Jetport shutdown blamed on bagpipe

ourmaine.com ^

[chance33_98]

Jetport shutdown blamed on bagpipe

A long line of confused passengers wound through the Portland International Jetport Tuesday morning, many of them waiting to go through security checks for a second time.

"My flight was cancelled so I had to come back, come back downstairs, get a new flight... now I'm going through again," said Brian Thibeault.

The cause was a device that looked like a pipe bomb. It was an electronic bagpipe chanter packed in PVC pipe.

Jetport officials say the passenger could have avoided this incident altogether just by simply pointing out the item to screeners up front.

"Passengers need to be cognizant of what they bring with them in their carry-on luggage when they travel," said Jeff Monroe, Portland transportation director.

Security at the jetport has been tightened since two of the World Trade Center hijackers boarded a flight to Boston there on Sept. 11, 2001.

Officials say the screeners were doing their job. "They know what they're doing... they can process passengers very very quickly... and obviously that looks like what they've seen in training... they react to it and they take the appropriate measures," said Bob Dyer of the Transportation Safety Administration.

The jetport reopened after about 90 minutes.

[Grut]

Jetport officials say the passenger could have avoided this incident altogether just by simply pointing out the item to screeners up front.

"Now, don't get excited by this thing that looks like a pipe bomb... it's really an electronic bagpipe!" Yeah, right.

[Tijeras_Slim]

Weapon of Musical Destruction

[snopercod]

the passenger could have avoided this incident altogether just by simply pointing out the item to screeners up front

Right. It's the passenger's fault.

[Conspiracy Guy]

Did the owner then shoot himself in the head?

CG

[KantianBurke]

Can't hold a candle to this guy!

"Great moments in piping #1: THE D-DAY PIPER

From "The Longest Day" by Cornelius Ryan.

"As the commandos touched down on Sword, Lord Lovat's piper, William Millin, plunged off his landing craft into water up to his armpits. He could see smoke piling up from the beach ahead and hear the crump of exploding mortar shells. As Millin floundered toward the shore, Lovat shouted at him, "Give us 'Highland Laddie', man!" Waist-deep in the water, Millin put the mouthpiece to his lips and splashed on through the surf, the pipes keening crazily. At the water's edge, oblivious to the gunfire, he halted and, parading up and down along the beach, piped the commandos ashore. The men streamed past him, and mingling with the whine of bullets and the screams of shells came the wild skirl of the pipes as Millin now played 'The Road to the Isles.' "That's the stuff, Jock," yelled a commando. Said another, "Get down, you mad bugger!"

Incredibly, Piper Millin survived D-Day and the rest of the war; and in the 1961 film, "The Longest Day", he played himself!"

[elli1]

Jetport officials say the passenger could have avoided this incident altogether just by simply pointing out the item to screeners up front.

Well, the passenger is probably just an ordinary joe (like me) who never dreamed that anyone would build a pipe bomb using PVC. I always just assumed that iron/ steel pipe was always used--just looked it up & I was WRONG. PVC is sometimes used to build pipe bombs. Some of us folks better re-think how we package our fishing rods when we travel...

[Salgak]

Better still, perhaps the TSA could get a clue once in a while. . .

[Jim Cane]

Bagpipes have been instruments of terror since their inception.

[pikachu]

What's the difference between a bagpipe and an onion? Nobody cries when you cut up a bagpipe?

What's the difference between a trampolene and a bagpipe? You don't put on gold spikes to jump up and down on the trampolene.

I could just imagine being on a long flight when the armrest hogging, haggis breath in the seat next to me pulls out his chanter and starts trying to play along with the melody of the jet engines.

[Doctor Stochastic]

Didn't the British have "bagpipe control laws" in effect in occupied Scotland from about 1750 to 1775?

[Rebelbase]

Check this guy out. Neil Anderson. He's U.S. army reserve to boot.

[aruanan]

Jetport officials say the passenger could have avoided this incident altogether just by simply pointing out the item to screeners up front.

Or they could have had screeners that weren't the typical low end of the Bell curve for intelligence.

[Rebelbase]

In defense of pipes/chanters, check out these guys: Seven Nations.

[r9etb]

Right. It's the passenger's fault.

In this case, it is the passenger's fault. The screeners did what they were supposed to do.

[freedumb2003]

"Or they could have had screeners that weren't the typical low end of the Bell curve for intelligence."

Don't you know? According to DU, 80% of people are on the lower end of the Bell Curve! ;)

[cc2k]

Why do bagpipers usually march when they are playing their pipes?

They're trying to get away from that awful noise.

[elli1]

Better still, perhaps the TSA could get a clue once in a while. . .

I agree but I also think the screeners did the prudent thing. For instance, the story I just read about the Israeli guards letting down their guard at a checkpost when a palestinean woman set off an alarm & then explained it by saying she had a metal implant in her leg---Just before she detonated the bomb. The screeners may have some other cues/ clues that added to their suspicion about the passenger.

[Big Mack]

I'm a gentleman piper myself, I know how to play the pipes, but don't.

[nightdriver]

"Security at the jetport has been tightened since two of the World Trade Center hijackers boarded a flight to Boston there on Sept. 11, 2001."

Ourmain.com is just a wee bit off on their story.

This incidence with the pipe happened in Portland, Oregon, the two hijackers that boarded a flight to Boston were in Portland, Maine.