"They take X-ray images on the front, back and sides—about 10 X-rays per below-the-knee prosthetic, more if your prosthesis has a mechanical knee. After these X-rays pass inspection, you're free to fly."http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/aviation/safety/the-problem-with-prosthetics-and-airport-securityThis is where the process slows down. Swabs are taken immediately in and around all prosthetics to detect for bomb-making material. Then you wait. The next step is to go under the CastScope...
Once the operator is found, you go under the machine,
prosthetic limbs still on. They take X-ray images on the front, back and sides—about 10 X-rays per below-the-knee prosthetic, more if your prosthesis has a mechanical knee. After these X-rays pass inspection, you're free to fly.
For Jeffrey J. Cain, the chief of family medicine at the Children's Hospital in Denver, Colo., and a below-the-knee double amputee, this is a typical encounter with airport security, by the book. The problem? It rarely goes down like this. "There's such variability in screening people with prosthetics," Cain says. Sometimes an amputee gets a pat-down after the backscatter scan (which isn't required); sometimes he or she is asked to remove a limb; and always, Cain says, there is confusion: "It's like being pulled over by the policeman—there's only one correct answer, and it's not that of the police department; it's that of the person in front of you."
"I'm sick of taking six X-rays and then having to explain what they're seeing," Chenowith says. "There's an issue with these high-tech prosthetics. Obviously, I'm wearing a high-tech device and I need to be screened—but authorities need to keep up on the technology. I can understand
prototype devices, but the Proprio foot has been on the market a while."
The TSA couldn't be reached for comment
The Amputee Coalition of America survey found:
"75 percent of respondents said they were unsatisfied with their most recent TSA experience."
TSA says of Cast Scope:
Q: How much radiation exposure is produced from 1 scan of the CastScope? Is it safe?
A: One scan is equivalent to approximately 10 microRem of radiation. This is equivalent to the exposure each person receives in about two minutes of airplane flight at altitude or each person receives every 15 minutes from naturally occurring background radiation.
The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) developed a standard for X-raying human subjects for security purposes using back-scatter X-ray technology. The National Council on Radiation Protection (NCRP) states that a person receiving 1000 microRem (100 scans) per year is still considered a negligible individual dose. In addition, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and NCRP have advised that the CastScope is safe to use on anyone ages 5 and up regardless of gender or any medical condition.
http://www.tsa.gov/approach/tech/castscope.shtm
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