Device found at Springfield airport that caused delays, concern was blood pressure monitor
It turned out to be an electronic blood pressure monitor that got hearts racing at the Springfield-Branson National Airport on Friday.
The bomb squad was called out to the airport on Friday morning after a suspicious package was flagged by Transportation Security Administration agents. But after the suitcase was carefully transported off site, the Springfield Fire Department was able to determine that what triggered concern about possible explosives was nothing more than a blood pressure monitoring device and a jar of peanut butter, according to Fire Chief David Hall.
"It just didn't look right on the screen," Hall said. "And whenever we looked at it visually, it was very suspicious looking. That's why we don't take any risks."
Authorities had detained one person while they investigated the suspicious device, and Hall said that person has been released.
Airport spokesman Kent Boyd said four incoming flights were forced to remain on the runway for more than two hours while the matter was investigated. He estimated that in all about 600 to 700 people were directly affected by arrival or departure delays at the Springfield airport on Friday because of the suspicious package.
Airport director Brian Weiler said people were compliant, and safety was the airport's chief concern throughout the process.
Boyd said he couldn't speak to whether the person with the blood pressure monitoring device did anything wrong in packing or following security procedures. He said everyday objects sometimes give off a different impression when they are seen under a security scanning device.
Weiler said that around 9:30 a.m., TSA screening equipment at the airport identified a suspicious suitcase on an outbound flight.
After the discovery by TSA, Weiler said the checkpoint was cleared, the public was moved away from the area and the airport stopped all inbound and outbound flights from that terminal.
About noon, fire officials had a robot transport the suitcase out of the terminal and place it in a safe-like steel structure on a specially designed bomb squad trailer. The robot was not able to fit the suitcase into the trailer's opening, and a member of the bomb squad was deployed to suit up and physically place it inside for transport away from the airport for the investigation.
Weiler said that by 12:30 p.m., airport operations were getting back on track.
The suitcase was investigated by the fire department for about three hours before Hall announced, just after 4 p.m., that the suspicious item was determined to be harmless.
On the scene about 10:30 a.m. were officials with TSA, FBI, Springfield police and a bomb squad from the Springfield Fire Department, Boyd said. At that time, two commercial airplanes were circling, awaiting word on whether it was safe to land.
Boyd said he did not know if the person who was detained made it onto another flight on Friday night or if the person would be compensated with anything like a voucher for a free flight, saying that would be up to the airline.
Multimedia editor Dean Curtis contributed to this report.