Bullet on Alaska Air Jet

[Flying Titan]

SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/6420AP...t_on_Plane.html

Sunday, March 12, 2006 · Last updated 6:27 p.m. PT

Bullet found on Alaska Airlines jet
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

SEATTLE -- Passengers had to be taken off an Alaska Airlines plane Sunday afternoon at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport after a federal air marshal found a bullet in the cabin, the airline said.

Airline spokeswoman Caroline Boren said Transportation Security Administration agents found no gun or any other items of concern during a subsequent search of the San Francisco-bound aircraft.

TSA agents rescreened passengers of Flight 384, which had been scheduled to depart at 3:15 p.m., then cleared the plane to fly to San Francisco. It took off at 5:43 p.m., Boren said.

It was not immediately clear how the bullet got onto the plane.

Boren said she did not know what happened in this case, but noted that the airline flies many hunters to Alaska, and that from time to time, bullets have fallen out of passengers' pockets.


Are they kidding???!!! This happens "from time to time"? Excuse me, but if you can't bring a cigarette lighter on a plane (and rightly so), then why the heck should anyone - hunter or not - be allowed to bring a bullet on a plane? Where the heck is TSA on this stuff? If people are getting through security checkpoints with bullets, then we still have major security problems. Kudos to the Air Marshal who found the bullet - at least he was doing his job. Another sad showing for TSA and for Alaska communications for its ho-hum reaction.

 

[mga707]

Are they kidding???!!! This happens "from time to time"? Excuse me, but if you can't bring a cigarette lighter on a plane (and rightly so), then why the heck should anyone - hunter or not - be allowed to bring a bullet on a plane? Where the heck is TSA on this stuff? If people are getting through security checkpoints with bullets, then we still have major security problems. Kudos to the Air Marshal who found the bullet - at least he was doing his job. Another sad showing for TSA and for Alaska communications for its ho-hum reaction.

Calm down. What can a bullet do on it's own? Absolutely nothing!
I guess you could throw it at somebody and maybe 'put their eye out'...but the same could be said of any other small metal cylinder!
Yhe "ho-hum' reaction IS justified. The nervous-Nelly hand-wringing, while expected, is not.

 

[flyhigh]

Gotta agree with mga...if we got up in arms about every little thing we'd all be stuck in our homes all day. They didn't say what kind of bullet. The reporter could have meant that it was a buck shot...which to me is no problem...

 

[Flying Titan]

Gee, I dunno...

Doesn't seem to hard to me to imagine a scenario where four or five people are working together. Sound familiar? Each carries some relatively innocuous parts (some metal, some not) that could be assembled into a firearm. Hopefully, this would be recognized by TSA, but it might be difficult. One part of the equation that should not be hard to recognize and should set off a major red flag at security is the bullets!

After Sept. 11, we as a nation decided that the lame private security firms that we had were no longer acceptable. We decided that it was worth more to have a higher level of screening. Passengers have accepted a lot of indignities and just plain silly crap in the name of improved security. If it's no big deal for people to get through this security with bullets, then what are we paying for?

 

[marco90821]

Gee, I dunno...

Doesn't seem to hard to me to imagine a scenario where four or five people are working together. Sound familiar? Each carries some relatively innocuous parts (some metal, some not) that could be assembled into a firearm. Hopefully, this would be recognized by TSA, but it might be difficult. One part of the equation that should not be hard to recognize and should set off a major red flag at security is the bullets!

After Sept. 11, we as a nation decided that the lame private security firms that we had were no longer acceptable. We decided that it was worth more to have a higher level of screening. Passengers have accepted a lot of indignities and just plain silly crap in the name of improved security. If it's no big deal for people to get through this security with bullets, then what are we paying for?

Not sure if it was we as a nation, the liberals are acting as if there is no war on terror and that maybe we did something to upset them and should try to make it right with your islamic fanatic next door.

 

[dl764]

Gotta agree with mga...if we got up in arms about every little thing we'd all be stuck in our homes all day. They didn't say what kind of bullet. The reporter could have meant that it was a buck shot...which to me is no problem...

That is very true.

 

[Borescope]

Probably some FFDO commuting home. The bullet fell out of his bag when he/she picked it up.

 

[QA4Jet-A]

Probably some FFDO commuting home. The bullet fell out of his bag when he/she picked it up.

It would be interesting to know the caliber size... may help determine or confuse us more on what someone had it for. Could even be it was from one of the Thugs that work for the contract company on the ramp.

 

[REPUS]

In MIA about six months ago an Air Marshall left his gun Holster and clip on board an A-300 in FC. Luckely for him it was cabin service that found it not Security. They called ops and they seemed to cover up real good.