Air Safety Week's Breach Report

Air Safety Week,  May 8, 2006  

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DATE & SITE: April 2006 -- O'Hare Int'l Airport (ORD), Chicago
AREA*: 7
CIRCUMSTANCES: Several airport workers say that the airport's network of
security cameras has been working on an off-again, on-again basis.
RESULT: The 1,000-camera network feeds images back to a central communications
center. For at least a week recently, one inside source said there was no video
working at all. Generally, when an alarm goes off, such as at an access control
door, a video feed is automatically triggered back in the center. But recently,
workers have had to manually find the right video. There also were problems with
the perimeter fence, only half of which is served by sensors that feed back to
the communications center. Editor's note: Airport officials blame a corrupted
data file for the camera problem, and said the software has already been fixed.
They also said that security has never been compromised, and the manual video
searches only take a few extra seconds. Airport workers say that problems
continue, despite the reported software fix. One worker said that the video
system is supposed to allow for a choice of cameras, but now, there's no telling
what image will pop up.

DATE & SITE: April 22 -- Haneda Int'l Airport (HND), Tokyo
AREA*: 8
CIRCUMSTANCES: A 15-year-old boy scaled a 3.7 meter-high perimeter fence on the
southern side of Terminal 1.
RESULT: The boy told the police he came to the airport alone on a shopping trip
and lost his way when he exited the terminal building. The police quickly deemed
that the boy's behavior was not malicious, although it was also reported that
officials were considering trespassing charges.

DATE & SITE: April 23 -- Kuwait Int'l Airport (KWI)
AREA*: 3
CIRCUMSTANCES: A passenger passed through security carrying 20 bullets for an
automatic pistol.
RESULT: Airport police confiscated the bullets and arrested the passenger, who
was then sitting in the departure lounge. Editor's note: There was no
clarification as to how he got as far as the gate area with the ammunition.

DATE & SITE: April 23 -- Indira Ghandi Airport (DEL), Delhi, India
AREA*: 3
CIRCUMSTANCES: A passenger brought five realistic-looking toy rifles -- two of
them also with lasers -- into the aircraft cabin.
RESULT: The toys were spotted by British Airways staff on a London-bound flight.
As in the United States, realistic-looking toy weapons are prohibited items in
passenger carry-ons in India. At Delhi, it was quickly determined that the
breach was inadvertent. The airport also quickly put up some new signs telling
passengers that toy guns cannot be carried aboard their flights. Editor's note:
As security experts know, realisting looking toy weapons have been used in
airplane hijackings or hijacking attempts.

DATE & SITE: April 25 -- Los Angeles Int'l Airport (LAX), Calif.
AREA*: 5
CIRCUMSTANCES: A passenger flew from Los Angeles to Sydney Int'l Airport (SYD),
Australia, with an inert grenade in his checked luggage.
RESULT: The 18-year-old Sydney resident was taken into custody by Australian
Federal Police (AFP) after he told them that he had the hand grenade after he
arrived in Sydney on a Qantas flight. A section of the airport was evacuated and
closed for over five hours. The police bomb squad and AFP were called in to
search for the grenade which was eventually found aboard the aircraft.  Editor's
note: Local officials said the man was not being charged, but added that it was
ultimately a matter for U.S. authorities.

DATE & SITE: April 26 -- Davao Int'l Airport (DVA), Philippines
AREA*: 3
CIRCUMSTANCES: A policeman wearing shorts and slippers boarded a 7 a.m. flight
without a ticket.
RESULT: Airport authorities initially said they were working on a report of the
incident and had no further details. Editor's note: It's not clear whether the
breach occurred at a checkpoint, at the gate, or both.

DATE & SITE: April 27 -- Brussels Int'l Airport (BRU), Belgium
AREA*: 3
CIRCUMSTANCES: A man set off a metal detector and then ran into the secure side,
disappearing for a while in the crowd.
RESULT: It was later determined, however, that he had not boarded a plane. In
response to the initial breach, Terminal A was closed, but Terminal B remained
open. Also during the four-hour closure, 24 out of 82 scheduled flights were
cancelled. Editor's note: It was not clear whether the man was found.

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