Behind the Scenes: Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport ✈️

 

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- Five runways, ten airlines, 34 gates, and almost 12,000 parking spaces. Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport is a city within the Cream City. In our continuing series, Behind the Scenes, CBS 58 went to places in the airport where travelers aren't normally allowed.

Jim Grava, Operations Manager for Milwaukee Mitchell International, took us through the nerve center of the airport, where they can respond to emergencies big and small.

"That could mean more toilet paper in a restroom, that could mean a piece of carpet that's coming up," Grava said.

That could also mean an emergency on a plane or a runway. For bigger emergencies, the airport has their own firefighters and county sheriff's deputies on site. Employees are instructed to call the operations center, instead of dialing 9-1-1.

"It's a quicker, faster response because we have everybody on-scene," Grava said.

Security is of course a major concern for air travelers, and every bag that they check with the airlines, gets checked by the Transportation Security Administration -- or TSA. Behind the scenes is a maze of conveyor belts. From the ticketing counter to the plane, the average checked bag at Milwaukee Mitchell travels three quarters of a mile, and according to Tim Goodman -- Assistant Federal Security Director for TSA Wisconsin -- most of the time the luggage moves fast.

"Generally, about 7.5 minutes from when it is checked until it ends up in the airlines hands at their carousel," Goodman said.

Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport (credit: CBS 58)

Every piece of luggage goes through one of four machines, it's an explosive detection device -- there are four of them at the airport -- and they are sensitive so it's climate controlled. However, this is technology you are familiar with, it's not that much different than an MRI machine at the hospital.

"We can do 2,500 bags an hour, we don't come close to that at this airport at all," Goodman said.

The machines "alert" about one in five bags, and most alerts are cleared with the bag still on the conveyor belt. If not, they get sent to the search room for inspection. If a traveler were to ever lose a packed item, cameras document what was searched and can easily settle a complaint.

"We can identify that, we know when it came into the search room, we can look at camera, and see exactly what happened with that bag," Goodman said.

Certain things almost always alert the machines: power tools, laptops, gaming consoles, and a Wisconsin staple.

"Cheese is the big food item that alarms every time, because we can't see through it," Goodman said

For many travelers, airports are a place to go to get somewhere else. But the people at Milwaukee Mitchell International are also decicated to making this part of the trip go as smoothly and safely as possible.

"There's always something going on that keeps it very interesting," Grava said.