Aviation security

The Forgotten Threat To The Aviation Industry

A recent article in the Economist highlighted the need for airport security to evolve. Instead of focusing on the threatening items themselves, attention should shift to those who intend to perpetrate these actions. But where, how, and what should airlines focus on when seeking to identify potential human threats? One of the biggest threats to the aviation industry lies within. Airports spend enormous sums of money on physical security – including metal detectors and body scanners for passengers– yet often forget about the damage their own employees can cause.

 It is costly to the aviation industry to have criminal and disgruntled employees in their company. Since 2002, the US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has had to let go of over 500 officers for stealing from airline passengers. The insider threat is not limited to theft. In December 2014, two airport workers at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport smuggled 153 guns over 20 flights.

 A more rigorous selection criteria can curb the number of employees with criminal intent working in the aviation industry. Some individuals are “rotten eggs;” they seek employment with malicious intent and criminal aspirations. These individuals are often detectable, and it is possible to filter them out before they become part of the aviation workforce. The aviation industry needs to think as much about the characteristics they do not want to see in employees, as much as those they do.

Aviation security

Just how likely are terrorists to target passenger planes with drones?

“Terrorists will always wish to target civil aviation,” says the aviation security expert, Philip Baum. His new book, Violence in the Skies: A History of Aircraft Hijacking and Bombing, presents the horrifying history of attacks on aircraft.

Even a “harmless” hijacking - such as the Egyptian domestic flight which diverted to Cyprus to meet the demands of a passenger wearing a spoof suicide vest - grabs headlines.

And, as 9/11 shows, a well-planned and executed attack can take a dreadful toll in innocent lives.

The aviation security industry seems cursed constantly to be in catch-up mode, meeting the latest terrorist threat.

So it is understandable that passengers and crew might conclude that a malevolent attack involving a drone could down a plane.

The London area could be chosen for such an attack, because it is the world hub of aviation - with more flights and passengers than any other city on earth. Yet the risk that terrorists would succeed in bringing down an aircraft here or anywhere else, using a currently commercially available drone, is small.

Aviation security

FAA Successfully Tests New Drone-Detecting Tech At Airport

The FAA says that they can now detect drones flying near airports and find the drones’ controllers on the ground. It’s a development could prove key to preventing future drone on plane collisions and marks a big step forward in integrating drones into commercial airspace.

The idea of hobby drones getting sucked into airplane engines causing mayhem and fiery crashes was the recurring scare story last fall after the FAAreported that the number of annual drone sightings by commercial pilots had quadrupled to 650, just by August. Fear not. Well, fear less. Earlier this month, the FAA and defense contractor CACI, successfully tested a new drone detection technology at Atlantic City International Airport. 

Aviation security

IATA Chief: Drones Pose Real Threat To Civilian Aviations

Members of the general public operating unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) are a “a real and growing threat” to civilian aircraft, warns Tony Tyler, director-general of the International Air Transport Association.

Speaking at a conference in Singapore, Tyler called for implementing UAV regulations before a serious accident occurs.

“I am as excited as you are about the prospect of having pizza delivered by a drone,” he said. “But we cannot allow [drones] to be a hindrance or safety threat to commercial aviation.”

“The issue is real. We have plenty of pilot reports of drones where they were not expected, particularly at low altitudes around airports,” he explained. “There is no denying that there is a real and growing threat to the safety of civilian aircraft.”

Aviation security

Israeli experts: Demand to Limit On Anti-Aircraft Weaponry “A day Dream”

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and the International Air Transport Association (IATA) have planned to create a global convention to limit the weapons with anti-aircraft capabilities.

Israeli experts told i-HLS that the demand is worth nothing when huge numbers of shoulder launched missiles and other surface-air weapons are “out there” for anyone that can pay for them. “This demand in a fairy tale in the reality,” one of the experts said.