KAUZ-TV: NewsChannel 6 Now | Wichita Falls, TXAirport Security Tightens at Municipal Airport

Airport Security Tightens at Municipal Airport

We're taking a closer look at security at the Wichita Falls Municipal Airport. We've been talking with the TSA about their plans for increasing security measures in the Falls in light of recent airport security breaches across the nation.  Tonight, we have an answer about how they're stepping things up to keep you safe.

The TSA is distributing 540 new state of the art scanning machines in smaller airports around the country -- and the Wichita falls municipal airport is one of them.

"It uses a cat scan technology so that we're able to rotate the image when we see it on the screen," says Amy Williams. She is the acting federal security director.

Before the arrival of this machine, TSA workers had to search for explosives by hand and open up every single checked bag.

"It was a trace detention where we would take samples on the outside and inside of the bag and run those for explosive detection," Williams told us.

Having this new system in place means security at the airport is now even tighter...and for you it means getting to your destination is going to be a whole lot faster.

"From the passengers stand point the process is going to be much easier and much more desirable for the part of the passenger," said airport administrator Monica Morris.

Last month the airport flew over three-thousand passengers around the country.

T-s-a workers were still training on the new machine, so the new security measures weren't fully in place.

Morris says Thursday is the first day every single passenger has been screened with the new system.

The machines are capable of scanning 225 bags an hour.

The scanner's smaller size makes it more convenient and cheaper for the smaller airports.