For what it's worth, here is a letter dated 12/5/08 to the New Zealand Herald which appears in today's Private Eye:
Sir, My brother-in-law went through security at Auckland domestic airport, and witnessed a passenger having to fish out her nail scissors from her handbag and leave them behind. He passed through security, then boarded his plane.
After being seated he realised that he could smell petrol. He knew that he shouldn’t be able to smell petrol on a plane, because planes don’t use petrol. The smell got worse, and eventually he attracted the attention of one of the flight attendants, who started to look around to see where it was coming from. After a short search of the overhead compartments, the attendant found a chainsaw in a bag that was leaking petrol into the compartment.
The plane was delayed while the owner was identified, and the chainsaw was removed and put with the main luggage. The owner of the chainsaw said security had stopped him and asked him about it, but had let it through because it wasn’t one of the things on their list to confiscate.
S