http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/uniontrib/mon/news/news_1n17grenade.html Woman boards plane with fake grenade Traveler claims mistake; security questions raised By Alex Roth STAFF WRITER Passengers on an American Airlines flight from San Diego to Chicago had just settled into their seats yesterday when something dropped to the floor with a metallic thud. It looked remarkably like a live hand grenade. "You could just see it lying there right near the aisle," said passenger Fred Bode, 60, a retired Air Force colonel who was heading home to Kalamazoo, Mich. The grenade turned out to be fake -- a dummy model used by airport officials to test security at Lindbergh Field. Beyond scaring the passengers and delaying the flight for several hours, the incident is a major embarrassment for the Rochester, N.Y., woman who brought it aboard -- and for the people in charge of private security at Lindbergh. Security at airports nationwide has been heightened in light of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. This much about the episode seems clear, authorities said: Passenger Lolita Austria, a 57-year-old Rochester restaurant worker, carried the grenade onboard the plane by mistake after picking up a bag that didn't belong to her. The bag belonged to one of the private companies in charge of passenger-screening at the airport. The bag contained a sweat shirt and a metal dummy grenade bearing the marking, "FAA X-ray test object, contains no explosives," said Harbor Police Sgt. John Forsythe. "We don't know whether the bag was picked up inadvertently or if it was stolen," he said. Austria, who had passed through screening, apparently picked up the bag shortly after it had gone through the X-ray machine as part of a routine security test, Forsythe said. Austria told The San Diego Union-Tribune she picked up the bag by mistake after confusing it with one of her shopping bags. Forsythe said police probably would recommend that she be charged with petty theft, a misdemeanor. In either case, it's unclear why the private security company didn't notice the bag's disappearance. The company in charge of security at the checkpoint is St. Louis-based Huntleigh USA Corp., Forsythe said. Company officials in San Diego referred questions to their company headquarters. Austria walked onto American Airlines Flight 788 without realizing she was toting a fake grenade. The plane taxied away from the gate with 105 passengers and five crew members onboard. At some point before takeoff, Austria removed the garment from the bag -- and out dropped the grenade, right into the aisle. "It was rolling around on the floor," said passenger Torbert Rocheford, 46, a professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. As stunned passengers summoned the flight attendants, Austria tried to explain that she was as baffled as everyone else about the object's origin. The other passengers had a difficult time understanding what Austria, an immigrant from the Philippines, was saying. "You didn't know whether it was a big joke or what," passenger Bode said. The captain immediately returned the plane to the terminal, where a Harbor Police officer boarded the aircraft with a bomb-sniffing dog. Austria was removed from the plane in handcuffs. Her sister, who was traveling with her, also was taken off the flight. The other passengers had to get off the plane and go through security a second time, and bomb-sniffing dogs also checked the aircraft's cargo hold at the captain's request, Forsythe said. The plane, which had been scheduled for takeoff at approximately 2:30 p.m., didn't leave San Diego until 5:02 p.m. Austria and her sister were questioned by Harbor Police and the FBI for several hours and then released. The incident caused only minor inconveniences to everyone other than the passengers and crew on Flight 788. An airport spokeswoman said a British Airways plane was delayed from takeoff for 37 minutes because of a security backup caused by the episode. No other flights were affected, she said. American Airlines officials couldn't be reached for comment yesterday. FAA spokesman Mike Fergus in Washington state said last night federal investigators would be asking for a report on the incident from Huntleigh USA Corp. "They're going to be doing a report, and we will be reviewing it," Fergus said. There are several questions that need answering, he added. "Was it Huntleigh walking (the bag) through, or did someone else? Why was it left there? Was it left there as a test?" he said. Austria, who was visiting San Diego for her granddaughter's birthday, said the experience of being escorted off the plane in handcuffs left her "scared and shaking." "I made a mistake," she said. Staff writer Lisa Petrillo, staff photographer K.C. Alfred and librarian Danielle Cervantes contributed to this report. 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