Will Rogers World Airport Gets New Federal Security Director

Feb 24, 2011 — Last week the TSA named TSA-veteran Kevin Donovan as the Federal Security Director (FSD) for Will Rogers World Airport (OKC) in Oklahoma City.(TSA) "Previously, [Donovan] was the Acting FSD for the airports of the Eastern Washington District based in Spokane, Wash. He also served as the...

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ICAO Members Adopt Security Roadmap on Aviation

 Feb 22, 2011 — Last week Transportation Security Administration (TSA) Administrator John Pistole was at the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Regional Conference in New Delhi, India, where the U.S. and 13 other member states in attendance adopted the "Security Roadmap on Aviation."(TSA) "The roadmap identifies the actions the member...

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Would-Be JFK Bomber Gets Life in Prison

Feb 18, 2011 — Convicted would-be terrorist, Russell Defreitas, on Thursday was sentenced to life in prison for conspiring to commit a terrorist attack at John F. Kennedy International Airport in Queens, New York, by exploding fuel tanks and the fuel pipeline under the airport. Defreitas, a naturalized United...

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CBP Finds 205-Pounds of Opium Smuggled on Flight from Thailand

Feb 18, 2011 — Federal officials said Thursday that a shipment of 205 lbs of pure opium hidden in acrylic cats was seized on January 21 at JFK International Airport. The drug-filled figures were on a flight from Thailand and destined for an address in the New York area....

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North Korea Can Launch Missiles From Second Facility

Feb 18, 2011 — Early this week, VOA News reported it has seen new satellite imagery that shows North Korea has completed a launch tower at its second long-range missile site at Tongchang-dong, which is only about 30 miles from the Chinese border. This launch facility was spied by satellites in September 2008.Source:...

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Heads Continue to Roll Over Moscow Airport Bombing

 Feb 8, 2011 — The Russian government continues to place blame for poor security that President Medvedev says allowed a suicide bomber to kill dozens of people at Moscow's Domodedovo Airport last month.First Medvedev fired the country's Federal Transportation Security Chief Andrei Alekseyev shortly after the terror attack. Then on Tuesday...

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First Flight for Navy's Bat-Wing Fighter-Sized Drone

Feb 7, 2011 — Last Friday (2/4) the U.S. Navy's new bat-winged X-47B unmanned aircraft successfully completed its historic first flight at Edwards Air Force Base (AFB), California. The first flight of the X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System Demonstration (UCAS-D) lasted 29 minutes.In a press release Northrop Grumman, which...

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TSA Grants Workers Limited Collective Bargaining Rights

Feb 5, 2011 — The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) announced Friday that TSA Administrator Pistole has decided to allow Transportation Security Officers (TSOs) to vote on electing a union to represent them in "limited, clearly-defined collective bargaining within a framework consistent with TSA's security mission."(TSA) "TSOs will have the...

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Business Executives Killed in Iraq Plane Crash

Feb 5, 2011 — Seven people died in a small private plane crash Friday in Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish region. Among the casualties are two JPMorgan executives and the CEO of private equity group MerchantBridge reports Reuters. At this time officials do not know what caused the crash.Source: Planet Data...

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France to Hunt for Wreckage from 2009 Air France Crash

Feb 4, 2011 — French transportation secretary Thierry Mariani has announced that a fourth search for the wreckage of Air France Flight 447 will be conducted this spring and summer in the Atlantic Ocean between Brazil and Africa. The latest effort to find any debris from the Airbus A330-200...

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Airport Security Mice Detect Explosives

Airport sniffer mice are being used in a new security device created by an Israeli firm and demonstrated in public trials during the last few weeks.Assembled by a firm called BioExplorers, the new airport security detector houses mice that are trained to pick out the smell of explosives and...

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Manchester Airport Holographic Security Trials

Manchester Airport in the UK has unveiled the world’s first holographic, customer service-based security technology.While making its airport debut, the same technology is well-known within other industries, such as entertainment.As of 31 January 2011, Manchester Airport now has a pair of holographic customer services staff that brief passengers on...

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New Scanning Software Offers More Modesty

New airport security technology is aiming to overcome some of the concerns provoked by the controversial full body scanners now deployed at many hubs around the world, including 78 US airports.In response to the American public reaction to these scanners – which provide an in-depth image of body shapes...

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BA increases fuel surcharge again

British Airways has announced its fuel surcharge will increase for the second time in three months, citing “the continuing substantial increase in the price of oil”.BA last increased its fuel surcharge by £20 per return flight on long-haul routes in December, and the latest increase will take effect on...

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TSA Hopes to Enhance Privacy with New Scanning Software

Feb 2, 2011 — TSA Administrator John Pistole announced Tuesday that his agency is testing new software for its advanced imaging technology (AIT) machines that the TSA says "eliminates passenger-specific images and instead auto-detects potential threat items and indicates their location on a generic outline of a person." The software uses...

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U.S. Travel Alert for United Kingdom and Gibraltar

 Feb 1, 2011 — The U.S. Department of State has issued the following Travel Alert to inform U.S. citizens traveling to or resident in the United Kingdom, including England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Gibralter; of the continuing high level of terrorist threat, including the potential for terrorists to...

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TSA Freezes Private Screener Program

Jan 31, 2011 — Last Friday TSA Administrator John Pistole announced he has decided not to expand a program that allows airports to use private security contractors in place of TSA airport screeners. Pistole said, "I examined the contractor screening program and decided not to expand the program beyond the current...

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Japanese Volcano Causing Flight Disruptions

Jan 31, 2011 — More than 1,000 people living near Japan's Mount Shinmoe were told to evacuate their homes and businesses on Monday following several days of volcanic eruptions, which began last Wednesday. This is the most active the volcano has been in nearly 300 years. Train service and...

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DHS Ditching Color Coded Threat Level Advisory System

Jan 27, 2011 — DHS Secretary Napolitano today (1/27) announced the end of the much maligned color code threat level advisory system former President George W. Bush put in place after the 9/11 attacks. The current HLS Advisory System will be phased out and replaced in April 2011 by...

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Cyclone poses 'serious threat to life' in Queensland

A huge tropical cyclone taking aim at Australia's Queensland state has strengthened to a Category 5 -- the highest designation on Australia's cyclone classification system -- and its landfall is "likely to be more life threatening than any experienced during recent generations," forecasters said.Severe Tropical Cyclone Yasi has winds...

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