Pocketknife found on plane causes major security drama at Dallas airport

by Scott Carmichael on

The discovery of a pocket knife on an American Eagle plane at Dallas Fort Worth airport triggered an aircraft evacuation, passenger rescreening and a two hour delay.

The knife was found by a passenger between two seats, and while common sense tells us that someone probably found it in their pocket after simply forgetting to remove it, the TSA treats these incidents as a major breach of security.

Of course, the stupid knife should never have made it through the checkpoint in the first place, but items making it past the checkpoint is barely news any longer.

I fully understand asking the TSA to come pick up the knife, but to force everyone off the plane is just stupid – and reinforces the idea that they are not doing their job correctly. If the TSA had faith in what it does to protect us, they should have taken the knife, apologized to all the passengers, and let the plane depart on time.

A new day, a new airport incident — JFK Terminal 8 being evacuated

by Scott Carmichael on

This story is still developing, but terminal 8 at JFK is being evacuated. The terminal is home to American Airlines, and the reason is the same as what shut down Newark two weeks ago – a “security breach”.

As of right now, all passengers are being told to leave the building, and will need to wait outside while the TSA and PANYNJ search the facility. After that, all passengers will need to be rescreened.

As of right now, aa.com shows flight delays of up to two hours, but this could obviously become longer once the security lines start to back up.

We’ll bring you more information about the terminal evacuation, and the reason behind it as soon as we can.

UPDATE: Passengers are reporting that Terminal 8 is the only building impacted, all other JFK terminals are currently unaffected.

UPDATE 2: According to the AP, a man left the American Airlines Admirals Club through an airport employee door. It was not clear whether this door let him onto the tarmac, or back into the landside portion of JFK. Either way – it was enough of a breach to cause the evacuation.

Ideas for fixing airport security

by Aaron Hotfelder on

Last week Slate held a contest calling for the best ideas to improve airport security. Yesterday, the site announced the winning entries as chosen by a panel of security experts. Among the winners:

  • In third place, Marianne Nassef suggests prohibiting those on the No-Fly list from purchasing airline tickets. “Nothing gets denied faster than a credit card,” she says. Of course, this idea faces the “false positive” problem that has presented itself repeatedly with the No-Fly list, with children and other innocents ending up on the list. And as Slate notes, “[T]he bad guys are likely to catch on and work around the system…”
  • In second place, Neil Stelzner and Phil Nettl call for using FBI trainees at airport security, which would introduce bona fide law enforcement personnel to the airport security process.
  • In first place, Benton Love suggests what any Econ 101 student knows: Incentives matter. Under this plan, undercover federal agents would constantly test TSA agents by trying to sneak bombs and other contraband by them. Screeners would be paid a bonus for each prohibited item they detected, and docked for every similar item that passed. This would give screeners a major incentive to keep a careful watch at all times.

Slate is forwarding the winning ideas to the White House, the TSA, and Congress. More here.

TSA fails to detect gun at Montana airport – may be replaced by private firm

by Scott Carmichael on

Stories of poor TSA security screenings are not new – several days ago we wrote about a man who passed through a Milwaukee checkpoint with shotgun shells. In this “TSA screw-up of the day”, we head to Gallatin Field, serving Bozeman, Montana.

This may be a fairly small airport, but that should not be an excuse for the TSA to miss a firearm in a carry-on bag. The gun belonged to an “unidentified man”, who was honest enough to notify the cabin crew when he noticed his error. As is normally the case, the plane returned to the gate, and was delayed for over an hour while the TSA did their job (again).

Now, I understand how our constant “TSA bashing” be be getting a little boring, but this story suddenly gets really interesting. Airport director Brian Sprenger is so fed up with the government screeners, that he is seriously considering replacing them with an outside security firm.

Of course, a local union leader is “strongly opposed”, claiming for-profit security firms are a bad idea, because they’ll need to make a profit, while working with the same budget offered to the TSA. But to be honest, I don’t see how a private firm could be any worse than the government workers in place right now.

Failing to detect a gun is the kind of mistake that could cost the lives of everyone on the plane. Too much emphasis is placed on items like water bottles and false no-fly list passengers, that you sometimes get the feeling they forget to keep a close eye on the most obvious issues.

There are no immediate plans to replace the TSA at Bozeman just yet – but the airport is in the exploratory phase, which on its own should set off some alarm bells within government.

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Man forgets ammo in carry-on bag — turns himself in

by Scott Carmichael on

It is becoming obvious that the TSA isn’t asking for new technology because of smart terrorists — they need all these new machines because they are incapable of doing their job.

A passenger boarded a plane at Milwaukee General Mitchell airport, but realized he had left some shotgun shells in his bag. Being a good citizen, he reported this to the flight attendant, who informed the pilot.

The plane then returned to the gate so the passenger could turn the ammo into the local police. The man was re-screened, and allowed back on the plane.

After the failed terror attempt on Christmas day, one would expect TSA agents to be extra vigilant. The agency has been asking for more money to invest in full body scanners, and other detection equipment. But at the end of the day, even the most impressive piece of equipment in the world becomes another useless gadget when staffed by idiots.
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