Airport gets new
explosive detectors

The devices can find nitrate
residue by wiping bags with
a special cloth

By Rod Ohira
Star-Bulletin

One of the new explosive-detecting devices being used at Honolulu Airport can locate nitrate residue by simply running a special cloth over luggage.

Five Explosive Trace Detectors, costing $300,000 apiece, were put into service last week at selected checkpoints with more to come, says airline security coordinator Joe Guyton.

Nitrate residue remains on a person's hand for a period of time and can be transferred to their luggage.

The system, however, also picks up residue from medication containing nitrates, Guyton said.

Carry-on luggage will be screened randomly, he said.

CTX 5000, which uses computerized tomography similar to a CAT scan to form an image, is another new instrument being used at the airport to check luggage for explosives. It is very effective in locating plastic explosives in cargo luggage, Guyton said.

Unfortunately, CTX 5000 will also kill any developed or undeveloped photographic film it comes into contact with.

"We'll have signs posted warning people not to leave film in their check-in luggage," Guyton said.

The state recently purchased two CTX 5000 systems at a cost of $1 million apiece.

Operators are being trained on the system being used in the check-in area for United and Northwest airlines.

"We can't do every bag because the machine can only handle 250 bags per hour so we have to be selective," Guyton said. "Profiling is part of the training."

At least one individual carrier has already purchased a similar explosive-detecting instrument manufactured by Advanced Technologies for its own use.

The December 1988 bombing that downed Pan Am Flight 103 outside Lockerbie, Scotland, heightened security measures, and explosive-detecting equipment is now common at international airports.

"We found that we needed a way to check more than handbags so the security systems had to be upgraded," Guyton said. "Until our operators are fully qualified, there will be some delays.

"But it's better for us to do this before something happens."

In the addition to checkpoint security and the new instruments, Honolulu Airport also uses six explosive-sniffing canine units.