I guess we should be grateful that they didn't call for a terminal dump.

Strange how the rate of terminal dumps has dropped off. It couldn't be that TSA would compromise the safety of the pax by bowing to pressure from the airlines to avoid costly terminal dumps.

Good to know that if an explosive trace on the items had come back positive, a TSA bomb expert was only two hours away.

The inconsistency boggles the mind. The pipes have (allegedly) been ETD'd and cleared - not safe enough to return to the pax, but safe enough to set aside for ...??? But six hours later, in spite of an allegedly clean ETD test, a bomb expert has to be summoned?

No wonder they missed pounds of undisguised C.4 in Fayetteville.

Yet if the first guy had just tossed them in the trash, nobody would care.

But because for whatever reason they were put aside they were considered to be so dangerous that a TSA bomb expert was called in who took only two hours to arrive.

The NY Post has a picture of them

http://www.nypost.com/rw/nypost/2012...c--300x150.jpg

And says

The screeners promptly called their supervisor. He questioned the passenger, who claimed the pipes were for homeopathic medicine.

The supervisor bought the story and let the man board his flight without taking down any information, the sources said.

The flier left the pipes behind and it wasn’t until 3 p.m., with the devices still lying around the screening area, when the supervisor finally realized he should notify someone.

He called a TSA bomb specialist — who took another two hours to arrive.



Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/q...#ixzz1l3ho0rGQ

So lets see if we have the timeline right.

Person goes through and screener sees the pipes
Screener calls the supervisor, who decides the person is no threat and lets them go, and puts the devices off to the side
Supervisor sees no reason to take down any passenger information, after all they said they were not bombs.
Hours later the supervisor says hey, I think I forgot to notify the Bomb Expert about those devices, and calls them
Two hours later, the TSA bomb expert shows up
They decide it's probably dangerous, so they call the Port Authority Bomb Squad
They come in, now six hours later, shut down the area, and remove the pipes that have been sitting around all day, and take them out to the Bronx to blow them up but they don't blow up

And then the TSA plays it all down by saying

A TSA spokesman later insisted the items were “voluntarily surrendered” and the agency notified cops only “out of an abundance of caution.”


The only thing that would make this story better would be if they put them under a "If you see something say something poster"

Doesn't everyone know that if you just put things in the magic garbage cans at the TSA checkpoint nothing bad can happen.

These trash cans have powers that can take an object that could down an airplane and magically make them safe for all. :rolleyes:

That's the problem. Some greedy/incompetent TSO didn't put them in the magic garbage cans, so everyone was at risk for hours. We're just lucky nothing happened.

So the TSA 'bomb expert' is just someone who decides whether or not to call in the real experts from the Port?

If there's a need for an "Abundance of Caution" it seems like they are the ones to make the call.

Wondered how they checked them, how they were handling them. Metal pipes with springs inside. Lets shake them a bit and see if they blow up. Nope. Maybe tap them on the counter. Nope. Anybody have a lighter?

:D

Check the label - were they manufactured by 'Acme Bomb Company'? Is there an on/off switch?

Hmmm, pipe bombs, available in two different colors, for $15.95

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y20...6_11602274.jpg

But are they 'TSA-approved'?

No, we should be demanding to know why there wasn't a terminal dump.

If the items were thought to be 'pipe bombs', necessitating a summons to the bomb squad, the area should have been cleared. Doesn't sound like an Abundance of Caution® at all; an abundance of something else. Clowns.

+1. They were either a threat, in which case this was handled incorrectly, or they were not a threat, in which case this was handled incorrectly. Either way, this was handled pretty much the same way the TSA handles everything else, incorrectly.

Wait, I think I figured it out. If you look at these 2 images cross-eyed

@:-)
http://www.nypost.com/rw/nypost/2012...c--300x150.jpg

:confused:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Hv8iuQvcJL...pcakes+021.jpg

I think some of the TSA employees may have forgotten to wear these

http://www.blindmancan.com/files/cok...ses_2px5wr.jpg

Most likely the TSA employee planned to steal...I mean "dispose" of them at home. I don't fly that much any more but I've seen two different TSA employee helping themselves to items "surrendered" by passengers in the past three months.

TSA - Their Sorry A----

Totally, just after a manager in SLC told me what a good job they were doing. :rolleyes:

Doubly redundant.