Honolulu Airport Evacuated after Screening Machine Fails

Oct. 27, 2004
Airport evacuated after screening machine found to be faulty, leading to full-scale search for suspicious items that may have been missed

Honolulu airport in Hawaii was evacuated on 25 October 2004 after a security screening machine was found to be faulty, leading to a full-scale search of the airport for any suspicious items that may have been missed.

Transportation Security Administration (TSA) workers noticed that the machine was faulty and decided to evacuate and re-screen all passengers as a precaution despite some of the people who had passed through the machine having already boarded their flights.

A spokesperson for the TSA said that all passengers were re-screened as a precaution. The incident delayed 19 flights and around 1,000 passengers despite only 85 people having passed through the faulty machine. Later flights were also said to have been affected by the early delays, reports The Associated Press.