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TSA Shuts Down Airport, Detains 11 After "Science Project" Found

Posted by samzenpus on from the put-down-the-graduated-cylinder dept.

OverTheGeicoE writes "A group of students and a professor were detained by TSA at Dallas' Love Field. Several of them were led away in handcuffs. What did they do wrong? One of them left a robotic science experiment behind on an aircraft, which panicked a boarding flight crew. The experiment 'looked like a cell phone attached to a remote control car with some exposed wires protruding.' Of course, the false alarm inconvenienced more than the traveling academics. The airport was temporarily shut down and multiple gates were evacuated, causing flight delays and diversions."

4 of 537 comments (clear)

  1. That sounds reasonable by SuperKendall · · Score: 4, Informative

    I'm as against the TSA as anyone.

    But come on. Considering what was found, why should any authority there NOT freak out? The flight crew did.

    It's really annoying it had such a large impact but in this case it was I think fully warranted. Even though I think they should have been allowed to enter the plane with the whole kit unscanned, once they left it behind all bets are off.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  2. Re:You're looking in the wrong place by lgw · · Score: 4, Informative

    You do realize that most of her "dystopian" writing was not dire predictions of things to come, but simply descriptions of things she had seen while young, right? That was exactly the sort of thing she was writing about (and far, far worse, in the early USSR).

    --
    Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
  3. Re:Number of actual terrorists blocked by TSA by dgatwood · · Score: 5, Informative

    Terrorists have always been forced to disguise their bombs. That didn't help the people on Pan Am flight 103. The reason the two terrorists you mention failed was that they tried to light something on fire with other people around. The TSA had no role whatsoever in foiling those plots.

    --

    Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.

  4. Re:When it comes to security by Mitreya · · Score: 5, Informative

    If everybody on Slashdot gets an old phone, opens it up and leaves it on a plane...

    Then everybody on slashdot will get detained, probed and then TSA will request additional funding based on the spikes in detaining/probing/confiscations.
    Seriously, there is no positive outcome here. I think those people were handcuffed to create an appearance of hard work. TSA hasn't caught a single terrorist in over a decade of existence. The fact that they are still getting (increased) funding is hard to imagine.