A line of cars and trucks closed off the entrance to McGhee Tyson Airport after terrorists hijacked four planes and killed thousands on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001. The makeshift barrier − what long-timers at the Knoxville airport remember as Fort McGhee Tyson − came down years ago, while other changes have proved more lasting.
The days of throwing luggage into airport storage and heading into town before a connection are done. So are the days of seeing off friends and family members at the gate, unless you have a ticket of your own.
Security shifts have left visible marks on airports across the U.S., including at McGhee Tyson, where a lot more is changing amid a period of rapid growth.
Pre-9/11 airport experience disappeared overnight
Millions of travelers follow official advice to arrive at
airports hours early, ensuring they have time to get through extensive personal and baggage security screenings before boarding.
The Transportation Security Administration presence at the security checkpoint past the fountain at McGhee Tyson offers the starkest visual difference from the time before Sept. 11.
Tom Aiken was decades into a job directing security at McGhee Tyson Airport when the first plane crashed that morning. Ordering the airport’s fleet of vehicles to block the front of the terminal, he told Knox News, was one of his first decisions after realizing that the crash was deliberate.
All traffic was routed through the parking garage as airport staff turned their attention to travelers whose planes had been diverted to Knoxville. The scenario was “such an out-of-the-box experience," Aiken said, "that nothing was off the table."
The attacks left the people on the ground without a playbook. Aiken led a sweeping overhaul of airport security procedures, and McGhee Tyson, like other airports, eliminated luggage storage areas to make room for the newly created TSA. The airport added security checkpoints, as well as new baggage-screening technology.
Hijackings weren't unheard of. A series of high-profile hijackings involving U.S. planes occurred during the 1960s and 1970s. But the idea that an airplane could be used as a weapon was new, airport spokesperson Becky Huckaby said.
The security overhaul that followed reshaped not only how airports screened passengers but also how terminals operated.
At McGhee Tyson, airport leaders had to balance new security requirements with practical business concerns. Its restaurants and shops were located almost entirely beyond the security checkpoint.
"If a terminal was built after 9/11, then those concessions are duplicated — you've got some behind security and some before," Aiken explained. "In our situation, everything was behind."
That prompted Ruby Tuesday, which still operates at the airport, to set up a food station near the fountain by Sept. 14, just days after the attacks. The stopgap solution was mentioned in a news alert the airport published at the time, alongside notices banning unattended vehicles and advising travelers to arrive hours before departure.
The food station didn't last, said Huckaby, who was the airport's lone media-trained employee during the attacks. There simply weren't enough customers.
Each new threat brought new security rules and technology
Security measures have continued to evolve in response to new threats. The 1988 bombing of a passenger jet over Scotland after explosives were placed in checked baggage led to new requirements for passengers, Huckaby said.
The things airport and security professionals asked of travelers also changed. After a passenger attempted to detonate explosives hidden in his shoes aboard a flight bound for the United States in December 2001, travelers were required to remove their shoes before going through security screenings. TSA reversed the longstanding requirement last year.
Mia Harvey, a spokesperson for the Frederick W. Smith International Airport in Memphis, told Knox News the West Tennessee hub underwent many of the same changes after Sept. 11. Like McGhee Tyson, Memphis lost passenger storage space and accommodated a growing federal security presence.
While many of the most visible changes occurred across U.S. airports, some of the biggest shifts happened behind the scenes. The new equipment needed for screening checked baggage, for example, required airport renovations, Blake Stringer, director of Ohio State University's Center for Aviation Studies, told Knox News.
After Sept. 11, both Stringer and Huckaby said, air travel slowed as passengers adjusted to new screenings and security requirements. That frustration helped spur innovation over time.
“The airport industry has rebounded and surpassed its capabilities pre-9/11,” Stringer said. “9/11 was the catalyst for an exponential evolution in airport security technology.”
Twenty-five years after Sept. 11 reshaped air travel, the security systems sparked by that day are still evolving. Earlier this year, McGhee Tyson received $10 million in federal funding to expand its security checkpoint and make screening faster and more efficient for travelers and airport staff.
Fort McGhee Tyson is long gone. But the work set in motion the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, has never stopped.
Mariah Franklin reports on technology and energy for Knox News. Email: mariah.franklin@knoxnews.com. Signal: mariahfranklin.01
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: How 9/11 forever changed flying from McGhee Tyson Airport in Knoxville | Exclusive
