Security concerns disrupt seven U.S. flights

HOUSTON - A stick of dynamite was found in a college student’s checked luggage on a Continental Airlines flight from Argentina, one of seven security incidents Friday that caused U.S. flights to be diverted, evacuated, searched or delayed.

Howard McFarland Fish, 21, was charged with carrying an explosive aboard an aircraft and was in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Federal authorities have determined that his actions were not acts of terrorism, ICE spokeswoman Luisa Deason said in a statement.

Houston Fire Department Assistant Chief Omero Longoria said Fish told authorities he works in mining and often handles explosives. Longoria said federal officials were investigating whether the explanation was true.

Bill Waldock, aviation safety professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Arizona, said the incident could have been disastrous and raises questions about security in overseas airports. Dynamite can be unstable if it’s old, he added.

“You’re in a pressurized airplane, you get a detonation in the cargo hold, it could blow a hole in the airplane big enough to bring it down,” he said.

But each flight interruption costs airlines tens of thousands of dollars, according to NBC News’ Kevin Tibbles, in additional fuel and crew costs.

“We could strip-search every person and be totally secure, but then how many people would fly? And how long would it take to board a plane?” Terry Trippler, airline analyst, told NBC. “We have to draw a line between safety and the economics of the situation.”

The dynamite was found during a luggage search in a federal inspection station at Bush Intercontinental Airport shortly after Flight 52 landed at about 6 a.m.

Marlene McClinton, spokeswoman for the Houston Airport System, said ICE officials and the FBI shut down the customs area and began questioning Fish, one of 173 passengers on the flight.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Houston said Fish, of Connecticut, would appear before a federal magistrate Monday. Carrying an explosive aboard an aircraft carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.

Argentina’s chief of airport security police, Marcelo Sain, said in a televised interview Friday that authorities there were in contact with U.S. officials as they opened their own probe into how explosives got into checked baggage on the U.S.-bound flight.

Fish is a psychology student at Lafayette College in Easton, Pa., said Roger Clow, the college’s director of communications. He declined to answer other questions about Fish, citing privacy concerns.

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