New security tech for GSP

By Cindy Landrum  

SEPTEMBER 20, 2010 9:51 a.m. (0)

Fewer checked bags will have to be opened at Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport because three new high-tech machines have been installed to screen luggage for explosives.

The new explosives detection machines use CT scan technology and sophisticated algorithms to determine within seconds if a bag contains a potential threat, said Mike Tarmon, the Transportation Security Administration’s assistant federal security director at GSP.

“It’s a win-win,” Tarmon said. “The new machines will help us screen checked baggage more quickly and efficiently and fewer bags will have to be opened and checked by hand.”

The airport began using the machines, which cost $340,000 each, on Sept. 3.

The machines will not affect the security passengers have to go through before boarding a plane, said Jon Allen of the TSA.

Passengers must still go through the security checkpoint and have their carry-on baggage screened for weapons and explosives before going to the gate, he said.

“The two screenings are looking for different things,” Allen said. “Firearms are not prohibited in checked baggage as long as they are in a secure case, are unloaded and have been declared to the airline.”

When a passenger checks in a bag at an airline ticket counter, it travels on a conveyor belt to a security point passengers never see.

In the past, TSA officers at GSP had to swab each bag to screen it for explosives.

With the new fully-automated machines, the bag is scanned. If a weapon or potential explosive is detected, the machines alert security officers and projects images of the bag from multiple angles to help security officers when they open and physically check the bag.

“An alarm doesn’t mean there’s an actual threat inside,” Tarmon said.

Allen wouldn’t say what percentage of bags trigger an alarm, but said the majority of bags do not.

Before the installation of the new equipment, it took an average of two minutes to screen each checked bag, Tarmon said. With the new machines, it takes just seconds.

Tarmon said each machine can scan 280 bags an hour.

GSP passengers check between 2,500 and 3,000 bags each day.

There are 389 of the machines in use at 157 airports across the country, Tarmon said. The machines are smaller than the ones being used in Atlanta and Charlotte. The software can be updated if a new type of threat emerges, Allen said.

Airport executive director Dave Edwards said installation of the new machines is a “great first step” in the airport’s plan to install high-tech equipment for baggage screening.

The new equipment will tie in well with the airport’s plan to renovate the terminal. The GSP Airport Commission is expected to approve at its meeting Wednesday for design work to begin. Construction for the project, which is expected to cost up to $100 million, is not expected to start until 2012.