X-rays go black at Nashville International Airport

Published 3 April 2006

A software glitch knocked out the computerized X-ray machines at Nashville International Airport for five hours Friday, causing long lines and flight delays. Whether the same problem could affect other airports was not immediately clear. David Beecroft, who oversees security operations at Nashville for the federal Transportation Security Administration (TSA), said all U.S. international airports were alerted because the company that supplies the software for the Smiths Heimann X-ray detectors also serves several other airports. TSA spokeswoman Laura Uselding later said, however, that other airports were not notified because the situation in Nashville was an isolated event. The discrepancy could not be immediately resolved.