My latest travels through SFO redirected me through GE’s EntryScan explosives detector as part of the pre-flight security screening. I don’t know if there is any selection criteria for folks to go through this test, and I’m pretty sure it was because the operator was bored as there were virtually no people going through screening at the time. In any event, I had to walk through it.
The machine at SFO is an earlier model, and is essentially a purple and grey arch with a little “walk/don’t walk” sign on the entrance and inside the machine. You step into the arch-both the entrance and exit are open throughout the process-the “walk” sign changes to “don’t walk” (kinda like a car wash), and you’re hit by a punch of puffs of compressed air which are sucked up by a number of ports within the arch. The working theory is that the compressed air will dislodge particulate matter from your clothes and/or body, and will be hoovered up for analysis. If there are compounds used in explosives, the operator will be alerted and the cavity searches will begin.
If you don’t have any bad mojo the little sign changes to “walk” after about 10 seconds and you’re done. I was wondering if the nextGen version would add automatic tasing on a positive result. Something to think about, I guess. 🙂