September 29, 1971 - Miami, Florida: decked out in hot pants, Denise Vickary, an airline stewardess instructor, tried to fool a new hijacker device called the Mark III Friskem by putting a knife in her pants.
The device, a magnetometer, measures disturbances in the Earth's magnetic field. The disturbances are created by a large piece of metal like a weapon. If the field is disturbed, a light flashes on a small screen. The device is set to differentiate between size and mass so that a passenger with a wrist watch or small pocket knife could pass through and board the aircraft, but the device will detect a weapon or large knife. This device is now being used by Eastern in Miami is now more sensitive than previous devices used by the airlines.
From Skyjacked.
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