How Safe Are We?

[N380UA]

From Kathleen Koch. .CNN

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Fifteen flights were delayed and about a thousand passengers re-screened Tuesday morning at Louisville International Airport in Kentucky after a security screener was discovered asleep at his post. . . . .Federal Aviation Administration spokesperson Kathleen Bergen says that at 6:30 a.m. a National Guardsman noticed the screener "dozing off" at a security checkpoint.

The screener was immediately relieved of his duties, an alert went up, and all concourses were evacuated so that all passengers could be re-screened, Bergen told CNN.

One American Airlines flight with passengers already on board was also emptied and its passengers re-screened.

Bergen says airport operations were at a standstill for about an hour and 15 minutes during the incident. Re-screening was concluded by 9:30 a.m.

A spokesman for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) says the screener, an employee of Globe Aviation Security, was immediately dismissed.

The TSA is the new federal agency which Sunday assumed responsibility for security at the nation's airports.

[N380UA]

.....no wonder some pilots are calling for weapons and armed sky marshals.

[WaterMeths]

At least something positive was seen to be done about the situation ....i suppose.

[sanket_patel]

That screener is going to get it ! <img src="mad.gif" border="0">

[polzin]

Maybe on a break ?

[Rollingthunder]

You get what you pay for, train for.///bold//""emphasis::/)

Probably working two jobs.

Getting complacent.

An extension of the professionalism devoted to flying wouldn't go amiss in ground security, if you really know what I mean. (And we get to pay for it.) Yeah, I know trains transport without it.

Train incident in Egypt...360+ killed because banned cookers are routinely used on vastly over crowded trains and one exploded. Good routinely practised safety measures? I think I remember a DC-3 once declaring an emergency in the Mid-east because of pax lighting a fire in the aisle in order to cook lunch.

In this industry, there is no place for complacency or politics. Or, there shouldn't be.

I am holding my breath.

[mutt]

RollingThunder,

Not sure about a DC3, but there was a Saudia L1011 accident where over 300 people died, one of the contributing factors was believed to be a passenger with a gas cooker.

Mutt.

[N380UA]

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (AP) -- Two concourses at the New Orleans international airport were evacuated Wednesday because of a suspicious package found in a men's restroom. A bomb squad found containers of gumbo in the box.

About 1,000 travelers flying Continental and Southwest airlines were moved to other concourses and went through security checks a second time, airport spokeswoman Michelle Duffourc said.

The package was found about 4:30 p.m. and the concourses were reopened about five hours later.

Officials said the box was suspicious because it was wrapped with newspaper clippings showing long lines of passengers at the airport.

Also, bomb-sniffing dogs "smelled something they were trained to smell," said Jefferson Parish Sheriff Harry Lee. He did not elaborate.

The package's owner had not been determined.

-------------------------------------------------. .I bet that was Chief Wiggums sniffing dog that found the gumbo.