Nov. 21--MANCHESTER -- Air travelers flying out of the state's largest airport may be singing a new jingle next month -- 'All I want for Christmas is a full-body scan.'
A spokesperson for the Transportation Security Administration said this week that at least one new full body scanner is expected to be delivered to Manchester-Boston Regional Airport and installed prior to the end of the year, and likely in place by the Christmas holiday.
"It will be delivered to Manchester in the coming weeks," said TSA spokesperson Ann Davis. "Will it be there by Thanksgiving? No, but it should be there soon thereafter."
The new scanners will be of the next-generation type, which made their debut in late July in Tampa, not the ones that displayed what amounted to naked images of passengers as they passed through, although visible only to TSA agents. This new version presents a generic outline of a human, similar to a crime scene outline.
Air travelers are able to view the same outline that the TSA officer sees.
Manchester-Boston airport authorities were notified in August that their facility had been chosen to receive at least one of 500 new advanced imaging technology scanners being deployed across the country.
A TSA source said it is likely the scanner would be operational in time to scan travelers heading out of state for the Christmas and New Year's holidays.
Once installed, TSA agents typically must complete 20 hours of classroom training and eight hours of on-the-job training before operating the scanners, according to TSA spokesman Sarah Horowitz, with the organization's Office of Strategic Communications and Public Affairs.
"Once it's delivered, first it needs to be installed," said Davis. "Sometimes a reconfiguration of the passenger security area is needed, and then our agents have to be trained to use the equipment. It's not a situation where you just install it and it's ready to go. There will be a small period of prep time after it arrives there."
In the coming months, TSA plans to install the new software on every millimeter-wave imaging technology unit now in place. The image cannot be stored, transmitted or printed, and is deleted immediately after a passenger is cleared. A privacy filter is applied to blur all images.
Copyright 2011 - The New Hampshire Union Leader, Manchester
