Sydney Airport Skips Its X-Ray Checks

A recent power failure at Sydney's international airport allowed hundreds of passengers to board their flights without their baggage being X-Rayed, and without walking through metal detectors.

Airport officials finally owned up to the fiasco after security guards told a journalist that "Everyone was running around like headless chooks", and security staff had to use magic wand metal detectors and rummage through passengers' luggage in the dark. (Chooks means chickens in Aussie slang.)

More than 200 passengers were hustled through the hasty security checks before power could be restored.

The blackout itself had been caused by a fire in an electricity sub-station transformer.