A horrible 'hole' I noticed in airport security

Its like that at JFK also. Planes taxi over main roadways (not service roads). I drive to the airport and pass under a taxiway, then i pass over that road when the plane taxis to take off.

 

I could not imagine anything easier than hitting (with a shoulder fired rocket) a jetliner lumbering in for a landing.

 

Yup, airport security has many holes. Authorities are aware of many of them, but not all. There are a variety of reasons (most of them invalid IMO, especially in light of the potential consequences), why changes are not implemented quickly. I am involved with a think-tank/advisory group that tries to probe or overcome security measures (pretty easy) and customs safeguards (laughably easy). The findings are passed on to the appropriate departments at the regional and national level, where we hope they do some good and bring about much-needed changes. However, politics, budgets, inertia, incompetence, sheer laziness, technical complexity, etc. all influence the outcome.

 

i used to carry a very slim, silver fold-out pocket knife around with me, that was slim enough to fit in my wallet... Along with this, i had this credit card-type "tool kit" thingie i got from Brookstone; within the "tool kit" thingie was a little knife - maybe an inch and a half to two inches long... Last July, i was flying from JFK to Long Beach... Going through JFK, i had to put all of my stuff into the tray and onto the conveyor belt... Once at the other side, i was stopped by one of the personell who asked to inspect my wallet...

"Sure", i said... He opened it up which is when my silver knife fell out; diligently hunting for that "tool kit" thingie he saw on the screen, he paid no attention to the silver knife that just fell out of my wallet and into the tray, making noticeable noise... Once retrieved, my "tool kit" thingie was confiscated (unless i wanted to check it, which wasn't happening)... i let him have it, took my wallet and my silver knife, put them in my pocket and boarded the plane...

Yes, i boarded the place. No one saw the big silver knife in my wallet nor did he bother to check to see what it was when it fell out of my wallet... If i was some sort of deranged maniac, i could've killed AT LEAST one person, if not EVERYONE on that plane...

Makes you feel safe, huh...?

 

at heathrow in the UK, concorde and other BA planes would be pulled over the main road leading into the airport. Cars were stopped about 20feet away. Those of you who have been there know where i am talking about. The ba hangar on the right on your way in. The planes frequently cross the road there.

 

did anyone read the story of the guy who after 911 managed to sneak on a fairly large (i believe it was about 6 inches long) knife onto a plane 3 different times to prove nothing had changed. He called the police every time to complain. On the 3rd time they were waiting for him.....

 

Stop giving all these lunatics more ideas.

 

Cause they frequent ferrarichat regularly right?

 

The lunatics already have all the ideas. And more. More than half of all security breaches are not publicized. You'd be amazed at the ingenuity and audacity of some.

 

Lets not be silly, but we do know now how many of them try to blend in with society.

 

That gate at SFO that you took Ben, Dan and I too really made me think twice about SFO and security.

Why cant they make something to find bombs on cars instead of LIDAR??

 

Having worked at many airports(as an engineer on airside)there is no such thing as "total security"it would be to restrictive and the function of the airport would grind to a halt,really an aircraft on the ground is no where such a big "prize"to terrorists as one in the air.In any airport around the World if you look closely enough you will see certain areas where security could be improved/tightened but practicality is also an issue.Carbon on the "silver knife" issue,unfortunately even the security people are human(hard to believe sometimes)he has probably thought he has got one prize and that is enough,did it set of the metal detector? if not then he was probably distracted by your credit card"thingy" am sure he did not see it and let you go through on purpose!
Dave Mc

 

You mean like just how i fired off this shot with my camera of a Southwest 737 on final. I was so close that i had my 70-300 zoom set to 100 mm. This photo is uncroped just to show you how close i was to the plane. If you see the photo at about 1600-1200 pixels you can see the co pilot wearing aviator sunglasses

Rob

 

Anyone who has flown to Israel has been through pretty good security but even this is not totally secure. Anyone who has flown back from Israel has gone through what would be necessary if the USA wanted to get control of security in our airports. However, the flying public will not stand for having to arrive at the airports 4 hours before their flights, nor justifying why they should be allowed on the flight they booked. So, we put up with the window dressing of security knowing that any real terrorist can penetrate with relative ease.

 

*cough* paranoia *cough*

 

Remeber when TWA 800 or whatever it was went down and some people reported seeing a missle perhaps streaking towards the jet. A Stinger Missile System or a RPG would be effective as hell against a plane coming in on final approach or taking off.

 

Airport security sucks bad. Ok, let me give you an example. My friends and I are skateboarders. We flew to LA over the summer on a paid trip. Six of us plus 3 photographers got out on a tarmac and took some photos of us skating. All we did was jump a fence maybe knee high that said 'Caution, Flying Airplanes'. This was at LAX. We skated there for about 45 minutes before anyone told us to leave. 45 minutes, we could have been terrorists getting ready to kill people. Maybe they knew we werent.

 

If 300 people is all they wanted to attack I am sure they could thing of many other places to plant a bomb that would be just as easy. Movie theatre, dept store, etc. You just cant worry about that stuff too much as you will go nuts.

Adam