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Aviation History
2002
2002 - 0005.PDF
1ST OF READER SERVICES RTISER CONTACTS - EDITORIAL +44 (20) 8652 3842 Quadrant House, The Quadrant, Sutton, Surrey SM2 SAS, UK Fax +44 (20) 8652 3840 email flight.international9rbi.co.uk Editor Murdo Morrison +44 (20) 8652 4395 murdo.morrison9rbi.co.uk Editor's PA Oebra Warburton +44 (20) 8652 3835 debra.warburton9rbi.co.uk News Editor Andrew Chuter +44 (20) 8652 3843 andy.chuter9rbi.co.uk Deputy News Editor Emma Kelly +44 (20) 8652 3096 emma.kelly9rbi.co.uk Commercial Aviation Editor Max Kingsley-Jones +44 (20) 8652 3825 max.kingsley.jones9rbi.co.uk Defence Aviation Editor Stewart Penney +44 (20) 8652 3834 stewart.penney9rbi.co.uk Operations/Safety Editor David Learmount •44 (20) 8652 3845 david.learmount9rbi.co.uk Business Editor Alexander Campbell +44 (20) 8652 3990 alexander.campbell9rbi.co.uk Business & General Aviation Editor Kate Sarsfield +44 (20) 8652 3885 (maternity leave) Business & General Aviation Reporter Justin Wastnage +44 (20) 8652 366ijustin.wastnage9rbi.co.uk Spaceflight Correspondent Tim Furniss •44 (1237) 471960 tim9spaceport.co.uk EUROPE/MIDDLE EAST Israel Correspondent Arie Egozi •972(3)9671155 Middle East Correspondent Gerald Butt •357 2 771967 gbutt9spidernet.com.cy AMERICAS Washington DC Office Fax +1 (703) 836 8344 Americas Editor Graham Warwick •1 (703) 836 3448 graham.warwick9rbi.co.uk East Coast Editor Paul Lewis +1 (703) 836 3084 jpaul.lewis9rbi.co.uk West Coast Editor Guy Norris +1(949)2528971 Fax+1 (949) 252 8972 guy.norris9rbi.co.uk ASIA/PACIFIC Singapore Office Fax +65 338 6171 Regional Managing Editor Nicholas lonides •654343311 Fax+65 338 6171 nicholas.ionides9rbi.co.uk Deputy Asia Editor Andrew Doyle •65 434 3309 andrew.doyle9rbi.co.uk Regional Reporter David Fullbrook +65 434 3314 david.tullbrook9rbi.co.uk Australia Civil Aviation Correspondent Paul Phelan •61(7)40532791 Fax+61 (7)40533003 pdphelan9optusnet.com.au Australia Military Aviation Correspondent Peter La Franchi •61(0)419 246620 Fax+61 (2) 62312795 nulka9ozemail.com.au ADVERTISING UK & Europe +44 (20) 8652 3319 France & Switzerland Tel +33 (1) 53 2188 00 Italy Tel+39 (02) 236 2500 Singapore Tel+65 434 3303 Hong Kong Tel+852 29651542 Australasia Tel +61 (3) 9245 7350 North America Tel +1 (703) 836 7444 Classified & recruitment +44 (20) 8652 3811 SUBSCRIPTIONS +44 (1444) 445454 rbi.subscriptionsSrbi.co.uk THE FLIGHT COLLECTION kim.hearn®rbi.co.uk WWW.FLIGHTINTERNATIONAL.COM i Air Transport Intelligence (All), Flight International's sister online service at www.rati.com, contains the full text of Flight International ant Airline Business since 1996. Full text of the magazines can also be found online with Lexis-Nexis. Dialogue, FT Profile, IAC and Reuters. Editor Kieran Daly +44 (20) 8652 3837 REED *^y BUSINESS INFORMATION COMMENT Poor profile Passenger profiling, an essential building block in the post-11 September security system, will fail unless carried through properly Security's credibility took another serious knock when a passenger at Paris was able to get on board an American Airlines aircraft to Miami with high explosive in one of his shoes. This latest blow to passenger confidence will do nothing to help the airline industry recover from its deep slump. There has been a totally new security chal lenge since the 11 September atrocities, and the USA has definitely reacted to that fact. Whether it has reacted appropriately remains distinctly questionable (Flight International, 11-17 December 2001). The nature of the change is simple and opens up a whole new area that post-11 September security has to cope with. Now a new breed of terrorist is prepared to die in the belief that by killing large numbers of civilians in the air - and on the ground too if possible - some political or religious cause will be advanced. Suicide bombing was always a If someone can get a bomb onboard and detonate it, other security is useless known risk, but until 11 September the bombs that had brought down aircraft - like Pan Am 103 in December 1988 - were placed in bag gage that was checked in and then not accompanied. The fundamental security mea sure adopted as a result was the 100% baggage reconciliation or "bag matching" sys tem, ensuring that if a bag is checked in and the passenger who owns it does not board the aircraft, the bag is identified and unloaded. Europe has had such a system in place for years now, but in most US airports the current system is still not able to provide it. Europe, however, is still deliberating about what it should do in the post-11 September security situation, and has not yet come up with a cogent reaction, except to raise the level of alertness. America may have reacted with some highly visible actions, but the recent Paris inci dent is the ultimate reminder that if someone gets a bomb on an aircraft and can detonate it easily, sky marshalls and a fortress cockpit philosophy are completely useless. The only thing that appears to have stopped this alleged terrorist from succeeding in igniting the explosive reported to have been in his shoe is that he did not have a slick detonation system for it, so his suspicious actions drew attention and he was overpowered while trying to make it operate. Bombs were the first effective weapon used by terrorists against airliners, and notwith standing the events of 11 September when a completely new method of attack was hatched with horrific results, the bomb remains the biggest threat. Stopping terrorists and their weapons - bombs or hand-held devices - boarding in the first place remains the aim, so the airport is still the security key. Baggage reconciliation remains one of the cornerstones. Complete hold baggage screening - implemented in some countries like the UK - is highly effective but it will occa sionally miss a bomb or weapon, so there has to be another layer of security to back it up. Passenger profiling is the other primary part of the system, and it is theoretically in operation everywhere. It worked at Paris Charles de Gaulle in that a man considered to be acting suspiciously and with a number of inconsis tencies in his profile as a normal passenger was stopped and questioned. He missed his flight as a result, but then was cleared and boarded another, taking explosives on board in his shoe. Passenger profiling by ethnic group, reli gious belief or anything of that nature is not impossible but is fraught with legal problems because of human rights issues. Other forms of profiling are easy, perfectly valid, and if combined with ethnic or religious information that puts the passenger in a profile flagged up by intelligence agencies, the clues trail can be strengthened. Anybody with a one-way ticket who does not check-in hold luggage for a long range flight at a holiday period warrants spe cial attention. All these are believed to have applied to the accused man. So did the fact that, although he had a valid passport, his one-way ticket meant he needed a visa and he did not have one. American Airlines staff were worried and told the French authorities so. This makes a mockery of passenger profil ing. A man identified as needing special checking was not checked properly. Security agencies are loathe to reveal their checking systems, but in a case like this the man should not merely have been questioned, he should have been taken into a security system room where everything that he wore, and his per son, were checked thoroughly. If there are laws or operating cultures that prevent this, they need revision. SEE BRIEFS P5 www.flightinternational.com FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 1-7 JANUARY 2002 3
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