N830MH

Hi all,

Can't you believe this? Toddler who ride on baggage conveyor belt to TSA inline baggage screening system.

https://www.local10.com/travel/video...-conveyor-belt

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...amera-n1034276

FliesWay2Much

I'll admit I haven't had time to look into this further. I'll say one thing that I don't see any adults even close to this kid. I'm also reminded of a quote from that famous 20th century philosopher, George Carlin: "Kids who put marbles in their mouths shouldn't grow up to reproduce!"

guv1976

Anyone have any idea how much ionizing radiation this toddler was exposed to when passing through the baggage-screening machine?

N830MH

Yes, he did. He went into CTX machines and he tried to come out of x-ray machines. TSA who got him at secondary screening room and they took him back to his mother.

WillCAD

I had the same thought when I saw him scrambling at the entrance to the machine.

It's always been my understanding (though not from any reliable source, so I could easily be incorrect) that the inline baggage screening machines use higher levels of x-rays than those used for carry-on screening at the checkpoint. Those machines are operated behind the scenes in areas with fewer people around, so there is no danger to the traveling public, and less danger to TSA and airport employees from higher radiation levels. I doubt that TSA would be forthcoming on the amount of radiation exposure the kid got going through the machine, though - unless they claim that some heroic TSO saw the kid approaching and was able to turn the machine off in time to spare him any irradiation (unlikely since nobody though to turn off the belt itself).

I am truly amazed that this kid didn't have any crush injuries after his ride. There are multiple belts and rollers in a system like that, with plenty of moving parts on them that could easily have broken a toddler's fingers, wrists, or ankles.

"For one second!" the mama says. Hogwash - the kid was playing at the belt for a good five seconds before he got on it and rolled away. Incidents like this are what child leashes are for.

TravelLawyer

Boggie Dog

If the child was in fact exposed to radiation I would think TSA or the machine manufacturer could be required to disclosed the radiation output to a court. The exposure could have life long consequences for the child. I'm surprised that no interlock preventing a live animal from entering the machine is in place.

FliesWay2Much

If anyone knows make & model, it should be pretty easy to find specifications and OSHA Material Safety Data Sheets. I'll volunteer to find them if somebody can help with identifying the hardware.

GUWonder

I've seen airports where the baggage claim belts have had signs telling people to keep their hands away from the baggage belts and that children should not play or be too close to the baggage belts due to injury risk. But I've never seen such a sign for the baggage belts that the check-in agents use for bags being handed to the airlines landside.

I've seen plenty of airline employees/contractors stick their head into or out of, or crawl into or out of, the space where checked-in bags disappear after being placed on the baggage belt by airline check-in agents, and have assumed that some children have managed to go where they shouldn't go after seeing that stuff too.

I can't say I'm surprised that a child managed to get into the baggage handling system, the question is how many before and since and when will the next such incident take place. If a toddler can do it -- and they obviously can -- and mess with bags, so can more mischievous types with far greater capability than a toddler. What's the TSA response to this going to be?

MSPeconomist

mauve

Dosage data isn’t that easy to find but this report suggests it’s as high as 61,100 µR/hour (page 21):

https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/hhe/report...-0206-3067.pdf

That’s about 1 mR/minute, and I doubt the kid was in there that long.

I am not a doctor or a physicist, so you should double check my work, but 1 mR is about 1 mrem of absorbed radiation, and that’s no more than the kid would pick up from cosmic rays on the flight.

Boggie Dog

The linked reference dates to 2008 which is prior to the introduction of the CTX inline checked baggage scanners. I'm no expert on radiation but seem to remember that the impact on a young person could be more damaging than an adult. Regardless this child should be monitored for any lasting exposure damage.

LoganTSO

This. I've seen bags get crushed occasionally in the vertisorter (that was the belt system piece you see go from down to up in the CCTV; it sorts the bags on to either the clear belt or alarm belt based on the EDS machine's response [or in the case of alarmed bags, the x-ray operator viewing the image]).

If it had been a pusher like this: somewhere in the system, he would have most likely not have survived. Thankfully, these are aren't installed to my knowledge in newer systems, they're mostly found in older systems.

Don't know what trouble the mother will receive, other than a public tongue lashing. But I'm sure Spirit or at least one of the Spirit reps will possibly receive a fine from TSA for not monitoring the belt portal.

GUWonder

WillCAD

Spirit is investing heavily in self-service check in kiosks, which means fewer personnel monitoring the counters and belts, so stuff like this is bound to happen. The kid just walked right across the luggage scale and rolled himself onto the belt.

Situations like this are why there are such things as child leashes.