Airport Security

In the flood of 9/11 retrospectives this week, some are taking a close look at whether we have appropriately balanced our heightened security concerns with the principles of liberty on which our nation was founded. To this, I will add this note on airport security outside of the U.S. Authorities in India (no strangers to terrorist attacks themselves) have prohibited boarding an aircraft with firearms, hazardous chemicals, explosives, radioactive materials, "miscellaneous dangerous goods" (which apparently includes knives and cleavers), and coconuts.

Why all airports haven't taken this prudent step, I cannot say. However, I cannot rule out the possibility that it is only due to their thoroughness that none of the flight crew on our flights in South Asia were subdued by blows to the head with a coconut, nor were any innocent bystanders injured by the unpredictable effects of a coconut responding to changes in cabin pressure or flying across the plane during turbulence.

We're sure there's a reasonable explanation, but also sure we can't say what it is. Google searches for various combinations of words like "airport", "security", "India," and "coconut" proved fruitless. Do let us know in the comments if you have any insight.