Air Travel with a Wheelchair can be Unwise

In the early 2000s, I traveled from Arkansas to the state of Washington hoping to get a needed back surgery at the VA Hospital there (I never got the surgery they said it would cost too much). When it came time to go through security they must have thought I was particularly dangerous as both my aide and myself were thoroughly searched. They ended up half-dismantling my wheelchair with me still sitting in it, of course finding nothing. To this day my wheelchair is still held together with straps as no one ever fixed it, VA included.