Newsstand - Security breach at TPA?

TAMPA - A passenger at Tampa International Airport was hospitalized Friday afternoon after being hit by a tram car between the main terminal and Airside A.

The ticketed Southwest Airlines passenger was knocked from the outdoor elevated tram tracks by the car, a fall of about 25 feet, after wandering out on the walkway and climbing over a railing next to the tracks.

Officials are unsure what the as-yet publicly unidentified passenger was doing outside the buildings.

http://www.abcactionnews.com/stories/2004/05/040521tram.shtml

Umm, was he able to access the tarmac/ramp from the tram/people-mover tracks? And can he go out to the tracks or catwalk without setting off an alarm? Bravo TPA!

Hope he's ok. :(

Umm, was he able to access the tarmac/ramp from the tram/people-mover tracks? And can he go out to the tracks or catwalk without setting off an alarm? Bravo TPA!

No, you can't access the tarmac/ramp from the tram.

This sounds like a suicide attempt or another satisfied/drunk :D Southwest passenger.

There is a door that goes outside to the walkway alongside the tram, but it should have set off an alarm, and maybe it did, but by the time anybody got there, stuff happened. But even if nobody noticed, this passenger would have been stuck in no man's land. And again assuming that he did walk all the way to the terminal and somehow opened that door, the security is still ahead. At TPA security is located at each terminal after you ride the tram.

No security breach. Sorry to burst your bubble.

The trams and their tracks are outside of secuity. You go through security AFTER taking the tram to the airside. There was no breach of security. In his fall, he fell to an access road, again outside of the secure perimiter. This guy is a friggin idiot, and shut down the shuttle service to Airside A for about 30 minutes. I was at the airside waiting out a 90 minute ground hold at DTW when this happened.

Of course I am also hoping that this guy is OK.

I have not been to TPA in many moons and thought it might be like MCO or LAS in that one clears security before riding the outdoor-and-elevated tram/peoplemover to the sattelite terminal.

Thanks all for the clarification. Bubble burst. Must do a LAX-TPA MR someday for research purposes.

:D

Why do TPA and MCO have those stupid trams in the first place? Good grief, it's what, 1/10 of a mile?

Why do TPA and MCO have those stupid trams in the first place? Good grief, it's what, 1/10 of a mile?

To whet arriving tourists' appetites for riding trams and waiting in line at Walt Disney World and the other theme parks.

Hmm starting out to be one of those " tourists in Florida" thread
Actually they were put in place so that the visitors from SFO and GSP could
get to their luggage about the same time it is delivered at the carousels.
Much unlike the dumps otherwise known are their home airports.

Plus I bet the trams are cheaper and easier to operate in moving people efficiently to hub.
mike

Why do TPA and MCO have those stupid trams in the first place? Good grief, it's what, 1/10 of a mile?

TPA is my home airport, and I have nothing but praise for the great design. There are 4 satelite terminals connected with trams from the center building with a 5th one being build right now. Each terminal has 2 tram lines, so during busy time the trams run back and forth with the wait of less than 1 minute. It's brilliant. I fly AA, out/in of F terminal. I usually don't have checked luggage, so the total time between exiting the plane and driving home is between 10-15 minutes TOPS, EVERYTIME. Show me an airport that you could do that everytime. There are other airports that are looking into this design. Walking is cut down to minimum. None of the 2 mile walks, which are a pain in the a** regardless if they have moving sidewalks.

Here is a map of the wonderful TPA design:

www.tampaairport.com/maps/maps_airside.html