Atlanta KATL Closed

Just saw it on CNN. Closed due to suspicious package. Looking at the live tracking it looks like a traffic jam.

Glad I don’t work at KATL right now. Should be interesting watching the traffic there deep into tonight.

That and the nastyness for weather around the ATL right now…Sucks to be them

Looks like they started taking off again at 4:01pm. First one out:

AAL2429

I imagine we all assumed it was a false alarm, but according to CNN it was a software problem:

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) – A bomb scare that led authorities to evacuate security checkpoints at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport on Wednesday was the result of a “software malfunction,” Transportation Security Administration Director Kip Hawley said.

While screening carry-on luggage, a TSA employee identified the image of a suspicious device but did not realize it was part of routine testing for security screeners because the software failed to indicate such a test was under way, Hawley said.

Full Story

Pure stupidity on the part of the Terminally Stupid Administration. Don’t test software during the day. Wait until the late evening/early morning time.

I think the idea is to test the screeners to see if they’re alert during times of the day when an illegal item is most likely to be sent through the machines.