Good news for a change ... might call this putting your best foot forward

[eisely]

There is no limit to the imagination for Eagle projects.

___________________

 

Airport Security Uses Eagle Scout Project

- AP to My Yahoo!

 

By DAVE CARPENTER

 

CHICAGO - Fifteen-year-old Josh Pfluger and his pals went into his garage and hammered out a shoe-scanning device with the goal of polishing off his Eagle Scout requirements.

 

 

Looks like the project passes muster. Pfluger's good deed is in daily use at the world's busiest airport, helping passengers at O'Hare International move through security checkpoints with a minimum of fuss.

 

"It's real cool," the Rockford, Ill., teen said Thursday as he prepared to fly to New York for a round of appearances on network television shows. "If other airports call me, I'm going to do it as a job."

 

The shoebox-like scanners fashioned by Pfluger and fellow members of Boy Scout Troop 37 don't mean the government has turned over airport security technology to the nation's youth.

 

Rather, the homemade devices in use at O'Hare, and similar ones elsewhere, are an optional, preliminary step to let passengers know whether their shoes will trigger alarms if they don't remove them and send them through the X-ray machines before walking through checkpoints. That, federal officials say, can speed up lines and maybe encourage people to leave footwear with metal eyelets behind on future trips.

 

"It's obviously not a certified machine, but it does initially help in the screening process," said Monique Bond, spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Aviation at O'Hare. "It's a unique idea ... giving the Boy Scouts an opportunity to demonstrate their merit."

 

Talk about a really big shoe Pfluger wears a size 13, and that's his shoeprint travelers step on when they use any of the 12 shoe-checker boxes in use at O'Hare. Inside each box is a wand, or small metal detector, held up with bungee cords. The box sounds an alarm if there's a violation.

 

So how did a high-school kid end up building security items showcased at a global transportation hub?

 

The idea originated with his neighbor, Rick Spencer, a Transportation Security Administration official. Responding to security demands that stem from the attempted airplane attack 18 months ago by convicted shoe bomber Richard Reid, Spencer rigged up a cardboard-box version used with some success at the Madison, Wis., airport.

 

Recalling his own Boy Scout experience, Spencer decided earlier this year that the task for a sturdier, wooden version would be an ideal Eagle Scout project, which requires a community improvement and group involvement.

 

"My Josh was just waiting for a project to fall into his lap," said Pfluger's mother, Dawn. "And he said, `Well, it just fell'" a reference to Spencer, whose agency declined to let him be interviewed for this story.

 

With help from his dad, Dan Pfluger, Josh and about 10 others put in a total of 120 hours to design and build more than a dozen scanners, which feature sliding boards with Plexiglas. With Josh's inspiration, each one has a flag, the TSA logo and "Place foot here" on the top.

 

It's the best thing he's made, he says, since crafting "a contraption that turned on a light" for an eighth-grade class project.

 

TSA spokeswoman Chris Rhatigan calls the shoe-checkers "a feel-good customer service option that some of our people took initiative on."

 

While they may not be aware of the Boy Scouts' involvement, many passengers seem to approve of the makeshift machines. Robert Wise, a frequent traveler from Chicago, calls such devices "a great addition."

 

"The first time I saw one, I thought it was really cool," Wise said. "The idea of being able to get through this screening without taking your shoes off can save you a whole huge procedure. People don't want to take their shoes off."

 

[frank10]

Saw it on Fox News this morning, they showed the boxes in use at the airport and credited the scout for making them. Too bad they didn't interview him.

[bt01]

Outstanding!!