Something went right
As much of Logan Airport slid toward chaos yesterday, a Massport official by the name of Sam Sleiman tapped against a security keypad and took me through a fortified door on the bottom floor of Terminal E to a place where the public has rarely gone.
In seconds, we were in a warehouse of a room with pipes and vents protruding from the cavernous ceiling. There were conveyor belts whirring to our right, green conveyor belts whirring to our left, belts above us, belts below us, with all belts leading to and from massive luggage-scanning machines with the word Examiner plastered on their sides.
``This was supposed to be a concession area," Sleiman said, sweeping his arm across the room. ``Right after 9/11, we made it into a bag screening room. It's the most important thing we can do here."
Indeed it is. Before Sept. 11, 2001, when passengers checked luggage it was put on planes without inspection. Now, that's all changed. At the airport that launched two planes in the 9/11 attack, Massport officials quietly embarked on a $146 million project that gave Logan the most advanced baggage screening system of any major airport in the nation.
Dry stuff? Maybe, except when you consider that this system has the potential to speed passengers through Logan at a faster rate than just about any other airport in the United States. And not when you consider that it was built without the infighting and haphazard work that characterizes too much of what goes on in this town these days.
Sleiman, who oversaw the construction of the system, was giving me the grand tour, which involved him constantly explaining a procedure, then concluding, ``But you can't print that."
``These are explosive detection units," he said, standing near one of the Examiners. ``They detect explosive material through chemical analysis or by noting an unusual shape."
When the machines detect something unusual, they alert agents of the Transportation Security Administration in a nearby room via computer. The luggage in question is then diverted to a separate conveyor belt right to the agents, who personally inspect it. The good luggage is sent up a different conveyor directly to the plane.
In the months after 9/11, when Congress mandated that airports screen checked luggage, Massport had a decision to make. It could adopt the same slow system that most other airports were installing, which involved placing massive screening machines directly in the lobbies of the terminals, then making passengers lug their own bags from the check-in counters to the screening areas. Or it could pursue a more efficient, behind-the-scenes method.
They chose the latter. In just six months, airport officials designed and built 110,000 square feet of new space in locations all around the airport to accommodate 15 screening rooms.
They installed eight electrical substations to power the 3 miles of new conveyor belts that led from every airline ticket counter, through screening rooms, to the tarmacs.
The construction continued morning, noon, and night, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to make the federal deadline of Dec. 31, 2002.
``The amazing part was the patriotism of everyone working on the system," Sleiman said. ``Everyone felt ownership. Everyone wanted to defend themselves and their families when they fly. It was patriotism. That's how we got it to work."
When officials pulled the switch at 4 a.m. on Jan. 1, 2003 and the belts began to rumble, Logan became the first major US airport to comply with the federal mandate. It remains the largest to have this so-called in-line screening system. The airport had gone from the rancor that followed 9/11 to state of the art.
Months later, the federal government reimbursed Massport 75 percent of the cost. A few glitches were straightened out, and each machine can now process 500 bags an hour.
Maybe it's not news that something went right. Then again, in this city, maybe it is.
Brian McGrory is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at mcgrory@globe.com. 