How to detect a secret weapon at Shannon

KIRSTEN Foy (Irish Examiner letters, Sept 8) is right. All air traffic passing through Shannon should be tracked by satellite and the gross weight of the aircraft estimated against the combined avoirdupois of each passenger, plus aviation fuel, baggage, food, drink and the deadweight of the aircraft.

Then it should be possible to determine, within strict legal parameters, the credibility or otherwise of the declared manifest to see if the passengers are hiding contraband or ballistic missiles in their hand luggage.

I’m quietly confident that the American carriers will be found to be every bit as truthful as Aeroflot when it ran its daily shuttles from the Barents Sea to Cuba via Shannon, stopping only to admire the scenery along our western seaboard and topping up their personal aviation fuel in Durty Nellys or Dromoland Castle.