Man Breaches Security on Runway at Chicago Midway

Well, this should make people feel some type of way about security at Chicago’s Midway International Airport.

The Chicago Police Dept. says charges are pending against a man who somehow was able to breach security and gain access to a runway at Midway on Tuesday, where he not only was able to run around the tarmac but also climbed onto the wing of a plane at one point, according to ABC News Chicago.

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The unidentified man, 33, was apparently walking near 55th St, which borders the airport and jumped a barbed-wire fence. His jacket and shirt became entangled in the barbed wire so he stripped down to just a few essentials and was finally apprehended at about 4:45 on Tuesday afternoon near runway 31 at Midway.

“I think we’re seeing how easy it is for somebody to scale a fence and get into a secure area,” Joseph Schwieterman, a DePaul University aviation expert, told ABC Chicago. “In this case it appears the airport didn’t have a lot of operational disruption, but, boy, it’s a wakeup call that one individual could potentially bring down [a] transportation network.”

In an era of unruly passengers, the expert added that “Every year we have new threats to our airline system, and somebody getting inside a secure area without a great deal of difficulty. It does suggest that new kinds of fencing may have to be looked at.”

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