Atlanta Hartsfield "suspicious package"

[MSmith]

The main checkin at Atlanta Hartsfield airport has been closed because a security screener detected a "dangerous device" inside a bag in the X-ray machine. Screening is continuing at a smaller checkpoint. Traffic in and out of the airport appears to be moving.

 

[MSmith]

TSA says it's a "possible improvised explosive device".

Of course, the one they thought they found in NYC turned out to be a radio. We'll see.

 

[ScottM]

TSA says it's a "possible improvised explosive device".

Of course, the one they thought they found in NYC turned out to be a radio. We'll see.

Shall we take bets as to what it is?

 

[Frank Browne]

Shall we take bets as to what it is?

My money is on a practical joke. I'll bet somebody is in front of their TV laughing their a$$ off.

 

[ScottM]

My money is on a practical joke. I'll bet somebody is in front of their TV laughing their a$$ off.

I'll go with some benign electronic thingy

 

[alaskaflyer]

On some assignments I carry a handheld radio with multiple "clamshell" battery packs containing AA batteries. Post 9-11, on about one in three trips they merited "extra screening" by a supervisor. Finally the screeners seemed to get better at indentifying them because I haven't had the problem lately.

Hopefully their image didn't look like this

 

[ScottM]

On some assignments I carry a handheld radio with multiple "clamshell" battery packs containing AA batteries. Post 9-11, on about one in three trips they merited "extra screening" by a supervisor. Finally the screeners seemed to get better at indentifying them because I haven't had the problem lately.

Hopefully their image didn't look like this

Interesting that they stopped you. I have often carried a two way handheld radio through security. Sometimes it is a ham radio and other times it is an airband radio. I have never been stopped over that article. Mostly they are curious about my iPod USB cable that rolls up into a little reel.

 

[poadeleted3]

It can be tricky to interpret what you are seeing on those machines. I used to work in facilities where we x-rayed everything that came in, everybody got to go through a metal detector. Considering that what I was protecting could potentially do somewhat more damage than an airliner, I never hesitated to order a manual search of any package remotely suspicious. Experience eliminated me making my assitant hold a bunch of radios, etc up to the window for me to check out, but more than a few lunches in aluminum foil got opened We could usually see through the foil, but not always well enough to identify what was actually inside.

 

[MSmith]

They never did fully explain what happened.

Reportedly, they saw something suspicious on the X-ray screen. Then they searched all of the bags on the conveyor and couldn't find anything. So they panicked.

 

[ScottM]

They never did fully explain what happened.

Reportedly, they saw something suspicious on the X-ray screen. Then they searched all of the bags on the conveyor and couldn't find anything. So they panicked.

Here is what they said

TSA: Computer glitch led to Atlanta airport scare


Friday, April 21, 2006; Posted: 8:37 a.m. EDT (12:37 GMT)

Passengers wait outside Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport after being evacuated Wednesday.​

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- A bomb scare that led authorities to evacuate security checkpoints at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport on Wednesday was the result of a "software malfunction," Transportation Security Administration Director Kip Hawley said.
While screening carry-on luggage, a TSA employee identified the image of a suspicious device but did not realize it was part of routine testing for security screeners because the software failed to indicate such a test was under way, Hawley said.
Authorities evacuated the security area for two hours while searching for the suspicious device, causing flight delays and forcing travelers who could not get through to the terminals to wait outside the airport. (Watch what happens when the world's busiest passenger airport shuts down -- 2:30)
Willie Williams, the airport's federal security director, said the screener saw something suspicious and notified a supervisor. The two manually rechecked all the bags on the conveyor belt but could not find anything resembling what was seen on the screen, Williams said.
The information was passed on to the security director, who made the decision to ground flights and call in the Atlanta Police Department's bomb squad.
Hawley said TSA screeners are given tests around the clock to check their alertness. Images of bombs and other suspicious devices that are hard to detect are put up on the X-ray machine, followed after a brief delay by an alert that reads, "This is a test."
After reviewing a tape of the images, Hawley said the software failed to alert the screener of the test.
Hawley said all procedures were followed correctly.
The Atlanta facility was the nation's busiest passenger airport in 2005.
The airport's general manager, Ben DeCosta, said he was not satisfied with the way passengers were notified of the incident.
CNN's Rusty Dornin, Jeanne Meserve and Deanna Proeller contributed to this report.