Returning from Salt Lake City Airport yesterday, I experienced the General Electric Entry Scan ion tracking security portal for the first time. It’s been tested for a few months now, starting with San Francisco. The machines, a cross between a metal detector, the glaucoma test machine at the optometrist, and an MRI, are designed to find explosives traces on your body. Not every security line at SLC had one (there were 2 at the checkpoint for the A and B gates, but only one was operational). I guess I was just “lucky”…

For those not familiar with this system, a female voice invites you to walk into the chamber. A glass door is closed in front of you. The voice says something like “Air puffers on!” and air jets burst onto you from several sides, from the bottom up. After a pause (during which the ions in the air are analyzed), the doors open, a green light comes on, and the voice tells you to exit.

It’s a bit startling the first time. The puffers are pretty loud. You may want to close your eyes, too, if you’re unlucky enough to have a puffer at eye level. It was also a shocker for the woman in front of me, whose skirt, blouse, and long hair all flew up. No wonder most people in my line looked cranky when they left security. At least they didn’t get red-lighted and kept in holding like the poor woman behind me. I didn’t stick around to see how they manually checked her.
I’d guess it takes about 20-30 seconds per traveler, including the time moving in and out. The time inside is about 15-20 seconds. This extra portal didn’t replace the metal detector, which followed the puffer. Interestingly, most people were specifically asked to keep their shoes ON.

I’m not a huge fan of this, though it was sort of fun to try it once. It slowed the security process down significantly. Others who went through a normal line were through security nearly ten minutes faster. Maybe if they can integrate a metal detector into such a device, make the puffers less severe, and speed up the ion analysis, then this could be widely welcomed. Most importantly, I hope it actually works, and the nuisance actually increases security.

Update: See a video of the SLC puffer machine in action here.