UPDATE 11.14.07: The Associated Press reports "authorities said the flames were likely caused by heat from a conveyor belt. Phoenix police Lt. Rick Gehlbach said the backpack likely began to smoke after it got jammed between two larger pieces of luggage on a conveyor belt." If they say so, it must be true.  

In what sounds like a farce, but has been reported by Reuters as verifiable, a baggage handler at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport was loading bags onto U.S. Airways Flight 200 this morning around 10:00 a.m. when he spotted a smoking suitcase. According to airport officials, the bag did not contain explosives. 

No explosives were found in the luggage and the owner of the suitcase was questioned by authorities, an airport spokeswoman said. Terrorism was not suspected. 

So how does a piece of luggage catch on fire by itself? I myself have toured the TSA's baggage inspection facility here in Los Angeles and am somewhat familiar with how long of a journey each piece of luggage makes after it's relinquished by its owner to the airlines but before it's loaded onto a plane. 

The airline enters each individual piece of luggage into a federalized, baggage screening system for an individual x-ray. So how — and when — did this bag catch on fire, exactly? 

Phoenix Police Detective Stacy Derge did not return calls.

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