Editorial
Turmoil at airport a sign of the times

In the best of scenarios, airport security screeners would immediately notice a gun — or computer-generated image of one — as it passed through the x-ray machine, and alert a supervisor who would notify security personnel. Security officers would promptly apprehend the person carrying the suspected firearm.

At least that's the procedure at Honolulu International Airport.

But that's not the way things went Sunday in the interisland terminal when a screener saw what she thought to be a gun. By the the time her supervisor alerted security, the suspected gun carrier was headed for the main terminal.

Alarms rang, flights were shut down and more than 3,000 passengers were called back through security checkpoints. The turmoil lasted for hours.

Later it was discovered that the young man thought to be carrying a gun was carrying nothing but a jacket and a CD player. Turns out, the screener had actually seen a computer-generated image of a gun. Such images are randomly projected to test the alertness of the screeners.

Whoops and ouch.

Welcome to the post-9-11 world of airport security, where even momentary in-attention, can paralyze flight operations for hours.

Another shutdown occurred Sunday at Denver International Airport after a man passed through a screening area without going through a metal detector. That forced the evacuation of one of the airport's three concourses and affected about 2,500 passengers.

Such lapses shouldn't happen, of course. But this is not a perfect world. The question is, what lessons can be learned?

Once the security breach was detected, could they have done anything differently? At first glance, it appears not.

The airport had little choice but to shut down once the suspected gun carrier was past the security checkpoint because the interisland terminal's security area connects with the main terminal. Security had to evacuate the area to track down the gun and its carrier.

The screener and her supervisor work for a company contracted by Hawaiian Airlines. They have been suspended pending an investigation and Hawaiian Airlines faces an $11,000 fine if a security violation is found.

Let's hope next time there's a security breach of this kind, there'll be less turmoil, and more order. Ultimately, though, we can continue to expect human lapses in the post-Sept. 11 era. Airports, airlines and passengers will just have to adjust.