Next stop was going through the security checkpoint. At Pittsburgh airport, there's one security checkpoint, and then you get on little trains to take you to the main terminals. I was scheduled to go to gate D86. When going through this part, you have to take all electronics and keys off yur person and put them through the X-rays. All laptop computers must come out of bags. I have my laptop with me and my bassoon. So, I take the laptop out of the bag, juggle the bag, the bassoon, the computer, my water bottle, my ticket, and my photo ID. After going through the metal scanner thing, I've been selected as another "random" check. So I get all my stuff over to a table, put the computer back in the bag, take off my jacket, and get the metal wand treatment and a pat-down.
After that I get to the gate (shlepping all the way at D86), I sit down basking in being to the gate early so I can get on the plane early so I can put my bassoon in the overhead bin. (when I travel with the instrument, I fear the day all the overheads are full and They Say that the bassoon must be checked). "Would passangers mumble, mumble, Dalrymple, mumble, and mumble please come to the ticket counter". Turns out I'm another "random" for searching (I'm three for three now).
This time each Willing Participant gets taken behind a nice little screen to have their luggage pawed through. Luckily the older gentleman who was my Handler had me do the instrument, lest he break something. By the time I was done (and another metal wand scan), everyone but the Chosen were already on the plane. Luckily the average american is still frightened out of their skulls so there was room in the overhead bin for the bassoon.
Got to St Louis in one piece - nobody tried to hijack the plane with a smuggled-on spork. One last hurdle befre I board the plane to Omaha (which of course was two concourses away from where the Pittsburgh fliht landed) - will I make it 4 for 4 in the "random" department? Luckily I managed to Elude The Authorities this time, and arrived in Omaha, and had a nice reunion with the folks.
In some sense, having a lot of random checks should be able to catch the Bad Guys before they Spork someone, but if their random number generator is that bad, it's probably really annoying some folks, and leaving a large percentage of folks getting by without scrutiny.