Flight Attendants Call for Strong New Airline Safety & Security Reforms
Sep 17, 2001, 5:08 pm
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Flight Attendants Call for Strong New Airline Safety & Security Reforms
Flight Attendants Call for Strong New Airline Safety & Security Reforms
The Association of Flight Attendants, AFL-CIO, is telling the U.S. Congress that the safety and security procedures and guidelines announced by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in response to the September 11th terrorist attacks are not extensive enough to prevent a similar tragedy in the future, and are recommending significantly stronger action.
``The FAA's new safety and security procedures fail to address the most serious breakdowns in aircraft cabin security that appear to have led to this tragedy,'' said Patricia Friend, AFA International President. ``To prevent future attacks, flight attendant training and certification procedures must be significantly updated and enhanced, security screening procedures must be federalized, and carry-on baggage limits must be imposed.''
Flight attendants are calling for:
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/010917/dcm063_1.html
The Association of Flight Attendants, AFL-CIO, is telling the U.S. Congress that the safety and security procedures and guidelines announced by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in response to the September 11th terrorist attacks are not extensive enough to prevent a similar tragedy in the future, and are recommending significantly stronger action.
``The FAA's new safety and security procedures fail to address the most serious breakdowns in aircraft cabin security that appear to have led to this tragedy,'' said Patricia Friend, AFA International President. ``To prevent future attacks, flight attendant training and certification procedures must be significantly updated and enhanced, security screening procedures must be federalized, and carry-on baggage limits must be imposed.''
Flight attendants are calling for:
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/010917/dcm063_1.html
Sep 19, 2001, 7:17 am
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Fear of Flying and Layoffs as Air Crews Try to Cope
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/19/national/19CREW.html
Rethinking the Security at Airports
Airport officials, lawmakers and safety experts say airport security should be drastically overhauled, and perhaps billions of dollars invested in high-tech surveillance and other anti-terrorist tools, including simple things like better pay for airport workers.
Some are also suggesting that airport security has become an issue of national security and should be made a function of the federal government. Even the profit motive of local airport operators has come under question, as some critics have said the drive to make money from concessions like clothing stores and restaurants has helped make airports more vulnerable to terrorists.
"We have to create a federal agency security force, with high morale, high training, constant hiring and good benefits," said Neil C. Livingstone, chairman and chief executive of GlobalOptions, an international risk management firm. "We don't ask any other industry in the United States to take over a life and death security function. For airlines, maintenance has always been the major issue, and that is what you want the airlines to concentrate on."
Judging from some of the ideas being discussed, the airport of the future could include large security cones, which would be enclosed structures where passengers would be screened by machines that read molecular structures of the items they wear and carry. There could also be facial recognition technology, which would compare physical characteristics of passengers to those of known and suspected terrorists.
Vast networks of surveillance cameras could be set up, backed up by undercover security personnel posing as passengers and airport workers. Restaurants and shops could be banned or placed in airport areas distant enough to be regarded as low risk. Giant walls with razor wire and floodlights could replace chain-link fences on the airports' perimeter.
And following the example of places like Ben-Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv, passengers might be subjected to intense pre-boarding interviews conducted by highly trained screeners. Personal questions would be the norm, and a refusal to answer would mean missing the flight.
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/19/nyregion/19AIRP.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/19/nyregion/19AIRP.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/19/national/19CREW.html
Rethinking the Security at Airports
Airport officials, lawmakers and safety experts say airport security should be drastically overhauled, and perhaps billions of dollars invested in high-tech surveillance and other anti-terrorist tools, including simple things like better pay for airport workers.
Some are also suggesting that airport security has become an issue of national security and should be made a function of the federal government. Even the profit motive of local airport operators has come under question, as some critics have said the drive to make money from concessions like clothing stores and restaurants has helped make airports more vulnerable to terrorists.
"We have to create a federal agency security force, with high morale, high training, constant hiring and good benefits," said Neil C. Livingstone, chairman and chief executive of GlobalOptions, an international risk management firm. "We don't ask any other industry in the United States to take over a life and death security function. For airlines, maintenance has always been the major issue, and that is what you want the airlines to concentrate on."
Judging from some of the ideas being discussed, the airport of the future could include large security cones, which would be enclosed structures where passengers would be screened by machines that read molecular structures of the items they wear and carry. There could also be facial recognition technology, which would compare physical characteristics of passengers to those of known and suspected terrorists.
Vast networks of surveillance cameras could be set up, backed up by undercover security personnel posing as passengers and airport workers. Restaurants and shops could be banned or placed in airport areas distant enough to be regarded as low risk. Giant walls with razor wire and floodlights could replace chain-link fences on the airports' perimeter.
And following the example of places like Ben-Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv, passengers might be subjected to intense pre-boarding interviews conducted by highly trained screeners. Personal questions would be the norm, and a refusal to answer would mean missing the flight.
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/19/nyregion/19AIRP.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/19/nyregion/19AIRP.html
Sep 21, 2001, 8:59 am
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Many Travelers on Airlines Appeal for Tighter Security
Despite efforts by government agencies and the airlines to make flying safer in the aftermath of last week's hijackings and terrorist attacks, many passengers say the authorities have still not done enough to improve airport security.
At large airports around the country, like those in Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Denver and Los Angeles, detection devices and security officials have not recognized items like scissors and syringes that could be used as weapons or stopped passengers with phony tickets, interviews showed.
All airports have begun putting into effect new federal security measures, and their presence is evident everywhere, including additional X-ray screenings, body pat-downs and multiple identification checks from the ticket counter to security checkpoints to the departure gates.
But so many air passengers have complained in recent days of lapses and uneven application of measures that the Federal Aviation Administration began asking visitors to its Web site today to send in their own suggestions by e-mail, fax and telephone "on how to improve aviation."
"The call volume since last week's tragic events has been considerable," the agency conceded.
"We've done a lot, but a lot more work needs to be done," Paul Takemoto, an agency spokesman, said, acknowledging the need for additional security measures and a more even application of them.
Mr. Takemoto declined to discuss security issues at any specific airport, saying, "We don't want to create targets, and we don't want people thinking some airports may be more vulnerable than others."
For now, that appears to be the case. Interviews with dozens of people who have flown in the last week revealed all sorts of leaks at airports or at least enough to suggest that in many places travelers are subjected to no more scrutiny than they had been before the recent hijackings.
Robin Frank, who flew this week from Los Angeles to Kennedy Airport in New York, said she intentionally carried a 5 1/2-inch-long scissors through airport metal detectors as her personal safety gauge to see whether she would board the plane. After the item was not detected, she called airport personnel's attention to the scissors.
Kara L. Nichols said she returned home after flying from Tortola in the Caribbean, through San Juan, P.R., to Baltimore-Washington International with a Swiss Army knife in her backpack that eluded detection both in Tortolla and San Juan.
"It just frightens me that with all of the alerts and coming only a few days after events of last week that they weren't checking any harder," said Ms. Nichols, 37, an Internet executive.
A flight attendant for United Airlines, who would not let her name be used, arriving for work today at O'Hare Airport in Chicago said she was alarmed to see that United employees, not security personnel or police officers, were checking the identification of passengers and that passing through security checkpoints, her bags were not thoroughly inspected, allowing her to carry through a pair of hair-cutting shears, nail clippers and a nail file.
Tim Pratt, who arrived at Kennedy on a United flight from San Francisco, is a diabetic. He said the 10 syringes he carried went undiscovered by security personnel.
A New York Times reporter leaving Hartsfield Airport in Atlanta made it through all security check points by showing only an itinerary he had typed. Another Times reporter leaving the Miami airport told a US Airways agent that she was carrying two flammable items that are now prohibited on flights, nail polish and polish remover. The agent, she said, told her: "Don't worry about it. Just see if they catch it at the security checkpoint..."
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/21/na...rchpv=nytToday
Despite efforts by government agencies and the airlines to make flying safer in the aftermath of last week's hijackings and terrorist attacks, many passengers say the authorities have still not done enough to improve airport security.
At large airports around the country, like those in Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Denver and Los Angeles, detection devices and security officials have not recognized items like scissors and syringes that could be used as weapons or stopped passengers with phony tickets, interviews showed.
All airports have begun putting into effect new federal security measures, and their presence is evident everywhere, including additional X-ray screenings, body pat-downs and multiple identification checks from the ticket counter to security checkpoints to the departure gates.
But so many air passengers have complained in recent days of lapses and uneven application of measures that the Federal Aviation Administration began asking visitors to its Web site today to send in their own suggestions by e-mail, fax and telephone "on how to improve aviation."
"The call volume since last week's tragic events has been considerable," the agency conceded.
"We've done a lot, but a lot more work needs to be done," Paul Takemoto, an agency spokesman, said, acknowledging the need for additional security measures and a more even application of them.
Mr. Takemoto declined to discuss security issues at any specific airport, saying, "We don't want to create targets, and we don't want people thinking some airports may be more vulnerable than others."
For now, that appears to be the case. Interviews with dozens of people who have flown in the last week revealed all sorts of leaks at airports or at least enough to suggest that in many places travelers are subjected to no more scrutiny than they had been before the recent hijackings.
Robin Frank, who flew this week from Los Angeles to Kennedy Airport in New York, said she intentionally carried a 5 1/2-inch-long scissors through airport metal detectors as her personal safety gauge to see whether she would board the plane. After the item was not detected, she called airport personnel's attention to the scissors.
Kara L. Nichols said she returned home after flying from Tortola in the Caribbean, through San Juan, P.R., to Baltimore-Washington International with a Swiss Army knife in her backpack that eluded detection both in Tortolla and San Juan.
"It just frightens me that with all of the alerts and coming only a few days after events of last week that they weren't checking any harder," said Ms. Nichols, 37, an Internet executive.
A flight attendant for United Airlines, who would not let her name be used, arriving for work today at O'Hare Airport in Chicago said she was alarmed to see that United employees, not security personnel or police officers, were checking the identification of passengers and that passing through security checkpoints, her bags were not thoroughly inspected, allowing her to carry through a pair of hair-cutting shears, nail clippers and a nail file.
Tim Pratt, who arrived at Kennedy on a United flight from San Francisco, is a diabetic. He said the 10 syringes he carried went undiscovered by security personnel.
A New York Times reporter leaving Hartsfield Airport in Atlanta made it through all security check points by showing only an itinerary he had typed. Another Times reporter leaving the Miami airport told a US Airways agent that she was carrying two flammable items that are now prohibited on flights, nail polish and polish remover. The agent, she said, told her: "Don't worry about it. Just see if they catch it at the security checkpoint..."
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/21/na...rchpv=nytToday
Sep 28, 2001, 1:33 pm
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Face recognition may enhance airport security
As airports scramble to beef up security in the wake of the September 11 attacks, aviation industry insiders say face recognition technology could become a major weapon in the war against terrorism.
Iceland is the first airport in the world to announce it's using the technology to screen passengers, and others may follow its lead.
The human face has 80 so-called landmarks -- including the bridge and tip of the nose, the size of the mouth and eyes, and the cheekbones.
Scanning 15 faces at a time, comparing them to a database of images at the rate of a million faces a second, face recognition technology needs only 14 to 20 of those 80 landmarks to spot a face authorities are looking for.
"We don't have the fingerprints of terrorist groups. But we do have the pictures of terrorist groups," said Joseph Atick, chairman and CEO of Visionics Corp., which markets face recognition equipment.
The technology is so precise, Atick says, that it can't be fooled by disguises such as wigs or fake beards.
http://www.cnn.com/2001/US/09/28/rec...ing/index.html
As airports scramble to beef up security in the wake of the September 11 attacks, aviation industry insiders say face recognition technology could become a major weapon in the war against terrorism.
Iceland is the first airport in the world to announce it's using the technology to screen passengers, and others may follow its lead.
The human face has 80 so-called landmarks -- including the bridge and tip of the nose, the size of the mouth and eyes, and the cheekbones.
Scanning 15 faces at a time, comparing them to a database of images at the rate of a million faces a second, face recognition technology needs only 14 to 20 of those 80 landmarks to spot a face authorities are looking for.
"We don't have the fingerprints of terrorist groups. But we do have the pictures of terrorist groups," said Joseph Atick, chairman and CEO of Visionics Corp., which markets face recognition equipment.
The technology is so precise, Atick says, that it can't be fooled by disguises such as wigs or fake beards.
http://www.cnn.com/2001/US/09/28/rec...ing/index.html
Sep 29, 2001, 10:26 am
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More rigorous screening procedures and an increase in business and leisure travelers have produced daunting lines at airports around the country in the past two days.
At Philadelphia International Airport today, a line almost a quarter of a mile long stretched to a hotel where clerks sold water, juice and coffee to passengers, some of whom arrived three or four hours before their scheduled flight departures.
At Terminal C in Newark today, ticket lines exceeded an hour.
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/29/national/29TRAV.html
At Philadelphia International Airport today, a line almost a quarter of a mile long stretched to a hotel where clerks sold water, juice and coffee to passengers, some of whom arrived three or four hours before their scheduled flight departures.
At Terminal C in Newark today, ticket lines exceeded an hour.
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/29/national/29TRAV.html
Sep 29, 2001, 2:25 pm
#6
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Atlanta, GA USA
Posts: 1,295
All talk and no real solutions. Until they
figure out a way to cut down on the long lines and ridiculous carry on regulations, I won't fly. What do the FAs think about some of the no common sense things being done. We
can carry GLASS bottles of alcohol(also flammable) but not tweezers and nail clippers? HELLO? All lit up but no one's home.
[This message has been edited by flowerchild (edited 09-29-2001).]
figure out a way to cut down on the long lines and ridiculous carry on regulations, I won't fly. What do the FAs think about some of the no common sense things being done. We
can carry GLASS bottles of alcohol(also flammable) but not tweezers and nail clippers? HELLO? All lit up but no one's home.
[This message has been edited by flowerchild (edited 09-29-2001).]
Sep 30, 2001, 8:22 am
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Oct 2, 2001, 7:30 am
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Congress Mulls Airport Security Bills
Congress is near agreement on legislation sought by President Bush to make aircraft and airports safer in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
The last big question to be resolved was whether airport screeners should come under federal supervision, as advocated by the White House and House Republicans, or become federal employees, the favored idea in the Senate.
Both chambers were seeking common ground in the hopes of approving aviation security legislation by the end of the week. The bill would be the third major congressional action in response to the terrorist hijackings of four commercial airliners. Lawmakers also passed a $40 billion emergency spending bill and a $15 airline relief package.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/nati...-Security.html
Congress is near agreement on legislation sought by President Bush to make aircraft and airports safer in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
The last big question to be resolved was whether airport screeners should come under federal supervision, as advocated by the White House and House Republicans, or become federal employees, the favored idea in the Senate.
Both chambers were seeking common ground in the hopes of approving aviation security legislation by the end of the week. The bill would be the third major congressional action in response to the terrorist hijackings of four commercial airliners. Lawmakers also passed a $40 billion emergency spending bill and a $15 airline relief package.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/nati...-Security.html
Oct 5, 2001, 8:13 am
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Air Security Improvement Glance
Recommendations of a federal task force on improving airplane security:
-Fit the entire U.S. airliner fleet with stronger cockpit doors within one year. A new door design should be approved within six months. In the interim, deadbolts or other devices should be used to secure cockpits.
-Require the Federal Aviation Administration (news - web sites), the airline industry and pilot unions to come up with procedures that could help thwart a hijacking.
-Install a device that would continuously transmit a signal if the plane is hijacked.
-Introduce an automated system to verify the identity of anyone wanting to sit in the jump seat, the extra seat in an airline cockpit.
-Have a new federal security agency supervising passenger screening also take on the responsibility for searching cabins.
-Endorse President Bush (news - web sites)'s call for increasing the number of air marshals.
-Prohibit flight attendants from serving passengers before the plane takes off to allow them to watch the cabin.
-Ask each airline to develop, within 60 days, a system to warn crew members of any security advisories or threats.
-Develop, within 30 days, new security training for pilots, flight attendants and other crew members.
-Provide non-lethal weapons or self-defense courses to flight attendants.
Experts say the furor over air security is based on several misconceptions.
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/abc/200...g010927_1.html
Recommendations of a federal task force on improving airplane security:
-Fit the entire U.S. airliner fleet with stronger cockpit doors within one year. A new door design should be approved within six months. In the interim, deadbolts or other devices should be used to secure cockpits.
-Require the Federal Aviation Administration (news - web sites), the airline industry and pilot unions to come up with procedures that could help thwart a hijacking.
-Install a device that would continuously transmit a signal if the plane is hijacked.
-Introduce an automated system to verify the identity of anyone wanting to sit in the jump seat, the extra seat in an airline cockpit.
-Have a new federal security agency supervising passenger screening also take on the responsibility for searching cabins.
-Endorse President Bush (news - web sites)'s call for increasing the number of air marshals.
-Prohibit flight attendants from serving passengers before the plane takes off to allow them to watch the cabin.
-Ask each airline to develop, within 60 days, a system to warn crew members of any security advisories or threats.
-Develop, within 30 days, new security training for pilots, flight attendants and other crew members.
-Provide non-lethal weapons or self-defense courses to flight attendants.
Experts say the furor over air security is based on several misconceptions.
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/abc/200...g010927_1.html
Oct 5, 2001, 8:43 am
#10
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Location: Bethesda, MD USA
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This is what I've been saying all along -- we're once again fighting the last war. I only wish bin Laden and his followers were stupid enough to try the hijacking trick again. It would fail miserably. The people on the plane would fight back, and even if the hijackers did take over the plane, it would get shot down. So much for making a statement by crashing a plane into a landmark again.
Oct 5, 2001, 1:53 pm
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Aviation Security Association Urges Congress to Adopt Israeli and Europe Aviation Security System
The Aviation Security Association, comprised of the world's leading security companies, today urged Congress and the Bush Administration to adopt the Israeli and European aviation security models to give the U.S. flying public increased confidence in the aviation system in the wake of the September 11th atrocities.
Lior Zouker, who began his career as a sky marshal for El Al Israeli Airlines and was one of the chief architects in designing the security features at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion International Airport, is now CEO of ICTS, one of the world's largest aviation security firms, based in Amsterdam. Zouker, a founding member of the ASA, stated...:
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/011005/dcf039_1.html
The Aviation Security Association, comprised of the world's leading security companies, today urged Congress and the Bush Administration to adopt the Israeli and European aviation security models to give the U.S. flying public increased confidence in the aviation system in the wake of the September 11th atrocities.
Lior Zouker, who began his career as a sky marshal for El Al Israeli Airlines and was one of the chief architects in designing the security features at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion International Airport, is now CEO of ICTS, one of the world's largest aviation security firms, based in Amsterdam. Zouker, a founding member of the ASA, stated...:
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/011005/dcf039_1.html
Oct 5, 2001, 2:52 pm
#12
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<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by mdtony:
This is what I've been saying all along -- we're once again fighting the last war. I only wish bin Laden and his followers were stupid enough to try the hijacking trick again. It would fail miserably. The people on the plane would fight back, and even if the hijackers did take over the plane, it would get shot down. So much for making a statement by crashing a plane into a landmark again.</font>
This is what I've been saying all along -- we're once again fighting the last war. I only wish bin Laden and his followers were stupid enough to try the hijacking trick again. It would fail miserably. The people on the plane would fight back, and even if the hijackers did take over the plane, it would get shot down. So much for making a statement by crashing a plane into a landmark again.</font>
I'm no rocket scientist but can't someone figure out that they are on the next trick? We shouldn't focus all our attention on the passengers. Wait till someone infiltrates the catering & plants a bomb...then we'll have all this security around the food. Or if a bomb is planted via luggage (bonus for terrorist: no suicide involved!), then we will tighten up the baggage situation. This is silly---we are always " a buck short & a day late". Can the terrorists actually be that much more clever than us? It makes me want to SCREAM!!
Oct 5, 2001, 3:09 pm
#13
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: Bethesda, MD USA
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<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by corky:
THANK YOU!!!
I'm no rocket scientist but can't someone figure out that they are on the next trick? </font>
THANK YOU!!!
I'm no rocket scientist but can't someone figure out that they are on the next trick? </font>
What will these evil subhumans try next? I don't know. My guess is that it will be truck bombs at electric plants or something like that. They know the hijacking thing won't work again, so they won't do it.
Truck bombs, unfortunately, will always work.
Oct 6, 2001, 7:49 am
#14
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FAA, Airlines Stalled Major Security Plans
Safety: Few of the steps recommended five years ago have been completed. Most are lost in bureaucracy or were victims of industry efforts to kill them.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationwo...lines%2Dnation
Safety: Few of the steps recommended five years ago have been completed. Most are lost in bureaucracy or were victims of industry efforts to kill them.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationwo...lines%2Dnation
Oct 6, 2001, 8:00 am
#15
Join Date: Mar 2001
Posts: 118
bin Laden's group - if it survives the coming attacks - will certainly move on. However, there are dozens of terrorist organisations in the world who would love to copy cat what has happened.
Consider - A person walks on board with a carry on bag that has what appears to be bars of soap. During the flight she pulls them out, breaks them, and walks to the lavatory, purse in hand. The chemicals in the bar of soap mix to be sarin. In a few minutes the passengers are unconscious or vomitting. The high jackers, having hidden gas masks before the flight while posing as boarding crew (which is how at least some of the knives were stashed this time), come out and take over the flight, and repeat the WTC attack.
Consider - A person walks on board with a carry on bag that has what appears to be bars of soap. During the flight she pulls them out, breaks them, and walks to the lavatory, purse in hand. The chemicals in the bar of soap mix to be sarin. In a few minutes the passengers are unconscious or vomitting. The high jackers, having hidden gas masks before the flight while posing as boarding crew (which is how at least some of the knives were stashed this time), come out and take over the flight, and repeat the WTC attack.