Posted on 01/27/2011 3:39:57 AM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
If investigators in Massachusetts are correct, a Charlotte teenager who had never flown before somehow penetrated an airport security system designed to thwart the most savvy terrorists.
Two months later, the question of how he did it continues to flummox airline employees and security experts. And it may soon become the focus of a congressional hearing.
Massachusetts investigators believe 16-year-old Delvonte Tisdale breached security at Charlotte/Douglas International Airport on Nov. 15 and snuck into the left wheel well of a US Airways plane bound for Boston. Tisdale's battered body was found beneath the flight path in Milton, Mass. He might have fallen from the plane as the jet's landing gear was lowered on the approach to Boston.
Airline employees offer two theories about how Tisdale might have gotten to the plane:
Climbing over or through the 6-foot-high chain-link fence that surrounds the airfield. Security experts say such fences, found around many U.S. airports, present little obstacle to people determined to get onto an airfield.
Traveling with or behind an employee who had authorized access to the airfield. Charlotte airport director Jerry Orr says he believes the security procedures in place make that "piggybacking" theory unlikely. He declined to elaborate.
Bill Wise, head of the US Airways mechanics union at Charlotte/Douglas, said he thinks virtually every entrance to the airfield is under video surveillance. The airport also has card-readers to ensure employees have valid badges before passing security checkpoints.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police have put together a task force to investigate how Tisdale might have gotten aboard the plane. The U.S. Transportation Security Administration is also investigating.
Newly elected U.S. Rep. William Keating, D-Mass., has called for a congressional hearing into Tisdale's death and other airport security breaches.
"This incident brought up security concerns that an airport's tarmac could be breached so easily," Keating wrote in a Jan. 7 letter to the Committee on Homeland Security.
Tisdale, a sophomore at North Mecklenburg High, was a member of the school's ROTC program. His family probably will sue the airport and the airline, according to lawyers they've retained. The lawyers contend that the security system failed, but they're unable to explain how Tisdale circumvented it.
"We have done a tremendous amount of homework, but we don't know how he got there," said Danielle Cohen, a managing partner in the Gainesville, Fla., law firm retained by the family. "We know he didn't map out a master plan and e-mail it to a best friend."
Fence a 'visual deterrent'
Charlotte's massive airfield is surrounded by about 19 miles of chain-link fence topped with three strands of barbed wire.
Several airport security experts say such 6-foot fences are breached easily.
"I don't think you'll find anyone in our industry who will tell you that a 6-foot fence is going to prevent much of anything," said Drew Deatherage, senior security specialist with Moye Consulting, a Texas-based company that designs security systems. "It's really just a visual deterrent."
Gerhard Schiller, CEO of Metalco, an Illinois-based company that builds heavy-duty security fences for airports and the military, says chain-link fences topped with barbed wire have been the traditional standard for airport security.
The trouble, he said, is this: A trespasser with wire cutters can get through most chain-link fences in about 20 seconds.
Metalco makes a welded heavy duty fence he says is much harder to cut through.
"You can't cut your way through without making a major racket," Schiller said.
The nation's water plants tend to have better security than airports, Schiller said. One possible reason: The perimeters of water plants are far smaller, and therefore easier to protect.
At large airports such as Charlotte's, installing new security equipment can be costly. But some airports have found it worthwhile to invest in sturdier barriers.
The change followed a number of security violations at Logan in the late 1990s. In one case, a teenager was climbed over a security fence, got through a jet way door that should have been locked, and found an empty seat on a 747 headed to London.
Who's responsible?
The federal government requires airports to prevent and detect unauthorized access to their airfields but doesn't tell them how high - or how sturdily - to build their fences. The TSA and FAA both said the other agency was primarily responsible for fencing standards.
The FAA recommends that airports surrounded by abundant wildlife build a 10-foot chain-link fence topped with three strands of barbed wire. The FAA said such a fence is the "most effective for keeping deer and other wildlife off an airport," and also "greatly increases airport security."
Lynn Lunsford, an FAA spokesperson, said that when it comes to protecting airports against people, "applicable TSA standards would take precedence."
When asked by the Observer about fencing standards, the TSA said the newspaper should contact the FAA for questions about fencing.
Orr: We protect perimeter
Airports shouldn't rely on fencing alone, experts say.
Some U.S. airports - such as Miami's - have turned to high-tech tools such as radar to detect trespassers near security fences. Others have invested in "smart" video cameras that can detect human trespassers, even at night.
In drives around Charlotte/Douglas, Observer reporters saw few signs of video cameras near the perimeter fence. But Orr told the airport's advisory committee in 2009 that the facility has about 300 cameras, "and they are pretty much everywhere," according to the committee's minutes.
Orr told the Observer the airport spends "a great deal of money and effort" to keep unauthorized people off its airfield.
"Everybody here at the airport is part of the program," he said.
But he declined to talk about what his airport does - or how much it spends - to protect its perimeter, saying he does not want to compromise security.
I read the story from the very beginning, and I suspect the kid just rode into the restricted area aboard a delivery truck. I doubt very seriously that the security guys get up and inspect every single vehicle entering an airport.
Did they find the “hole” he cut? And, has it ocurred to them that he might have had an inside contact who helped him get on the plane for some reason? It appears he HAD to have had help to get on that plane.
What they are really pissed at is that someone named “Delvonte” beat their security.
I think human error was at the bottom of this case. Someone at the airport was not doing their job and this kid was able to get on board. The TSA likes to make it seem that every employee has this Puritan work ethic in high gear all the time. I would think that given the nature of some of these jobs, it may be feasible to find a lazy employee there.
Charlotte airport is one of the busiest connector hubs where the smaller planes do not use covered ramps to unload & load passengers. Departing passengers walk out the Gate-door, across the tarmac and up the steps of the plane.
When planes arrive, the terminal/gate doors are open for both deplaning and departing groups. Often there is only one airline service person at the door with multiple responsibilities; oversized hand luggage, wheelchairs, baby strollers, answering questions etc.,
I could see where a person could have a fake ID badge hanging from his/her neck, carrying luggage and then move around freely near the loading strip.
It also could have been an unplanned, impulsive nutty act.
I have a different take on this matter, I think he was put in the landing gear wheel well and he wasn’t alive but that’s just a guess. Has anyone seen a timeline or cause of death besides the obvious.
exactly. ignored is that the 911 terrorists
had the weapons placed on board for them.
no one seems to really care. it would
not encourage further crotch-gate groping.
Follow the money?
“His family probably will sue the airport and the airline”
I suspect someone ‘let the kid in’
There are ten thousand ways to get onto an airfield.
If this crap continues, and we don’t get to the PC bottom
of things, flying will become so onerous, that no one will do it. I would say the pathway through most FBO’s is probably pro access, especially for someone expressing interest in aviation. Security at airports is mostly smoke and mirrors, as well as expensive.
If this keeps up expensive will be only the beginning, and we are trying to cut spending? Thank you PC.
This finger in the dike, mentality, reminds me of the early eighties, when aids was first discovered. The CDC refused to do what was right, and close bathhouses, make aids an epidemic and do all in their power to eradicate the epidemic. No, they Pee Cee’d around till what we got was more and more of the epidemic that killed a generation of hemophiliacs, among others.
I’m from Charlotte, and grew up on the same side of town as the airport. I even worked there for a short period before 9-11. Security then was non existent. Jerry Orr has been the head of that airport as long as I can remember, and I’m 46. I’ll bet we see Mr. Orr asked to retire before this is over.
I never wanted to, but if you put on something that looked like a city uniform, or ground crew uniform you could get inside that fence and go any where you wanted.
Back when I owned a rig, I could have hauled an entire terrorist assault force into any FedEx airport hub, confiscated as many planes as needed, and ... well you can take it from there. This was in 2002.
A fence is not enough. It has to be patrolled, regularly and thoroughly. And it has to be well lighted. Both these things are expensive.
A moat doesn’t hurt, either...
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