Security Breach at EGLL

[Pilot Pete]

It is reported by the BBC that tabloid journalists from the Sunday People have managed to board a BA flight to Manchester and return with knives disguised as everyday objects. Full story here <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/newsid_1733000/1733918.stm" target="_blank">http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/newsid_1733000/1733918.stm</a> It is both sad to see that security is still not strong enough and that the tabloids are still using this cheap method of making a story and shocking further a worried travelling public under the guise of public interest.

PP

[akerosid]

Weren't such exposes made illegal shortly after the Lockerbie disaster? The People "journalists" may find themselves in quite a bit of hot water. Hopefully.

[yellow dog]

Lets say this is true.
What would have happened if they were caught? Would they now be facing a severe custodial sentence. or if they had tried it in the U.S perhaps the death penalty? Nice thought!

[Longhauler]

As nice as it would be for these jokers to get some jail time, one cannot overlook the glaring defects in the security systems that allowed this to happen. When will some of these security officers behave, think, and perform like dedicated professionals whose actions are safety-critical and not like checkout operators? Oh - I know - probably when they get paid as such.

[The Guvnor]

Under the revised Aviation Security Act they now face much stiffer fines and yes, possibly jail time.

[MEVERTSGB]

Maybe these reporters are gay and fancy being locked up with big, sweaty hunks !! ?? Guess the papers are paying them enough for their stunts to allow them to spend a year inside ? I certainly hope that these idiots will learn their lesson by being someone's missus. Ouch ! <img src="smile.gif" border="0">

[reportfurther]

Also a gun scare closes Honolulu Airport.

Officials have shut down Honolulu's airport after security agents said a man with an object resembling a gun in his carry-on bag had passed undetected through an X-ray checkpoint.

Both the international and inter-island terminals were closed shortly after 9am local time after the man entered the inter-island terminal with the suspected gun.

Security agents were unable to identify the man, only realising after he had passed through security that the X-ray imaging revealed what could have been a gun in his belongings.

Both terminals were evacuated and all persons carrying tickets would be required to return through security checkpoints, Kali said.

Passengers on arriving flights were being held on their aircraft during the search for the bag with the suspected gun, which is on-going.

The shutdown affected several outgoing and inbound overseas flights, as well as all inter-island traffic between the Hawaiian islands.

[chrisN]

Please don't flame me - I entirely sympathise with the sentiments above - but is it really practical to examine every metallic pen that might conceal a blade (you can buy one from the "Innovations" mail order catalogue) or to detect a non-metallic blade, as I understand the comb/knife was?

I accept whatever increases in check-in time would result from more thorough searches - would everyone? What would the impact be on passenger numbers, terminal capacity/costs and eventually airport charges, etc.


By the way, I have one leg shorter than the other by 3 inches, and wear a boot with special cork raising and an iron caliper. The iron gets caught at every airport (except Athens, pre-Lockerbie - I presume they turned down the detectors to avoid interruptions to the security guys' routine). I always get searched, quite rightly, but never have had to remove my boot or have it examined. What if the 3-inch raising were made of something else?

I have also walked into the House of Commons (to meet an MP), explained why I set off the alarm, and been waved though presumably as a courtesy on having an obvious limp. I thought of writing a "Day of the Jackal" -type story hinging round that episode. There are no doubt other routes not yet explored by terrorists. Could they all be stopped?

[Superpilot]

Ummm, The Sunday People is one of those news papers that I forgot ever existed.

[Bright-Ling]

How very intelligent of those reporter types.

They shoul dhave the book thrown at them for what they have done. OK - big if, but what if the weapons they were using were taken off them by an unknown psycho sat next to them? Big IF I know, but the Law should argue this and lock them up straight away - for a long time.

"Proving" the inadequacies of any security system is doubtful, but did they really have to get on the plane and put others at risk?!

Finally, I didn't hear anything of BAA in the news, only poor old BA. How come the name of BAA or their many security sub-contractors haven't been rubbished?

Its a mockery of a sham of a sham of a mockery.

[Bright-Ling]

End of rant

[ 01 January 2002: Message edited by: Bright-Ling ]</p>

[under_exposed]

If there are weaknesses in security they should be addressed. If they are not being addressed then it is the job of the press to highlight this.
Why is it always necessary to attack journalists when they discover a problem with the system. It would be much more grown up to solve the problem.

[Bally Heck]

The problem is not what people take on aircraft. The vast majority of people could be trusted to take an anti tank weapon on an aircraft and not destroy it. It is totally impossible and impractical to stop people taking weapons on board an aircraft. Things like hands, feet, bottles, dental floss etc.

When we get over the ridiculous situation where I as a pilot am not allowed nail scissors in my case despite having access to a fire axe and indeed the flight controls, we can focus on proper security.

The point is to stop dangerous people getting on board aircraft. The technology already exists. Perhaps we could ensure that tabloid journalists are added to the database of people who are excluded from flying.

[ShotOne]

What a pity that reporters are being allowed to carry out what are, in effect, dummy-runs for terrorists. They should be put in jail.

[The Guvnor]

Yep, we need the same approach as the Greeks - lock them up and ask questions afterwards.

[nilnotedtks]

. . . imagine the scene, some pompous young journos trying to prove an unprovable point about aviation security on a British internal flight. Having just scared the bejazuz out of all on an AA flight from Paris, the entire cabin leapt on some a**e hole trying to set fire to his shoe. Would it not have served these clowns right if the passengers on the BA shuttle reacted in the same way ? What must have gone through any passengers mind on seeing someone produce after the meal service, a concealed 4" long steel blade and a stell spiked pen ? Then perhaps the newspaper could have slapped pictures of these journos on their front pages, faces covered in bruises, before they start their long prison time. This nonsense is dangerous and I hope the authorities jump on them too, and hard !

[mainfrog2]

In the few days after the terrorist attacks in America virtually no hand luggage was permitted on board, now things seem to have gone back to normal on that front. Maybe if journalists and some passengers getting on an aircraft were once again getting on with little or no cabin baggage this would make the security peoples jobs a lot easier and hand search everybody.

Also while I'm here what is this nylon knife business. If somebody possesses one of these it can only be to work around an x ray devise. If so possession alone should brand you a terrorist and as a consequence maybe these journalists and anyone else found to have one should be treated as one. Nobody seems to be questioning why any of this should even be manufactured let alone carried on a plane.

[ 31 December 2001: Message edited by: mainfrog2 ]</p>

[sparnell]

Under_exposed is right to suggest that security problems should be addressed. However there is a right and a wrong way of doing this. The right way is to highlight security concerns to the responsible authority by presenting evidence and having lapses looked into. The wrong way is to scare to death an already nervous flying public and undermine an already fragile industry by publishing sensationalist headlines in cheap Sunday rags.
I pity BA here,having their name tarnished through no fault of their own. I also cannot believe that supposedly "responsible" adults carry on like this in a pre-meditated way.Have they any conception of the panic that would have ensued had any of the pax on board or a crew member spotted these weapons when they were being exposed and photographed as the journos claim?
Finally, as with other posts in this thread, I feel the journalists concerned should be treated in the same way any other terrorist would be in this situation. Endangering an aircraft is a crime and by smuggling weapons on board that is exactly what these people did. Throw the book at them.

[EGCC4284]

Pilot Pete, e-mail and I will e-mail you back.

[redfield]

I can see both sides of the airport security discussion. Maybe newspaper reporters shouldn't be the ones who have to expose the deficiencies in our airport security systems, but if they don't who will? Something has to be done to stop knives and so on getting through security and if it takes the actions of a newspaper reporter to highlight the problem, so be it. It's happened before and it'll happen again. If the DETR or an airport authority employee managed to get a fake gun through security, would this appear in the press? Probably not. I know, they asked me to try to get such an item through security once, I managed it no problem. The authorities KNOW that their airport security is deficient, I think that they just don't what to do about it which is extremely worrying in this day and age. I've worked at my airport for three years and I always set the security machine off when I walk through it because I wear steel-capped boots, but in all that time I think I've been checked for other metallic objects less than ten times.

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