Flares Are Sorta Like Grenades

By Sam Bakken in News on Nov 16, 2004 7:33PM

So the shit hit the fan yesterday around 7:00 p.m. at Midway Airport. A TSA bag screener saw what he thought was an explosive in one air traveler's bag. The agent then wanted to re-screen it, but the passenger had grabbed his bag and entered the terminal.

They found the man sitting in a food court. According to NBC5 the man's name was Ed Skine, a truck driver from Minnesota. It seems that the bag screener thought he saw a grenade in the man's bag, but after they re-screened him and dogs smelt him and his bags, they couldn't find anything, but did ask him to leave the airport. Security officials worried that he had ditched the device somewhere inside the airport. Officials grounded about 40 flights and about 1,000 people were delayed for two hours as the terminal was searched and all passengers were re-screened. Transportation Security Administration spokesperson Jennifer Peppin said about the incident, "..we do err on the side of caution at that point and evacuate the terminal."

Now, ABC7 is saying that, "Officials acknowledge that a malfunction in the screening machine incorrectly displayed a test image." But the thing is, NBC5's Don Lemon caught up with Ed Skine outside of the airport and looked in his bags. Apparently Skine was carrying some work-related equipment including a license plate and SOME FLARES! Don't you light flares and then they shoot sparks? Could we really blame security officials if they considered something that shoots sparks an explosive device?!?! The flares could be electronic, but wouldn't NBC5 be sure to mention that they were electronic?

So anyway, we agree with Peppin, err on the side of caution. You can't bring sparklers or bottlerockets on an airplane can you? Therefore Chicagoist calls, no more flares allowed on airplanes.