FAA tests show gaps in airline security
January 11, 1999
Web posted at: 1:14 p.m. EST (1814 GMT)
NEW YORK (CNN) -- Lax security by a major U.S. airline
allowed federal agents posing as passengers to smuggle hand
grenades, bombs and guns past security checkpoints, The New
York Times reported Monday.
The newspaper based its report on Federal Aviation
Administration documents released last week under the Freedom
of Information Act. The Times requested the documents after
the FAA announced in November 1996 that it would settle 84
charges against USAir (now USAirways) for $450,000.
The FAA tested USAir's security procedures in several cities
in 1995 and 1996. Among the incidents cited in the agency's
reports:
A security agent's baggage was checked and he was allowed
to board a plane in Kansas City after telling the ticket
agent that a stranger had given him a package to carry to Des
Moines the night before.
In another incident, agents smuggled a hand grenade past
security checkpoints at Dallas-Fort Worth by entering through
an exit door without detection. And in nine cases, firearms
passed through X-ray machines unnoticed.
In another, a female air traffic controller, acting undercover, walked through a metal detector at Indianapolis International Airport with a gun. The gun set off the metal detector, but security screeners failed to locate it with a hand scanner.
In that case, the USAir responded that its screener had
inadvertently "touched (the air traffic controller's) chest
with the hand wand, which made him very self-conscious in
being careful not to touch the tester again. In this effort,
he believes he held the wand away from her body more than the
recommended one to three inches, making the wand ineffective in detecting" the gun.
To counter the problem, the airline said it had bought hand
scanners that work within a 10-inch range.
USAir's violations were typical of those still found, Cathal
Flynn, the FAA's associate administrator for civil aviation
security, told The Times. Flynn said the airline's security
record is comparable to that of other large airlines.
Flynn added that the airlines pass the majority of some
10,000 tests conducted by the FAA every year.
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