Glitch Caused Atlanta Airport Shutdown
The Associated Press
Thursday, April 20, 2006; 1:08 PM
ATLANTA -- A bomb scare that shut down security checkpoints for two hours at the world's busiest airport was the result of a computer software glitch, the nation's top security administrator said Thursday.
Transportation Security Administration Director Kip Hawley said a screener at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport spotted what looked like an explosive Wednesday on an X-ray machine.
She pressed a button that should have signaled a routine security test was being conducted but it failed to respond, Hawley said. The screener notified her supervisor of the suspicious image on the X-ray machine monitor.
Officials then closed security checkpoints for two hours. By the time checkpoints reopened, no planes had departed for more than an hour and all arrivals were delayed by at least 90 minutes. At least 120 flights were affected, officials said.
Hawley apologized for the delays but said he was pleased with the performance of the TSA screeners in Atlanta.
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.
A day after Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport shut down for several hours, the head of the TSA says the entire problem was a computer glitch.
The security incident grounded 120 flights while thousands of passengers waited for hours before receiving the all clear.
“What we’ve learned today, is that the screener did her job, but the screening system did not,” said TSA Director Kip Hawley.
TSA employees are trained to spot explosive devices, and that training never ends. A computer system projects images of bombs into random bags, and it’s up to the screener to catch them.
On Wednesday, the screener saw a bomb in a bag, but the system failed to tell her it was just an image.
Hawley had already planned to visit Hartsfield on Thursday, but he arrived just in time to answer questions about Wednesday’s shutdown.
“There was an image of a bomb that is used for testing purposes that was projected on the screen. The TSA properly ID'd it as a threat object, pressed the button to see if it was a test. There was a software malfunction,” said Hawley.
The software should have told the employee that they correctly identified the image and that it was only a test. But there was no message. So the screener called her supervisor.
All the bags were checked. No bomb was found. But they still didn't know it was a software malfunction. Not until they poured through hundreds of images of bombs on the computerized system.
“It was during the overnight audit of all the library, that we have that this one was identified,” Hawley said.
Hawley and airport manager Ben DeCosta also answered complaints passengers weren’t told anything for almost two hours.
Both said this incident hightlighted that airport officials need to do a better job of letting passengers know what is going on during security incidents.
Delta: Ga. airport security glitch costly
By HARRY R. WEBER, AP BUSINESS WRITER
Published: Apr 21, 2006
ATLANTA (AP) - Delta Air Lines Inc., which is operating under bankruptcy protection, said Friday a computer software glitch at a security checkpoint at the world's busiest airport cost it more than $1.3 million.
The revelation about Wednesday's disruption at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport came in a letter from Joe Kolshak, Delta's executive vice president and chief of operations, to Transportation Security Administration Director Kip Hawley.
"These costs are not insignificant for an airline that is fighting for its survival," Kolshak wrote.
Hawley told reporters Thursday that the scare that shut down security checkpoints for two hours was the result of a computer glitch in testing software. He said an airport screener spotted what looked like an explosive on an X-ray machine. She pressed a button that should have signaled a routine security test was being conducted, but it failed to respond, Hawley said.
By the time checkpoints reopened, no planes had departed for more than an hour and all arrivals were delayed by at least 90 minutes. The shutdown came at peak travel time and at least 120 flights were affected.
Kolshak said in his letter to Hawley that more than 7,000 Delta customers were affected by flight cancelations, diversions and delays.
"We believe that a breakdown in the testing process as well as communications caused an undue burden on passengers and on this airline, and could have been avoided," Kolshak wrote.
In a meeting with reporters at the airport Thursday, Hawley apologized for the delays that affected passengers. But he said he is pleased with the performance of the TSA screeners in Atlanta. The screener acted properly in what should have been a routine drill, he said.
Delta, the nation's No. 3 carrier, has lost more than $12.8 billion since January 2001. The Atlanta-based company filed for bankruptcy protection in New York on Sept. 14.
