A box cutter found by a passenger onboard a United Airlines plane delayed a Denver to Dallas flight for nearly two hours Tuesday.
Flight 490 had left the gate and was taxiing toward a runway when the passenger found the cutting instrument and notified a flight attendant, said airline spokeswoman Megan McCarthy.
The flight attendant notified authorities and Transportation Security Administration officials met the plane on the tarmac. McCarthy said all the passengers were taken off the plane and re-screened while officials checked the plane for additional weapons.
None were found and the plane took off at 2:25 p.m., nearly two hours after its scheduled 12:30 p.m. takeoff.
Box cutters were used by terrorist to hijack planes on Sept. 11.
TSA officials did not return a message left after business hours by The Associated Press. Spokesman Darrin Kayser told Denver station KUSA-TV that situations similar to these sometimes happen.
"That's why we have armed pilots and federal air marshals so that if prohibited items do get on board, there are other layers of security," Kayser told the station.