CLT Stowaway Spin Storm
A 16-year-old Air Force JROTC student apparently eludes airport security at Charlotte-Douglas International, climbs into the wheel well of a US Airways jet bound for Boston, and plummets to his death from the sky over that city.
A Massachusetts prosecutor investigating the case calls it a “major breach of security,” while Charlotte airport director Jerry Orr shrugs his shoulders, scratches his head and seemingly goes about business as usual.
That’s the nutshell version on the bizarre case of Delvont Tisdale, the North Meck student who authorities say stowed away on the Boston-bound flight way back on Nov. 15.
More than a month later, and Orr says he doesn’t know anything more about the case than what he reads in the paper, hasn’t launched any special investigation to discover how, or if, a teenager breached airport security, and isn’t planning one any time soon. This from TCO:
Orr said he hasn’t spoken with US Airways about how Tisdale might have gotten access to the jet.
City Manager Curt Walton, who is Orr’s boss, said he hadn’t spoken with Orr about security at the city-owned airport.
Wonderful, and pure Queen City head-in-the-sand CYA to the core. Airport authorities, in fact, have already launched into full spin mode on this one, in an attempt to distance themselves from any fallout. Last Friday, airport officials told WBTV they had not yet been contacted by Massachusetts investigators but expected a local investigation involving the TSA to be launched. Fine and dandy, except that the Federal Aviation Administration had, on the the previous Monday, notified Orr & Co. that an investigation was being launched by Massachusetts law enforcement, and the airport had already been notified by US Airways that an investigation was under way.
And Orr, this week, more than a month after the apparent security breach occurred, still hasn’t started an internal investigation and says he doesn’t plan for one anytime soon.
Meanwhile, the mayor and potted plants on our city council are professing their full faith in Orr’s ability to get to the bottom of the matter. You know, kind of like they did with Police Chief Rodney Monroe and the rouge cop turned convicted sexual predator case. And look how well that turned out.
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