To help the system run efficiently, engineers from the two companies that make the airport's luggage scanning machines are stationed on site. As experience on these systems grows, there's no reason why other airports should have similar problems. The airport installed the system because the British government will soon require screening of all checked bags on all international flights, Fazackerley said. The United States does not have such a requirement, but does require bag match on international flights. The machine, made by a California company called InVision, is being tested for general use in two U.S. airports, and is the only bomb screening device certified by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration.
Machines take over from there.
If the computer clears the bag, a conveyor belt sends it to a secure area where bags are held prior to being taken to the airplane. If the machine sees something that might be an explosive, the conveyor belt carries it to a CTX 5000 machine. Only after a bag has flunked the second stage of scrutiny does a human being become involved. David Royle, a security worker wearing a button-down collar and tie, sat at a console in the airport's dimly lit control room last week. He was examining CAT scan-like images of luggage that the machines had segregated for further scrutiny.