Metal detector quits; Birmingham terminal cleared

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama (CNN) -- Authorities evacuated a terminal at Birmingham International Airport on Sunday after discovering that a walk-through metal detector was not working properly, the Federal Aviation Administration said.

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The problem was discovered at 8:05 a.m. CST (9:05 a.m. EST) in the C Terminal, and passengers waiting for flights were rescreened, FAA spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen said.

"The way they could tell that was that the green light on the metal detector was not coming on," said FAA spokesman Les Dorr. "As it turned out, the machine was not unplugged or anything -- it had simply gone out of calibration."

Earlier, the FAA had said the machine was not plugged in.

A Southwest Airlines flight to New Orleans, Louisiana, and Delta Airlines flights to Cincinnati, Ohio, and New York's LaGuardia Airport already had taken off and were allowed to continue to their destinations, she said.

Those passengers were screened again after leaving their planes.

Bergen said she didn't know how many passengers were affected, but was not aware of any significant flight delays.