Newsstand - Broken scanner slows airport screening in Ketchikan

"The X-ray machine that scans carryon baggage at the Ketchikan International Airport is broken, causing security personnel to conduct hand-searches on all carryon baggage.

The machine broke Monday night and will have to be replaced, said Jerry Graham, deputy federal security director for the airport.

He estimated it could take up to two weeks before a new machine arrives."

And the reason for a 2 week waiting period is???

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<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Spiff:
"The X-ray machine that scans carryon baggage at the Ketchikan International Airport is broken, causing security personnel to conduct hand-searches on all carryon baggage.

The machine broke Monday night and will have to be replaced, said Jerry Graham, deputy federal security director for the airport.

He estimated it could take up to two weeks before a new machine arrives."

And the reason for a 2 week waiting period is???

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High demand for X-ray scanners, perhaps?

I had this situation happen to me at HII (Lake Havasu City, AZ) about 3 years ago. At airports that only have one x-ray machine, they really don't have much choice when it breaks but to do hand-searches of everyone's carry-ons. These are usually such small airports anyway that there isn't a significant delay. At least there's no chance of you missing your flight, since the same people that checked you in at the counter operate the security checkpoint as well as the gate, if not also ramp.

Actually, perhaps the security stations now have TSA employees these days even at the smallest of airports with commercial operations. Anyone know for sure?

Maybe they have to truck the equipment in, versus flying it in?