Anyone who has ever flown in an airplane lately has probably noticed the high level of security at modern airports. This is felt from the very beginning, as soon as you approach the airport building. You can’t park your car in the immediate vicinity of the airport terminal.
There is a solid exclusion zone in the terminal area. This is to prevent terrorists from approaching a building densely packed with people in a car packed with explosives. Before entering the airport, you may want to pay attention to the security cameras that keep a watchful eye on the surrounding area. No event that takes place in the immediate vicinity of the airport building will get past these cameras and each one will be recorded on a recording device.
Once you enter the building itself, you are met with the next step in airline security – the inspection of your luggage and yourself. You will place large bags and suitcases on special moving conveyor belts that will run your luggage through a magical device that scans the entire contents of your bags like X-rays scans a person. You will be asked to empty all the contents of your pockets and place them in a special container. You will also remove your watch, belt, headgear, and perhaps even your shoes. Relieved in this way you yourself will go through a stationary metal detector, which will detect the remains of metal products on you or your clothes. The metal detector is used by security to try to detect cold or firearms that you may be trying to sneak into the airport building or onto the plane.
Sometimes you may see a dog at entry control that is specially trained by scent to detect drugs hidden in your clothing or luggage. This is the work of the narcotics control department. In the airport building, if you lift your head and wiggle it around, you will also find an array of surveillance cameras. Security guards use them to keep a close eye on the passengers and look out for those who are not behaving quite adequately. Perhaps some of them are terrorists or potential airplane hijackers.
Exactly the same kind of screening, including a stationary metal detector and an “X-ray” machine, you will go through before boarding the plane itself and a third time at the airport of arrival. Sometimes it seems that all these measures are unnecessarily tedious. However, they are all done for you and me, to achieve the maximum level of safety during your air travel.