The Transportation Security Administration and Charlotte airport officials announced a man bypassed security and apparently was able to board a plane today, reports USA Today:
The Transportation Security Administration noticed shortly before 8 a.m. that the man had slipped past screeners sometime earlier that morning. Officials searched about 15 planes on the ground and shut down Concourse C, said agency spokesman Jon Allen.
Allen said 12 other flights left the airport prior to the search, and officials now believe the man is on one of those flights. Those planes will be reverse-screened when they land, he said.
The whole story is at the link above. While apparently the breach was noticed before any of the planes which had already left reached their destinations, it was not in time to prevent him from getting on the plane and taking off. Not good.
Obviously if his intent had been to cause harm on the plane he boarded, it would have been too late to stop him. Also, this news tips those who may wish to try something similar that, at least at Charlotte, the security video monitoring isn’t all done “live.”
“I thought it was a little scary someone could get through so easily, but I was confident, without a boarding pass, without ID, this person would not be getting on an airplane that day. It makes me wonder where all this money is going,” said airline passenger Bill McHugh.
Yeah, Bill, me too. But remember it was essential to get rid of all the private security firms so we could have government workers bringing their well-known go-getter attitudes and efficiency to the task . . .
