It's Academic

Air Safety Week, Feb 13, 2006

Late last month, Western Michigan University's (WMU) College of Aviation revealed that it has been "quietly building" an aviation security research consortium with some private consulting firms (with expertise in either aviation security specifically, or homeland security generally) and eventually, it hopes, some federal partners. The private partners will include a pair of Colorado firms, Delta Solutions & Strategies, LLC of Colorado Springs, and the FAST Training and Operations Group in the Denver suburb of Westminster, a WMU spokesman tells Air Safety Week. The new college-led project will focus on four research areas: on-board communications between the cockpit and the flight attendants, the use of in-flight video monitors and wireless communications, cockpit defense and control strategies, and the development of universal standards for air-to-air communications.

Agreements to combine expertise are being worked out with other WMU departments in the areas of criminal justice and law enforcement training. The College of Aviation has been in operation since 1939 and currently has about 800 students. >>Contact the college at (269) 964-6375<<

[Copyright 2006 Access Intelligence, LLC. All rights reserved.]