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Nashville Airport Screen Equipment Breaks:Posted By: Joshua Boyles By KRISTIN M. HALL, Associated Press Writer NASHVILLE, Tenn. - A five-hour outage of security screening equipment at the Nashville International Airport Friday caused serious delays for passengers while their carryon luggage was checked by hand, officials said.A computer software problem, and not foul play, is the likely cause of the failure, said David Beecroft, who oversees security operations at the airport for the federal Transportation Security Administration. None of the computers, X-ray machines or metal detectors at the airport's two screening checkpoints would operate when security operations were scheduled to open for the day at 3:30 a.m., Beecroft said. Until the equipment was restored at about 8:30 a.m., TSA employees had to search bags by hand and use hand-held metal detector wands to screen passengers at the airport's two concourses. Passengers were being advised that it was taking 1 1/2 to 2 hours to get through the screening process and encouraged to check as much luggage as possible because the outage didn't affect screening of those bags. Lines of hundreds of passengers snaked outside the terminal and into the parking areas because of the security delays. Airport spokeswoman Lynne Lowrance said flights were only being held for 15-20 minutes beyond their takeoff time, meaning many passengers missed their planes. About 9,000 to 11,000 people use the airport every day, but Lowrance said air traffic Friday was expected to be heavier than usual with families traveling for spring break. Passenger Bob Ballard was among those standing in line. "Imagine McDonald's at its worst and then multiply it times 10. You won't get your fries today, I can tell you that. We moved, in a half an hour, maybe 15 or 20 feet," Ballard told WTVF-TV. Officials with the TSA and Southwest Airlines, the airport's largest carrier, couldn't immediately be reached for comment. Courtesy Of: Yahoo! News The information reported above is property of Yahoo! inc. and reprinted or modified with legitimate permission. We thank Yahoo! inc. for the kind cooperation with us and other shareholders. |
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