TEN YEARS AFTER

It has been ten years since that fateful day when the World Trade Centre towers were brought down in a bizarre out of the box planning by a group of fanatics. The world aviation security underwent a sea of change following this and billions of dollars are being spent today on aviation security. There has been a huge increase in investment into screening technologies, a global audit spearheaded by ICAO and its regional offshoots and a demand for ever exacting model of the 21^stcentury’s Aviation Security program.



An off shoot of this September Syndrome was that there are many in the Industry who viewed the entire threat being that of suicidal pilots attempting to commandeer a commercial aircraft and then flying it into population centres, in the name of jihad.  This paranoiac obsession fostered by many security experts, often  leave other threats either ignored or  unaddressed.

While technological advances should address the current deficiencies in passenger screening, there are other areas that need to be given critical attention; e.g.  the insider threat, the capability of flight crew to respond to an attack and the calibre and training of the security personnel.

Without delving into a discourse of the current efficacy of today’s security system, I would like to cite a few recent incidents as an illustration.

1.       TAMPA – A mechanic for US Airways stowed away on a flight to Charlotte, where he then boarded another flight using a buddy pass to Pittsburgh.

2.      MOSCOW – A woman managed to stow away on a flight to Tajikistan, having bypassed all security controls. She was discovered by Cabin crew performing a headcount prior to take off.

3.      TAIPEI - A woman was found fast asleep on-board an unattended China Airlines aircraft. She had allegedly climbed a tree, and then jumped over the fence   into the airside area before taking a ground vehicle and driving it along a taxiway to the aircraft.

4.      MADRID - The body of a Cuban man was found in the wheel well of an Iberia flight that landed in Madrid from Havana.

5.      COCHIN – A man was arrested after an airside chase lasting a few hours at Cochin Airport. He had climbed over the perimeter fence, somehow avoiding injury by the barbed wire strands above it.

These are but a few snippets from a single month. Are our security systems as effective as we are led to believe?