Airport Baggage Scanning

HAZARD TO FILM

Airport authorities around the world, including a couple of terminals at Heathrow Airport in London, have been installing new, more powerful anti-terrorist baggage scanners. These devices randomly scan baggage intended for aircraft holds for explosive devices and the like.

It would not be evident to the passenger, who is checking in their baggage that it would be subjected to these new scanners. These machines are mainly manufactured by a California based company called Invisiontech and are typically CTX5000’s. Invisiontech has been very helpful and acknowledged that, WHILE SCANNING IS SAFE FOR TAPE, IT WILL TOTALLY “WIPE” MOST FILM, whether domestic camera or film industry format. Apparently, the scanner takes various 360 degree sliced pictures of the complete item. Invisiontech has been forbidden by the FAA to release the names and locations of the airports currently using these scanners.

Therefore, we are urging all of our production companies to make complete inquiries at all airports as to the use of these scanners before checking any baggage that may contain film, and to take the following precautions:

• Pack and carry film separately
• Explain the situation to the respective airline representative and recruit their assistance
• Ensure that the film is CHECK ONLY AS HAND BAGGAGE, and where necessary have the film checked through the hand baggage scanners where these are known to be safe for film
• Where required by the airline perhaps because of bulk or weight of the film it is necessary to place the film in the aircraft hold, make sure that the airline checks the baggage containing any film through the HAND BAGGAGE SCAN ONLY. Then, by special arrangement, you should personally deliver the film through the checkout and hand baggage scan and entrust it to the airline representative to deliver to the hold, thus bypassing the high powered scanner.

We strongly recommend that you follow the above procedures to avoid having any serious coverage implications on your negative film insurance.

We understand that Invisiontech is working on a new model, sufficiently powerful for its primary purpose and safe for film. However, this could take sometime, and by then many airports could have the earlier version installed and may not immediately upgrade to the new version.

The foregoing, if as actual and widespread as would appear, does have serious implications for the safety of film in transit. There is also the further question of “What about film sent by air courier as unaccompanied freight?” “How does one guard against such consignments being exposed to such scanners?” We suggest that you contact your courier or air freight service to inquire if there are any precautions they can take on your behalf.

There is a possibility that Kodak is currently working on formal industry guidelines for the safe carriage of film. However, this may not be achieved for some time, and we want all producers to be aware of these hazardous circumstances and take the necessary steps to protect their film.