100 Percent Screening of Air Cargo Two Years Away
March 18, 2010 by national
Filed under Homeland Security News
Air Cargo Screening
An article on Air Cargo World reports that Gale Rossides, acting director of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), told the House Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee it was feasible to screen all domestic cargo by the August 3 deadline. But she estimated that 65 percent was probably the best the TSA could do by that date for international cargo.
Speaking separately at an airfreight security conference in Frankfurt organized by Lufthansa Cargo, Warren Miller, who heads the air cargo international programs branch at the TSA, said the agency had already advised the US Congress on two occasions that the deadline could not be met.
The two-year figure, however, is new. The US imports 1.5 million tonnes of airfreight a year from 97 countries, but Rossides said the biggest challenge is getting cooperation from governments of the 20 countries responsible for almost 85 percent of the shipments.
It is clear that the sudden death in December of Ed Kelly, who had been leading the development of cargo security programs at the TSA for three years, has disrupted efforts to implement the 9/11 Act in a way the industry can work with.
Miller said: “There is no single answer. We must recognize there are many ways that companies move cargo. If we all acted the same way, that would be too predictable. But we must increase security without impeding the free flow of commerce.”
via Read Full Article.
From Global Security Newswire
The U.S. Transportation Security Administration is not on pace to meet a congressional mandate to ensure that all cargo transported on passenger planes is screened for weapons of mass destruction, government officials said yesterday.
That prompted at least one key lawmaker to say Congress might have to take new steps to help the agency reach that goal instead of changing the August 2010 deadline.
Man Acting Strangely On Plane at Montreal Airport Detained
February 25, 2010 by national
Filed under Incident ReportsMontreal Airport
Montreal police were called to Pierre Trudeau Airport after reports of a passenger acting strangely on a flight from Toronto. Montreal police say the man in his 40s was taken into custody and will be questioned by detectives.
He was pulled off the Westjet flight shortly after it arrived in Montreal. News outlet CTV reported all flights from Montreal and Toronto were temporarily grounded. Staff at Montreal airport said the only delay involved the Air Canada flight with the man taken into custody.
A fellow passenger tells LCN TV network that everyone was pulled off the plane as dogs were brought on board to sniff passengers' carry-on luggage.
Police Const. Andre Leclerc says police were hoping the man might explain his bizarre behavior on the flight.
via Read Full Article.
Suspicious Passenger Delays Flight from Detroit
February 16, 2010 by national
Filed under Incident Reports
A Detroit Metropolitan Airport spokesman says police allowed a Pinnacle Airlines flight to depart for Oklahoma City after determining a passenger showing “suspicious behavior” did not pose a threat.
Spokesman Mike Conway says the flight was delayed about 8 p.m. Tuesday while airport police inspected the plane and conducted a background check on the man, who was not arrested.
via ‘Source – Read Full Article.
Man Helps Restrain Panicked Passenger on Delta Flight
February 15, 2010 by national
Filed under Incident Reports
Thirty-five passengers were about to takeoff when a man lunged for the door and tried to get off the plane. Several reports indicate the passenger suffered a panic attack, although others are taking more of a ‘wait and see” approach.
Jeff Backus is back for day two at Capital Region International Airport. He was enroute to Detroit Sunday evening when a panicked passenger forced a nearly three-hour delay.
“The gentleman kept getting more and more irate,” says Backus. “He kept mumbling and saying prayers. He was unresponsive and kept trying to get off the airplane.”
Backus was sitting right next to the passenger in the first row. He says the man seemed upset and jittery.
“He was in his young 20s, a smaller guy, so he was quite nervous and shaken, and I don't know if he was upset afraid to fly or what,” Backus says.
Delta flight 3679 was originally scheduled to depart at 5:30 p.m. Sunday. But bad weather in Detroit caused a 45-minute delay.
“During that time, he kept trying to get off the plane 3 or 4 times, he kept lunging for the door,” Backus says. “A couple of us had to physically restrain him in his seat and keep his seatbelt on and hold his hands down so he couldn't get off the plane.”
“The flight crew determined to go back to the terminal building and had airport police escort him from the plane,” says Robert Selig, Executive Director of Capital Region Airport Authority.
According to Selig, the man was not arrested but detained by the FBI and airport police. Backus was worried for his safety but tried to maintain a level-head.
“You just never know what could happen. What he could smuggle on. I think most of us were watching his shoes to make sure nothing was going to happen. But it worked out okay,” Backus says.
Both airline and airport officials tell us the incident is still under investigation.
Security Scare Closes Detroit Airport Concourse
February 8, 2010 by national
Filed under Incident Reports
Part of a Detroit airport terminal was shut down Monday after an Arabic man ignored instructions from security guards, police said.Part of Concourse A of McNamara Terminal at Metro Airport was closed for just under an hour while the security dogs checked the area, the Detroit Free Press reported.
The man allegedly refused to stop for questions during a security screening process, airport spokesman Michael Conway said.Security guards at first thought the man didn’t understand English and therefore didn’t understand their questions, but when he was taken into custody, he began to speak in English, Conway said.Police, who reported nothing unusual was found when the man’s body was searched, were conducting a background check and planned to search his luggage and car, impounded by airport police.
via Security scare closes airport concourse – UPI.com.
Airline Passenger Says Concerns Ignored on Flight
January 28, 2010 by national
Filed under Incident Reports
South Jersey woman got the scare of her life when she tried to report suspicious activity on board a plane Philadelphia International Airport.The woman shared details of her terrifying ordeal only with Fox 29 News on Wednesday.Now, she’s wondering if it was some kind of sick joke or a test run for a terrorist.
Fox 29’s Dave Schratwieser reported that 12 days after her red-eye flight from Los Angeles, the US Airways passenger is still upset over an incident on her flight, the reaction to it by the flight crew, and the lack of reaction from authorities.”I was trembling, and I was just completely frightened,” said the mother of three.
via Only On Fox: Airline Passenger Says Concerns Ignored.
Ethiopian Airliner Crashes After Takeoff From Beirut
January 24, 2010 by national
Filed under Incident Reports
Al-Arabiya network reported that the plane was carrying 92 passengers, including the wife of the French ambassador to Beirut. (Roee Nahmias)
An Ethiopian Airlines plane with 85 passengers on board crashed into the Mediterranean sea shortly after taking off from Beirut international airport in the early hours of Monday, airport sources said. The plane, said to be a Boeing (BA.N) 737 by one source, disappeared off the radar some five minutes after takeoff.
About 50 passengers were Lebanese nationals, most of the others were Ethiopians, the sources said. There were thought to be seven crew members.
The plane took off shortly after its scheduled time of 3:10 a.m. (0010 GMT), flying south-west, the sources said.
Ethiopian Airlines' website shows it has a flight from Beirut to the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa around that time, operating a Boeing 737. The airline could not immediately be reached for comment.
According to one source, residents on the coast saw a plane on fire crashing.
Hat Tip: Global Incident Map
via UPDATE 1-Ethiopian airliner crashes after takeoff from Beirut | Reuters.
United Flight From D.C. to Las Vegas Diverted After Disturbance
January 23, 2010 by national
Filed under Incident Reports
UPDATE: The man accused of attempting to open an airplane’s exterior door while in flight has been released after investigators determined it wasn’t a terrorism matter.
KTNV reports that United Airlines flight 223 en route from Dulles International Airport in Washington, D.C., to McCarran International Airport has been diverted to Denver due to a passenger disturbance.
According to the TSA, the male passenger attempted to open one of the plane doors while it was in flight.
The aircraft was immediately diverted and was met on the ground by TSA and FBI officials as well as Denver Police.
Barry Eynon of Coopersburg, Pa., said in a phone interview that he was in the third row when another passenger “saw this person trying to open the airplane door and trying to get into the cockpit.” The other passenger “jumped up and grabbed him from behind and yelled for help.”
Eynon said, “I jumped up and grabbed him from the front.”
Three or four other passengers also helped to subdue the man, putting him in a seat and ensuring he remained there, Eynon said.
The man seemed “really out of it,” Eynon said. Source – Washington Post
The passenger was taken into custody by the FBI and questioned.
Passengers and crew members are also being questioned by the FBI.
TSA Prankster Who Allegedly Planted Powder Out Of Job
January 22, 2010 by national
Filed under Incident Reports
According to FoxPhilly News, an apparent practical joke at Philadelphia International Airport security is no laughing matter for a Wynnewood college student and the Transportation Security Administration.
Rebecca Solomon said the screener planted a small plastic bag filled with white powder in her laptop case before she boarded a flight back to school in Michigan earlier this month.
He confronted her in the security line and then said he was just kidding.
Sullivan wasn’t laughing. She complained, and the worker is no longer employed by the TSA. (TSA in my opinion acted quickly and made the right decision)
via TSA Powder-Prankster Out Of Job.
Additional Details from Philly.com Daniel Rubin: It was no joke at security gate
What happened to her lasted only 20 seconds, but she says they were the longest 20 seconds of her life.
After pulling her laptop out of her carry-on bag, sliding the items through the scanning machines, and walking through a detector, she went to collect her things.
A TSA worker was staring at her. He motioned her toward him.
Then he pulled a small, clear plastic bag from her carry-on – the sort of baggie that a pair of earrings might come in. Inside the bag was fine, white powder.
She remembers his words: “Where did you get it?”
Two thoughts came to her in a jumble: A terrorist was using her to sneak bomb-detonating materials on the plane. Or a drug dealer had made her an unwitting mule, planting coke or some other trouble in her bag while she wasn’t looking.
She’d left her carry-on by her feet as she handed her license and boarding pass to a security agent at the beginning of the line.
Answer truthfully, the TSA worker informed her, and everything will be OK.
Newark Airport Flights Halted for Possible Security Breach
January 3, 2010 by national
Filed under Incident Reports
Flights out of one terminal at Newark Liberty International Airport were temporarily halted Sunday night as officials investigated a possible security breach.
Officials took the action after a man was observed walking the wrong way down the exit lane between the secured, or “sterile,” area and the public area at around 5:20 p.m.
The Transportation Security Administration initially responded by stopping screening. But about two and a half hours later, the T.S.A. ordered all passengers on the sterile side to move back to the public side for rescreening.
While it was unclear who first alerted authorities to the potential breach, the individual was not an employee of the T.S.A., which is in charge of airport security, said an administration official.
People were allowed to begin boarding planes again just under seven hours after screening was first shut down, and the T.S.A. expected all passengers to be rescreened by 12:30 a.m. on Monday. Officials did not locate the man who caused the alert.
Man Arrested Trying To Board Plane With Loaded Gun
November 7, 2009 by Homeland Security NTARC News
Filed under Incident Reports
The WHEC I-Team 10 reports that they have learned a man recently tried to board a plane at the Rochester international airport with a loaded gun in his carry-on bag. The man didn’t get far according to the report. .
When you go through the security checkpoint at the airport, it’s hard to miss the warning signs. The number one on the list of things you can’t bring on an airplane – a gun. But last Friday, a 40-year-old man fro Horseheads, New York attempted to do just that.
The man and his wife were headed to Orlando, Florida. The trip was a 40th birthday surprise from his wife. But the real surprise came when security screeners got a look at the x-ray image of his carry-on bag.
Rochester TSA Director John McCaffrey said, “The x-ray operator observed what appeared to be an automatic weapon with seven rounds in the clip.”
The man was arrested right then and there. The criminal complaint accuses him of attempting to board an aircraft while possessing a concealed, dangerous weapon – a felony. He told investigators the handgun, similar to this one, was not his.via Read Full Article.
Deadline Looming – How Will Airline Cargo Get Screened
October 31, 2009 by Homeland Security NTARC News
Filed under Homeland Security News
Here’s the dilemma. By next August, every piece of freight that is shipped aboard a commercial airline will be required to be screened for bombs just as luggage already is. The catch? There are not enough screeners to scan the thousands of tons of cargo that will need to be scanned.
Airlines, the U.S. Transportation Security Administration and shippers that use the cargo holds of passenger planes face an Aug. 3 deadline to create a system of private cargo screeners to make sure cargo doesn’t carry bombs or other explosives.
It’s no small challenge. On virtually every flight, airlines stuff the holds of passenger planes with everything from North Atlantic lobsters to delicate computer chips. As much as 10 million pounds of cargo up to 500,000 boxes are shipped on passenger planes every day, and Orlando International Airport is one of the nation’s busiest air freight hubs.
Until recently, almost none of it went through security.
Shippers and federal authorities are meeting in Orlando this week to review what must be done to get enough companies certified in time to beat the August deadline.
And the industry has a lot of work to do, said Marc Rossi, a branch chief for the TSA’s Certified Cargo Screening Program.
“There will not be enough (certified screeners) to meet the demands of the supply chain, not at the current rate of certification. …,” he said. “That’s millions of pounds (of cargo) that don’t have a solution, projected out.”
The problem is that most freight flown on passenger planes comes pre-packaged on pallets or in large cargo bins. But federal law calls for every little box to be individually screened by either humans, X-ray machines, explosive-detection equipment or trained dogs.
via Read Full Article.
Commuter Plane Crashes Into Home In Upstate NY – Up To 50 Onboard Flight 3407
February 12, 2009 by national
Filed under Incident Reports
New York state police say a 50-passenger commuter plane has crashed into a home in suburban Buffalo.
Unconfirmed reports state this is Flight 3407 from Newark to Buffalo.
State Trooper John Manthey says the plane hit a house in Clarence around 10:10 p.m. Thursday. The house is engulfed in flames.
He says they don’t know whether there were any passengers on the plane. They also don’t know if there were any injuries in the home.
Manthey says the plane may have been headed to Buffalo Niagara International Airport. He says authorities have called the Federal Aviation Administration.
Developing… Follow live on Twitter
Passenger Arrested For Bomb Threat At St. Louis Airport
January 4, 2009 by national
Filed under Incident Reports
An airline passenger was arrested after authorities say he made a bomb threat when flight attendants asked him to close his laptop computer before takeoff.
The man was on board a United Express flight to Washington Saturday afternoon at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport. Airport spokesman Jeff Lea said that when attendants asked him to close his laptop, “he mentioned a bomb or made a bomb threat.”
Police were called, and the man was arrested. The flight was delayed more than two hours while police searched the plane for explosives but nothing was found.
via Source
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