Loaded Magazine Discovered Under 7A Shuts Down Frontier Flight — Left Behind By An Armed Officer On The Inbound Aircraft

On Sunday around 4:30 p.m. a passenger seated in 7A on a Frontier Airlines flight to Cincinnati had boarded at Atlanta’s gate C-6 when they discovered a loaded handgun magazine containing 10 hollow-point rounds, with initials “K H” inscribed on it.

The captain announces a full security sweep and immediate deplaning – “We need to do a security sweep… we’re going to get everyone off the airplane.” Police, TSA, the Department of Homeland Security, Department of Aviation and Atlanta PD K-9 units arrived with Frontier staff.

It turned out to be just the clip and no gun was found. The airline says it was left by a law enforcement officer who had arrived on the previous flight. Every passenger was re-screened before being allowed back on the aircraft after a four hour delay. The weapon was held by Atlanta police ‘so that the officer could retrieve his property.’

While federal air marshals and some LEOs are allowed to carry guns on commercial flights, they must complete specific training, give prior notice, and follow strict procedures — none of which includes “leaving your magazine under 7A.”

If the magazine did belong to a law enforcement officer traveling armed, it didn’t slip past the TSA. But while Frontier offers this explanation, Atlanta PD says they haven’t confirmed it. Armed officers are allowed to bring their duty weapon through, under the Law Enforcement Officers Flying Armed rules, which assume competence at secure carry, constant control, and… not leaving hardware lying around in the cabin. However, if Frontier’s explanation doesn’t hold then airport screening in the origin city missed a loaded magazine in carry-on or on the body.

From a risk standpoint, a magazine with no weapon in the cabin isn’t an immediate threat. However, the crew and police don’t know a gun won’t be there when the magazine is found (either somewhere else on the aircraft or airside in the terminal). So a full deplaning, sweep, and rescreening is standard.

If you’re trusted to carry a gun on a commercial aircraft, the standard should be higher than a passenger who accidentally brings one to security – not lower – when you lose control of your ammo. And this points to the lack of cleaning between flights that this wasn’t found.

Here’s a marine who brought ammunition through security at LAX. A police offer brought a gun through security there by mistake and flew to Taiwan. A Denver cop brought a gun through TSA on a day he wasn’t even flying. TSA failed to catch so many dangerous items at checkpoints over the years that they classified the failure rates. And there appear to be no consequences for illegally bringing a gun through a checkpoint when you… work for TSA. My own favorite though is this air marshal who left a loaded gun behind in an airport bathroom, Godfather-style.