This morning's newswire story of the 16-year old boy arrested in an alleged hijacking plot raises a number of questions for the TSA. Never mind the reports (later dismissed by the FBI) about the teen wanting to crash the plane into a Hanna Montana concert. Or the more serious allegation that he had a mock cockpit set up in his California home. With TSA not returning calls, my question remains: how did the passenger get through TSA's 19 layers of security with handcuffs, rope and duct tape in his bag? 

I checked the TSA's list of prohibited items and was surprised to discover that handcuffs are mysteriously absent. In its six years of service, the TSA has changed its rule set on what you can and can not bring on an airplane a total of 25 times. Next up, rule change #26.

Here's a sampling of what you can't bring on an airplane — as of today:

Box cutters: No

Ice Axes/Ice Picks: No

Meat Cleavers: No

Sabers: No

Swords: No 

Ski poles: No

Spear Guns: No

Firearms: No

Realistic replicas of firearms: No 

Gun powder: No 

Axes and Hatchets: No

Cattle Prods: No

Drills and drill bits: No

Saws (including cordless, portable power saws): No

Stun guns/Shocking Devices: No

Flares (in any form): No. 

Dynamite: No

Hand Grenades: No

Plastic Explosives: No

Gasoline: No

Gas torches: No

Tear Gas: No

Beverages larger than 3 oz: No 

Snow globes: No

How soon will handcuffs, rope and duct tape be added to this list?  

Anyone with further information on this flight, I can be reached at: Annie@TheAviationNation.com. 

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