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Midway glitch hit 2 other airports 

November 17, 2004

BY MARK J. KONKOL Transportation Reporter Advertisement

The same computer glitch that prompted Midway Airport's evacuation
Monday night also crippled Washington's Dulles International and Miami
International airports last week, authorities said Tuesday.

Software trouble with the Threat Image Projection system -- a computer
program that displays "test images" in luggage scans to keep baggage
screeners on their toes -- was the catalyst for evacuating all three
airports.

Monday night, the outline of a grenade was visible in a traveler's
carry-on bag, sources said. But by the time screeners went for a
second look, the passenger, Minnesota trucker Ed Skime, and his black
tote were gone.


Unable to tell whether the grenade was computer-generated or the real
thing, Transportation Security Administration officials shut down
Midway for more than two hours at 7 p.m., evacuating about 1,500
people and delaying 40 flights.

It took checkpoint workers at least 15 minutes scouring closed-circuit
cameras to identify Skime, TSA spokeswoman Amy Von Walter said. The
evacuation was ordered and Skime was discovered in the food court
eating a Chicago-style hot dog with a co-worker.

'Here's our man!'



A security officer came running in his direction as alarms sounded.
"She was screaming, 'Here's our man. Here's our bag,' " Skime
recounted Tuesday from his Owatonna, Minn., home.

The faulty TIP screening equipment was removed from the airport and is
being checked for trouble. TSA technology experts also are reviewing
the software, which is installed at 11,000 airport checkpoints
nationwide, Von Walter said.

"This being the third time in a week we're looking at the software as
a whole and not just individual machines, " she said.

On Thursday, hundreds of passengers were evacuated from Dulles Airport
for about an hour., after a suspicious image, which might have been a
gun, showed up on an X-ray monitor.

'Gun' on the screen



And on Friday in Miami, more than 60 flights were delayed and 5,000
people were evacuated for 90 minutes from four concourses when a
similar image of a gun was projected on the screening equipment. No
weapons were found in either incident.

At Midway, the evacuation call became necessary when Skime "was able
to leave the checkpoint before screeners discovered the problem."

TSA and Chicago police officials stood by their decision to evacuate
the terminal.

But Mayor Daley says he never wants Chicago travelers to have to go
through this trouble again.

"If there is a computer glitch, it cost the taxpayers a lot of money,"
he said. "They have to perfect this. Fine, it's one mistake, but it
cannot happen again."

Contributing: Fran Spielman


No hand grenade, just boxer shorts 


BY MARK J. KONKOL Transportation Reporter 


Ed Skime had just choked down a Chicago-style hot dog and was enjoying
a cup of coffee when alarms blared at Midway Airport Monday. A
security guard pointed directly at the 47-year old Minnesota trucker
and screamed, "Here's our man."

"I was scared some. They came running -- dogs and all," Skime said. 

Federal security screeners and Chicago police identified Skime from
close-circuit footage as the traveler they believed was carrying a
grenade in is bag.

When they dumped the contents of his black tote all they found was a
truck driver's gear: boxer shorts, pants and socks, reflective road
hazard markers, a license plate and paperwork from his one-way trip to
Philadelphia.

Security officials scanned the bag a second time and "they told me to
get out," Skime said.

Once the evacuation was called off, Skime says he went through the
passenger checkpoint and had his bag inspected by police two more
times before boarding his plane to Minneapolis.

On Tuesday, federal authorities said it was a problem with baggage
screening software created the grenade confusion.

Skime said he was alarmed authorities didn't stop him at the gate and
he was able to finish supper while they looked for him.

But the worst of it was being badgered during his weekly Chicago
layover, Skime said.

"They didn't do so much as say, 'Sorry,' " he said.