Merged: Chaos at Perth Airport - All flights Grounded
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Merged: Chaos at Perth Airport - All flights Grounded
Suspicious package at Perth airport
May 4, 2008 - 5:55AM
Police have evacuated the Perth International Airport building and flights have been diverted after a suspicious package was found on a Malaysian Airlines flight.
Perth's Sunday Times newspaper says all outgoing flights are indefinitely delayed, and Air New Zealand and Emirates flights remain on the tarmac.
Police said all the last incoming international flights - Singapore Airlines, Qantas and Emirates - have landed safely at the domestic airport.
Police spokesman Neil Stanbury told the paper the evacuation began at about 6 pm (WST) on Saturday night after suspicious luggage from incoming Flight 125 was discovered.
The Malaysian Airlines plane landed at 3 pm and was due to leave for Kuala Lumpur as Flight 124 at 4.30 pm. Police had blocked all entrances to the airport and cars were backed up for several hundred metres on Horrie Miller Drive.
Hundreds of people were still arriving at the airport at 11 pm for late night flights but were unable to enter the airport as planes remained grounded.
Assistant Commissioner John McRoberts said a package, which was among unaccompanied freight on a Malaysian Airlines flight, was found on the bitumen underneath an aircraft.
Bomb squad technicians would move it to a safe place where it could be x-rayed, and the process was likely to take some time, he said.
Commissioner McRoberts said it was likely to be the biggest scale operation at the airport that he was aware of.
Perth Domestic Airport remains fully operational.
© 2008 AAP]
May 4, 2008 - 5:55AM
Police have evacuated the Perth International Airport building and flights have been diverted after a suspicious package was found on a Malaysian Airlines flight.
Perth's Sunday Times newspaper says all outgoing flights are indefinitely delayed, and Air New Zealand and Emirates flights remain on the tarmac.
Police said all the last incoming international flights - Singapore Airlines, Qantas and Emirates - have landed safely at the domestic airport.
Police spokesman Neil Stanbury told the paper the evacuation began at about 6 pm (WST) on Saturday night after suspicious luggage from incoming Flight 125 was discovered.
The Malaysian Airlines plane landed at 3 pm and was due to leave for Kuala Lumpur as Flight 124 at 4.30 pm. Police had blocked all entrances to the airport and cars were backed up for several hundred metres on Horrie Miller Drive.
Hundreds of people were still arriving at the airport at 11 pm for late night flights but were unable to enter the airport as planes remained grounded.
Assistant Commissioner John McRoberts said a package, which was among unaccompanied freight on a Malaysian Airlines flight, was found on the bitumen underneath an aircraft.
Bomb squad technicians would move it to a safe place where it could be x-rayed, and the process was likely to take some time, he said.
Commissioner McRoberts said it was likely to be the biggest scale operation at the airport that he was aware of.
Perth Domestic Airport remains fully operational.
© 2008 AAP]
Anyone there or know anything else?
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After 12 hours of chaos - "a harmless package".
Why would it take appropriately trained and equipped specialists 12 hours of disruption to arrive at this result?
Would love to be at the debrief.
Why would it take appropriately trained and equipped specialists 12 hours of disruption to arrive at this result?
Would love to be at the debrief.
I still get a laugh out of this security non sense.
At Darwin a few years ago, it was after 9/11, a F/A reported a box that was sitting on the apron area near a gate, airside. Sensible course of action I guess.
It did fit the description of a suspicious article.
She reported it to the "Protective Services" person parading around the apron with his BIG GUN in its holster, ready for action.
His action was to walk over the box and kick it to see if any thing was inside. Laugh, I laughed so hard I almost S^&t myself.
At Darwin a few years ago, it was after 9/11, a F/A reported a box that was sitting on the apron area near a gate, airside. Sensible course of action I guess.
It did fit the description of a suspicious article.
She reported it to the "Protective Services" person parading around the apron with his BIG GUN in its holster, ready for action.
His action was to walk over the box and kick it to see if any thing was inside. Laugh, I laughed so hard I almost S^&t myself.
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which was among unaccompanied freight on a Malaysian Airlines flight, was found on the bitumen underneath an aircraft
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Fallen off a baggage trolley
More like another knee jerk reaction. What does a suspect package look like anyway
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Yep, I guess I walked into that one 
I've done my time as a rampie, and on almost every flight, I would unload some freight/baggage and for one reason or another put it on the tarmac so it can be placed on top of everything when the aircraft had finished being unloaded. On more then one occasion, I must admit to having forgot about it and left it there. It is amazing how an honest human mistake can shut down an International airport for 12 hours.
I've done my time as a rampie, and on almost every flight, I would unload some freight/baggage and for one reason or another put it on the tarmac so it can be placed on top of everything when the aircraft had finished being unloaded. On more then one occasion, I must admit to having forgot about it and left it there. It is amazing how an honest human mistake can shut down an International airport for 12 hours.
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It is amazing how an honest human mistake can shut down an International airport for 12 hours.
There's something I'm missing though, 'cause i can't understand why it would take took 12 hours to clear a fairly regular occurrence.
Bottums Up
We may well laugh about it but we're now so scared of our own shadows that ridiculous amounts of money are being burned, trying to provide illumination. When the next economic downturn comes, the industry won't be able to support the inordinate costs, and guess who'll pay the price??
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Monopole's question is very valid. What does make a package or bag suspicious? Is it the fact that everything unattended in an aviation environment is considered suspicious that results in these knee jerk reactions?
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Suspicious package industry publicity stunt?
The Onion News Network reports that the suspicious package industry has been doing it hard in recent times when everything, not just packages, has become suspicious. Suspicious package retailers are wondering if they have a future in the post-9/11 world. It quotes Paul Townsend, whose store, All Things Unattended, in Albany, New York, has found that people window-shop but they don't come in any more and buy.
Video report here.
If there are more occasions where Australian Federal Police spend 12 hours admiring a suspicious package, lots more people might be tempted to buy a suspicious package of their own.
Can the suspicious package industry be revived? Or is it, as the report suggests, the end of an era?
Video report here.
If there are more occasions where Australian Federal Police spend 12 hours admiring a suspicious package, lots more people might be tempted to buy a suspicious package of their own.
Can the suspicious package industry be revived? Or is it, as the report suggests, the end of an era?
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Flower Power!
Is it just me ,or do others think that the 12 hour closure of Perth Airport because someone cant tell the difference between a box of artificial Flowers and a Bomb seems a bit strange. Could this be an empowering Industrial Relations Ploy ....if so the Baggies have now got a Powerful IR Weapon . 12 hours...I mean Cmon Guys ..
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Alton
stunt, dropped catch or deliberate action - does it really matter except in post rationale - and if one is around for the debrief then it 's a good day!
Reality is that no self respecting (?) terrorist would probably be bothered to waste time and effort with all the random inconsistent airline security stuff when there are perfectly good petrol tankers unloading thousands of litres of fuel with the keys in the ignition while the only scrutiny being the solo driver while he gets a 7/11 hotdog and coffee and has a pee........(9/11 vs 7/11? ............nostradamis followers feel free to jump in)
That said we are now in a place where there is no middle ground or what may be regarded as commonsense rationale - so now doubt there will be more of these incidents to come.......perhaps therefore it may be a good idea to not ask or even contemplate "where will it all end"
shares in sus packages closed lower today
stunt, dropped catch or deliberate action - does it really matter except in post rationale - and if one is around for the debrief then it 's a good day!
Reality is that no self respecting (?) terrorist would probably be bothered to waste time and effort with all the random inconsistent airline security stuff when there are perfectly good petrol tankers unloading thousands of litres of fuel with the keys in the ignition while the only scrutiny being the solo driver while he gets a 7/11 hotdog and coffee and has a pee........(9/11 vs 7/11? ............nostradamis followers feel free to jump in)
That said we are now in a place where there is no middle ground or what may be regarded as commonsense rationale - so now doubt there will be more of these incidents to come.......perhaps therefore it may be a good idea to not ask or even contemplate "where will it all end"
shares in sus packages closed lower today
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I bet there's been zillions of these so called 'sus' packages left lying about an airport over the years for a variety of reasons, probably most have just been put there innocously by someone & nobody took any notice. Why did this/these packages create such a huge kafuffle? Beacuse they where left unattended OUT IN THE OPEN for all to see! Had these same packages been dropped off, placed upon the ground or been shaken up by some 'baggy' thinking it might be worth something in an area that wasn't for all to see we wouldn't even be having this conversation !
Madness at it's worst!
The threat of terror is alive & well & WE are creating it !
CW
Madness at it's worst!
The threat of terror is alive & well & WE are creating it !
CW
Last edited by Capt Wally; 4th May 2008 at 22:07.
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If it was just airfreight dropped off the baggage cart then surely a quick external examination of the baggage tag or con note would have verified that it was indeed off the aircraft concerned.
I wonder if a few people with security agendas seized this event as an opportunity to justify their otherwise boring existence?
I wonder if a few people with security agendas seized this event as an opportunity to justify their otherwise boring existence?
Bottums Up
Had a suspicious article, a brief case in fact, left on a seat durig a transit stop a few years ago.
What's suspicious about a brief case I hear some one ask?
The Welcome to PA advised pax to take personal belongings and not to leave anything on the seat, or in the seat pocket. The case was on a seat that was unoccupied. There was no name tag on the case, and, a wire, or part of a spring could be seen at one of the two combination locks.
Interestingly the Ground Ops folks wanted us the carry it into the terminal and they'd search for the owner.
The AFP blokes asked us to leave the aeroplane, grabbed their portable x-ray equipment, x-rayed the bag in situ, and we were under way with only a 12 minute delay.
Our security blokes musta been 60 times more efficient that the ones in Perth, 'ey?
What's suspicious about a brief case I hear some one ask?
The Welcome to PA advised pax to take personal belongings and not to leave anything on the seat, or in the seat pocket. The case was on a seat that was unoccupied. There was no name tag on the case, and, a wire, or part of a spring could be seen at one of the two combination locks.
Interestingly the Ground Ops folks wanted us the carry it into the terminal and they'd search for the owner.
The AFP blokes asked us to leave the aeroplane, grabbed their portable x-ray equipment, x-rayed the bag in situ, and we were under way with only a 12 minute delay.
Our security blokes musta been 60 times more efficient that the ones in Perth, 'ey?