their granddaughter simply asked for prayers. >>> dallas-based attorney general judith kenny says sheassed and mortified, but it's a little more serious than that. she is also facing felony charges for boarding a plane with a gun in her carry-on bag. kenny says she forgot it was there. the question is how was she even able to get past security screeners? here's abc's lisa stark. >> reporter: it was a mad scramble at the dallas-fort worth airport after security screeners spotted a gun in a carry-on computer bag. by the time security agents went to pull the bag, it was gone, and so was the passenger. officers pulled security tapes to pinpoint the passenger and fanned out across all five terminals, shutting down terminal d completely, even boarding flights that had already loaded. they finally found their passenger. a 65-year-old woman on an american arnirlines jet bound f houston. it had already pulled from the gate and had to be called back. the woman, identified as judith kenny, her bag and a .38-caliber pistol were taken off the jet. she reportedly told agents she had forgotten she h

judith kenny's attorney says his client carries a handgun for protection. she forgot it was in her computer bag when she got on the airplane. kenny is charged with carrying a prohibited weapon into a secure area. there is still no word how she was able to get past security. >> guns, now a knife. >> the transportation security administration said they intercepted a possible weapon at lynchburg regional airport in virginia. what do you think? they say a woman had a dagger disguised as a hairbrush. the dagger was several inches long and made of ceramic. the woman surrendered it. she was not arrested. >>> the captain of a grounded italian cruise ship says he trip and fell into the water. he never intended to abandon his passengers. captain fran s francesco schettino is charged with abandoning the ship. the search for other people has been stopped for now. rough seas off the tuscan coast are making it too dangerous for divers to continue their search. >>> residents in the pacific northwest are digging out from a rare snowstorm there. the system dumped more than

the william, woman, identified as judith kenny, her bag, and pistol, were reportedly taken off the jeteportedly told agents she had forgotten she had it. every other passenger rescreened. that flight took off over an hour late. ten other flights were also delayed. >> most of airport security is security theater. and that's unfortunate. weapons and other items have gotten through. >> reporter: since 9/11, there have been more than 25,000 security breaches at airports, including this 1 at newark international, when a lovesick boyfriend snuck through a security exit to bid his girlfriend good-bye. thousands of passengers had to be rescreened. tsa insists that most of these breaches were minor. the agency has also come under attack for being too aggressive, with evasive pat-downs for children and the elderly. as for the woman in today's charges, she faces state felony charges for carrying a weapon where it's prohibited. and she also faces thousands of dollars in civil penalties. >> lisa stark, our thanks to you. >>> still ahead, tamiflu, the popular drug to fight the flu. government spent

judith kenny says she forgot that the gun was in her computer case.rhaps more troubling, though, is that security screeners actually spotted the gun but not before kenny grabbed her bag and vanished into the crowd. uh-oh. airport police eventually tracked her down and removed her from the plane. >>> well, we're learning some new details about that horrifying propeller accident that severely injured former model lauren scruggs. for the first time the pilot is telling his side of the story. here's abc's ryan owens. >> reporter: hi. i'm lauren scruggs with "lola" magazine. >> reporter: six weeks after model lauren scruggs walked head on into that airplane propeller, so many are still wondering how could it happen? the pilot is providing details. kurt richmond told investigators from the national transportation safety board he warned the 23-year-old to stay away from the front of the plane. richmond says he leaned out of his seat and placed his right hand and arm in front of her to divert her from the front of the plane and the propeller. he continued to

the woman, identified as judith kenny, her bag and a .38-caliber pistol were taken off the jet.rgotten she had it. every other passenger was rescreened. that flight took off over an hour late. ten other flights were also delayed. >> most of airport security is security theater. and that's unfortunate. weapons and other items have gotten through. >> reporter: since 9/11 there have been more than 25,000 security breaches at airports, including this one at newark international when a lovesick boyfriend snuck through a security exit to bid his girlfriend good-bye. thousands of passengers had to be rescreened. tsa insists most of these breaches were minor. the agency has also come under attack for being too aggressive, with invasive pat-downs of children and the elderly. as for the woman in texas, she faces state felony charges of carrying a weapon where it's prohibited. she also faces thousands of dollars in federal civil penalties. lisa stark, abc news, reagan national airport. >> and last november a couple of elderly women made headlines because of how tsa agents treated them at n

it was a gun-packing senior citizen. 65-year-old judith kenny sailed through security with her gun in a computer bag, she says, by mistake. by the time screeners knew what they were looking at, kenny and the gun had disappeared. they checked five terminals. held flights at one terminal and boarded them. >> they were not telling us anything at all. other than there was a security breach. and they were looking for somebody. >> reporter: she was trying to go to houston. her american airlines flight had already pulled away from the gate when security called it back. they found her and the gun on board the jet. >> it makes me feel concerned about what is really going on? is the screening process really as efficient and secure as it should be? >> when you let a weapon go through and you have to call the plane back, passengers already through, disrupting travel, there's something wrong with the performance of the agency. >> reporter: in a statement, the tsa defended its actions. saying it worked to locate the passenger and firearm before the plane departs. for "good morning america," lisa st

judith is a kind, wonderful person. she is absolutely not a threat to anybody. >> reporter: the woman you saw being put into the car was 65-year-old jew did kenny. lot of passengers disagree with that. listen. >>'s amazing for the liquids they remove and the scrutiny they put you through, then for something as blatant as a pistol to get through is unacceptable. >> reporter: it couples on the screen. it goes through the scanner it comes on the screen and they think that looks odd and they go back and look at it. where is the woman? she is gone. megyn: that is unbelievable. in my experience living in new york city, whenever you fly out of new york city, the security -- they are pretty easy. i think they catch a gun -- but they let you go -- the smaller towns you go to like sioux city, in and out of des moines we were there, they looked through every single thing. the entire toiletry case exposed to everybody. there are no secrets in a small airport. >> reporter: they will question up and down, but if you fly out of lax, get them through. megyn: they have to do some retraining down in dallas-fort worth. just as newt gingrich gets a boost in the pol