An AS flight going from SEA to ONT, returned to the airport on Saturday, after a possible explosive device was discovered. So I have heard, a young boy asked a flight attendant to get some crayons out of his backpack. She didn't find crayons...
Apparently, when the child's backpack was screened at security, another identical backpack went through directly after. The boy picked up the wrong backpack. The other pack was actually the one that Alaska uses to trip the airport security equipment. The device obviously isn't explosive...its just made to look that way. The plane safely returned to Seattle, but the passengers were deplaned through chutes just in case.

Although this is not that unusual of an occurence, it certainly raises questions about the vigilance of airport security personnel. After all, they have to pay careful attention to dozens of people every minute, and are probably only making the minimum wage, or a little above.

Any comments?

[This message has been edited by West Coast Flyer (edited 03-11-2000).]