended Packages.If you see an unattended package, bag or piece of luggage in the terminal, report it to the airport security staff or other airport personnel immediately.6. Don't Fool Around.Don't joke about having a bomb, firearm or weapon with you. Security personnel are trained to react when they hear these words. Punishment can be harsh and can include the possibility of time in prison and/or large penalties and fines.7. Anticipate Having Your Bag and Luggage Searched.Both carry-on and checked bags are subject to being hand-searched, especially when airline security personnel cannot determine by X-ray machines the contents of one. Keep gifts unwrapped until after you arrive at your destination.
Airline security personnel will open it if X-ray machines are unable to identify the contents.8. Leave Behind Firearms and Hazardous Products at Home.Many hazardous products are not allowed on aircraft. Don't pack or carry firearms, fireworks, flammable materials, household cleaners, or pressurized containers. Violations of hazardous materials regulations can have harsh civil penalties, as well as possible national legal action taken against you.9. Be Aware of Your Surroundings.When you are in an airport terminal or on an aircraft, take notice of your surroundings, and those around you. Especially, if activities or situations don't appear to be of the norm.10. Report Strange or Odd Activity.If you see anything in the airport or on an aircraft that looks out of place, unfitting and unusual behavior or potential security violations, inform either a law enforcement representative or security personnel.11. Have No Bias About the Who May Pose a Threat.If someone is intent on perpetrating violent acts against the air transport system, that person can be of any gender, age, or nationality. You should not presume any specific type of person is likely to do damage based on outward appearances.12. Keep Away from Suspicious Circumstances.If you are exposed to a potential risk in the airport, move away from the situation before contacting someone in authority. If necessary, inform others in the vicinity. Examples of these are; unaccompanied packages, suspicious behavior, or an unusual disturbance.13. Leave Your Seat Belt Fastened While in Flight.When you are seated, keep your safety belt securely fastened through your flight will provide extra protection if the plane is in unexpected turbulence.14. Focus on What the Flight Attendants Are Saying.The number one reason flight attendants are on an aircraft is for safety, so if there is any kind of emergency or potential crisis situation, look to the flight attendants for help and assistance.15. Remember the Basic Rules for Wireless Devices.In the U.S., cell phones, pagers, and other wireless communications devices may be used until the passenger entry doors are closed prior to takeoff. Do not use these devices for routine communications until the passenger doors are opened at the end of the flight. Rules vary around the world, so check with your airline.16. Emergency Use of a Wireless Device.In the event of an in-flight emergency, you should take stock of the situation before using any communications device, including the aircraft's seatback telephones. If a situation calls for it, use your cell phone or other personal to contact help. In the U.S., a helpful number to call is the FBI at 1-866-483-5137. If you are a flight attendant or other airline employee, contact an appropriate office or department of the airline.17. Work Together.If circumstances on an aircraft have the potential for danger, it is usually better to share information and work together with crew members and other passengers.By taking the necessary precautions when you fly, you can travel with a piece-of-mind and have your security on 'high alert' and ready for anything.Michelle Annese is a 3rd degree black belt with 15+ years experience teaching self defense and safety for women and children. She is a World Martial Arts Hall of Fame inductee for Achievement and creator of The Realtor Survival Guide, Protection for Women, and The SafeGuard System for Kids. For more information on how to protect yourself and your family go to http://www.michelleannese.com to get her free weekly safety tips e-newsletter.
Static Electricity to Flap UAV Material Memory Wings
How can we keep aircraft and UAVs aloft longer and conserve fuel? How can we have a small MAV or UAV remain airborne for hours on end? Perhaps we should design a unit, which flies like a bird but uses the energy, which is all around us to do so. Electromagnetic Energy is everywhere. Can we design a light-weight vehicle which floats about and flaps every so often to remain airborne? Well as technology gets better with polymer muscles and built in material memory; where the substance is manufactured to keep its original shape like the toy; "Stretch Armstrong."When an aircraft flies through the air it trades electrons due to the friction it creates. Rub your feet along the carpet sometime and notice you get a shock when you touch something. Not much, but enough energy to use to force a polymer muscle to contract. Then it immediately wishes to go back to its normal shape. By using the static electricity from the wings traveling through the air it maybe possible to use the energy to provide an Electromagnetic Pulse moving Material Memory Wings on a UAV? This means it will Flap along and take some of the energy it used to fly through the air and re-use that same energy to flap its wings to remain airborne. All birds have very strong muscles, which flap their wings, we can make such a muscle out of polymer to do the same thing and then find the already known best ratio of flapping to airspeed and design this into the zapping propulsion system that we created. Think on this, because you will not be alone in those thoughts."Lance Winslow" - If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs
Getting Cheap Airfares
Airlines offer tickets at a fraction of the cost you buy tickets. These offers are given to wholesalers and agencies that bring good business to them. If you can trace out these wholesalers and agencies, you may get cheap airfares from them. These are seasonal and vary from time to time. You cannot expect the same price all the time. It could be cheaper or slightly higher than what you bought the previous time. Moreover, prices vary with the destination for which you are buying the tickets.Easy route to cheap airfaresMany websites offer cheap airfares for their members. You have to find these websites and become a member of these sites so that you can avail of the cheap airline tickets. Websites like http://www.affordabletravel.org frequently give cheap airline tickets to their members. It is said that you can even save more than 50% of the airfares on certain destinations. You have to periodically check the offers on these sites before you decide to book your tickets with the airlines. Apart from the memberships, they also offer companion memberships to the people who register on certain periods.Discount airfare for roundtripsSome of the airlines offer discount airfare for roundtrips that you take. Since you are traveling widely and on different routes, they could offer these discount rates to you. During roundtrips, you may choose a single airline if they provide the service through that route or you can take different airlines for different routes so that you arrive at cumulative cheap airfares.Finding the cheapest airfare between two destinationsYou may even wonder how to find out the cheapest airfares between any two destinations that you would like to travel. There are sites that provide you with the facilities to locate that. For example, a website http://www.lowestfare.com provides you with the search facility to find the lowest airfare between any two destinations. All you have to do is to key in the places from which you would like to travel and the destination to which you would like to travel. Data like the date of travel and date of return are also taken in to considerations. The web application in this site searches the database and provides you with the cheapest airfare and the airline, which provides that.Other services you get while you book air ticketsSome of the other services you get while booking your airline ticket is the option to reserve your hotel room, car, and cruise. Most of the websites provide you with these features also. The website www.cheaptickets.com can provide you with these features.For more information, visit these sites: http://www.CheapAirTicketsInfoCenter.com