False alarm on Delta flight

Plane, not shoes, made the beeping sound

From Patty Davis
CNN
Thursday, October 17, 2002 Posted: 2:28 PM EDT (1828 GMT)

Passengers were removed, and the plane was taken to a remote area at Boston's Logan International Airport.

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BOSTON, Massachusetts (CNN) -- A beeping sound kept a Delta flight on the ground in Boston Thursday when authorities thought the sound might have originated from a pair of blinking children's sneakers in an overhead bin.

But Robert Johnson, a spokesman for the Transportation Security Agency, said the sneakers were cleared and the sound was actually an electrical problem with the plane itself.

"The shoes were in the wrong place at the wrong time," Johnson told CNN.

The aircraft, he said, was turned over to Delta maintenance.

Passengers were boarding Delta Flight 505, scheduled to depart Boston for Atlanta at noon, when a flight attendant heard the sound, the airline said.

Logan International Airport spokesman Phil Orlandella said passengers already on board were told to get off and take all carry-on bags with them. The sneakers remained unclaimed.

Authorities took the plane to a remote area of the airport as a precaution, where law enforcement authorities removed the shoes and determined they were not a threat.