Blountville TN airport closed due to "suspicious" package left in overhead bin [TRI]

Briston Herald-Courier: Suspicious package closes TCRA (Sept 29 2013)

The discovery of a suspicious package shut down the Tri-Cities Regional Airport for several hours Sunday, the Transportation Security Administration has confirmed.


A pilot for incoming Allegiant Air flight 646, arriving from Sanford International Airport near Orlando, Fla., noticed the package aboard the plane shortly after touchdown and asked for a security check, TSA authorities said.

TCRA security teams shut down the airport shortly before 2 p.m. ... Security teams eventually cleared the package as a non-harmful item, reopening the airport at 4 p.m. and allowing flights to resume, TSA authorities confirmed.


TSA authorities would not say what the suspicious package was.​

 

Times-News: Suspicious package found on flight at TCRA (Sept 29 2013)

The TSA also praised airport security for exhibiting “an abundance of caution.”

Around 2:30 p.m. Sunday, a pilot notified airport security of a “suspicious object” found on a plane arriving from Orlando, Fla. The plane was an Allegiant flight, and the suspicious object was found in an overhead bin.

Airport officials said the item was isolated. Bomb squad and K-9 units were called in to assess the situation. The item was subsequently removed from the plane and will be destroyed.​

 

So now if an absent-minded passenger leaves something behind on a plane, they close their airport and call the bomb squad out of an an abundance of caution” ?

 

Uh, yep-yep-uh-huh-uh-huh! <she said in her best Goofy-imitation voice> <:insert roll eyes emoticon here:>

 

The emoticons are still here -- click the smiley face in the editor's menu bar & wait a second -- all the smileys will appear at the bottom.

 

Too much work!

 

Same effort as before only they appear for the remainder of your editing session in a row at the bottom instead of in a small window that opens up for each individual smiley that you insert, hence less effort if you use multiple smileys!

You can also type

Code:

:rolleyes:

for

 

Sorry, Mike, but I don't see 'em...anywhere. It may be my aged browser or my company's fire-wall. They do not appear anywhere on the web page.
I don't see any of the other editing bells and whistles either (i.e., Font, Bold, Italic, Underline, Strikethrough, Hyperlink, Quote, etc.)

 

Are you in UBB mode? Do you see a "Use Rich Text Editor" link at the bottom left of the editor box? If so, click on it. Otherwise I'd suggest clearing your browser cache.

 

I do not see the "Use Rich Text Editor" link either. My browser at work is IE8. I'll try it at home.

 

Also be sure that you have JavaScript enabled. You will have very rudimentary editor w/o JavaScript.

 

It would seem that the primary assumption is that the TSA at SFB is wholly incompetent - why else assume that the "suspicious object" is actually "dangerous" and not just "forgotten?"

 

The problem started with the crew on board the aircraft -- why would they turn it over to TSA rather than to their lost & found?

 

I see the buttons, I see the buttons!!! Must be the JavaScript as I also have IE8 at home.

 

Please continue the Jacksonville-Bomb-Scare tangent here:

Jacksonville International Airport Closed [JAX]​

 

Ummm, let me guess. Because...their opinion of the effectiveness of the TSA (Terrorists Searching Americans) is as low as a snake's belly in a wagon rut (as Caradoc pointed out previously)? They didn't have confidence that the package had been properly screened, ...or, and this is a BIG OR they are smart enough to realize that the package may have been left by an airport worker who could get into the "sterile" area by simply swiping their badge.