Air Safety Week's Threats And Scares

Air Safety Week,  May 8, 2006  

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DATE & SITE: April 25 -- Miami Int'l Airport (MIA), Fla.
AREA*: 5
CIRCUMSTANCES: A suspicious object in a checked bag turned out to be a large
battery pack with wires.
RESULT: In the resulting scare, three floors on two concourses were evacuated
for about 30 minutes. No flights were suspended. Editor's note: This is the
latest in a long line of such scares at various U.S. airports, where batteries,
wires and electronic components look like components of a homemade bomb. It
seems that there could be a market for the next generation of scanners that
could quickly distinguish such harmless items from more-likely bomb materials.

DATE & SITE: April 27 -- Hopkins Int'l Airport (CLE), Cleveland
AREA*: 2
CIRCUMSTANCES: A man grabbed a patrolman's gun and shot the officer twice in the
chest.
RESULT: The man was then shot and killed by another officer. He was first
observed in a disturbance in the airport's parking garage. Later, he tried
unsuccessfully to buy a ticket at the Delta counter. After arguing with a Delta
employee, we went to the adjacent United counter and bought a ticket. There, he
also got into an argument with officers. The officer shot was in critical
condition (as of April 27).

DATE & SITE: April 27 -- Minneapolis-St. Paul Int'l Airport (MSP), Minn.
AREA*: 2
CIRCUMSTANCES: A man "acting suspiciously" at a ticketing area had to be subdued
and arrested.
RESULT: The ticketing area at the Humphrey Terminal of MSP was closed for about
five minutes after 5:15 a.m. while officials tried to arrest 50-year-old Taye
Birmachu of Minneapolis. Birmachu became violent after officers tried to talk to
him. Eventually, he was arrested for making terrorist threats and obstruction of
justice. Editor's note: Later accounts said Birmachu was stunned with a Taser
gun, sprayed with a chemical irritant, hit with a baton, and was tackled by
airport police. No explosives were found on his person. But he was wearing
several layers of clothing and had wires extending from his sleeve to a black
box that he was carrying. Birmachu told authorities he wore all this to show he
was willing to die for his convictions. It wasn't reported what those
convictions were.

DATE & SITE: May 2 --  Christchurch Int'l Airport (CHC), New Zealand
AREA*: 9
CIRCUMSTANCES: A suspicious package was found at 6 a.m. local time in a rest
room during a routine inspection.
RESULT: The international terminal was closed for about three hours, and two
flights from Japan were diverted from Christchurch to Auckland Int'l (AKL). The
bomb disposal unit found nothing hazardous.

May 3 -- Key West Int'l Airport (EYW), Fla.
* Codes where security incident originated: 1 - Roadway/parking lot/off airport
2 - Public ticket lobby/baggage claim  3 - Security checkpoint  4 - Sterile
concourse/gate area  5 - Checked baggage/cargo screening  6 - Inside aircraft  7
- Airside operations area  8 - Airport perimeter  9 - Unknown Compiled by Air
Safety Week from various news sources

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