On February 9, a 49 year old man entered the Burlington International Airport with multiple guns.
A TSA officer who wishes to remain anonymous said, “protocols were followed the correct way, the gunman was apprehended in a timely fashion and no one was harmed.”
The TSA officer said he feels safe as a worker at the Burlington airport, “However, if that guy decided to open fire – I don’t think I would have survived.”
Jesse Fitzgerald ‘26 flew on American Airline this summer.
“Crashes used to not be so common and now there have been a lot in a short period of time,” Fitzgerald said. “It’s kind of shocking.”
Fitzgerald was referring to the Blackhawk helicopter that crashed into an American airline plane killing 67 people on January 29.
“I cant believe that kind of mistake would happen. I wonder if more crashes will happen,” Fitzgerald said.
The issue of airplane safety has only gotten more attention since Donald Trump’s “DOGE” cut around 400 positions out of the FAA in mid-February. The administration said no “critical” positions were cut, but the Professional Aviation Safety Specialists Union said 130 of those cut were in positions that directly or indirectly supported aviation safety.
While there have been recent events such as an April 28 radar and communications blackout at Newark Liberty International Airport that left controllers unable to see or talk to incoming planes for nearly 90 seconds, according to the National Transportation Safety Board, there have not been more plane incidents than usual.
Still, Fitzgerald believes that schools have not educated students much about any of these events.
“I think all airports have extremely good security, and that’s why we haven’t seen another 911 incident,” the TSA officer said. “I think the public gets frustrated having to take off their shoes or have all their items scanned but it prevents a lot of potential violence.”
In 2022, TSA increased the penalty for firearms at airports to about $15,000. However, airports have made no new guidelines since the recent incidents.
“It seems to be like there are too few people doing the job now that in the past which led to an increase in accidents,” the TSA officer said.
