STORM2K

Lots of people evacuated, though parts of the airport are still open.

http://www.wsbtv.com/news/8828782/detail.html

The security checkpoints have been shut down at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson Airport after a "suspicious device" was detected in a screening machine.

The airport remains open while an airport explosive detection unit is being called in, airport spokeswoman Felicia Browder said. She said Transportation Security Administration workers detected the suspicious item inside a bag just before 2 p.m.

According to Tad Hutcheson with Airtran, both the main security checkpoint and the T gate checkpoint are presently closed.

Passengers connecting through Atlanta are not being affected. Flight operations are continuing normally.

However, the entire North Terminal is packed with local passengers who have not been able to go through security.

MARTA officials say they have suspended southbound operations on the North-South line south of College Park to help cut some of the crowds going to the airport. MARTA says that empty trains are being made available so that people at Hartsfield can leave the airport and go back into the city.

Hutcheson says that he anticipates that the situation won't be resoved for at least two hours.

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport holds the title of the nation's busiest airport in number of takeoffs and landings, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. It wasn't immediately clear what impact the checkpoint shutdown would have on flights.

http://www.11alive.com/news/news_articl ... ryid=78802

While still stupid, at least they deviated from the old default security measure of "We don't know what's going on, so evacuate the airport!".

i know they have a job to do, but i'm not sure many of them are adequately trained. on a recent trip out west, i had my jewelry in my carry on and one piece is a rather large squash blossom necklace. it had one heckuva impact on the TSA folks 'cause they couldnt get my bag open fast enough. they said, what do you have in there, and I said, a squash blossom, and they looked at me like I was from outer space.

News conference at 4pm EDT

I dont get it. They're trying to get all of the people out of the airport. All the roads to the airport are closed. The trains arent running and they say the airport is still open?????

They are about to begin allowing 100 incoming flights waiting to land to start landing as space permits.

and have you seen the radar there? there are severe thunderstorm warnings and it's about to rock n roll in that area. i would NOT want to be in a holding pattern with that stuff coming in.

alicia-w wrote:and have you seen the radar there? there are severe thunderstorm warnings and it's about to rock n roll in that area. i would NOT want to be in a holding pattern with that stuff coming in.

Yeah... it's thundering here too(I'm near the GA border).

People are being let back into the terminal now.

wonder how much the wx has to do with that.

It's gonna be a bad evening in ATL, thanks to incompetent TSA screeners.

and now they say they cant find the package....

I think they will always find abandoned packages. Some will be pranks. The only thing they can do is evacuate till they find out what is inside. Maybe they will come up with a new and better system to check out packages earlier of their contents as not to have to evacuate everyone.

Don't you ever wish that they would be more specific on what the package is/looks like or what is inside it that they found?

Sorry if this is a dumb question.

Janice wrote:I think they will always find abandoned packages. Some will be pranks. The only thing they can do is evacuate till they find out what is inside. Maybe they will come up with a new and better system to check out packages earlier of their contents as not to have to evacuate everyone.

It wasnt abandoned, it went through the XRay and the TSA rep found it to be suspicious. After it came out, they lost track of it....

Oh, now the truth comes out....there wasnt a package at all:

A software "glitch" caused a massive security shutdown at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport on Wednesday, a TSA official announced.

TSA Administrator Kip Hawley told reporters Thursday that the screening system at the airport sends random test images of bombs. When the system works correctly, the screeners are immediately notified that they saw a test image.

The message did not come across to a screener on Wednesday who noticed a suspicious image on the monitor of her x-ray machine. A "ground halt" of all flights was ordered to allow security officials time to determine if the item in question was dangerous.

The incident delayed more than 120 outgoing flights, and caused a backup of thousands of passengers at the airport.

http://www.11alive.com/news/news_articl ... ryid=78842

Morons. This is exactly why the airport shouldn't be shut down and evacuated just because a "suspicious" package may or may not have come through security.

Oops ...

Wonder how much that "oops" cost Delta.

HurryKane wrote:Wonder how much that "oops" cost Delta.