Free Republic

Don't pack food, don't lock bags, fliers told By Jon Hilkevitch and Crystal Yednak Tribune staff reporters December 20, 2002 Preparing the public for yet another big change in air travel, the government asked passengers Thursday to stop packing certain kinds of items in checked bags, including, for example, Christmas fruitcakes. High-tech bomb-detection devices might mistake them for explosives. Just in time for the holidays--and with the Dec. 31 deadline to screen 100 percent of checked baggage--aviation security officials want travelers to know that things like chocolate bars, wheels of cheese and books can trigger a hand-inspection of luggage.

I was sitting in Detroit Metropolitan Airport, waiting for my flight home, when a voice came over the intercom. Because of increased security concerns, it said, agents would be conducting random searches of passengers at the boarding gate. At that moment, two security agents in snappy blazers stepped into the waiting area and peered around. They chose just one person to work over. The suspect stood 5 foot even and had the heft of a sparrow. She sported silver hair sensibly cut, a knit sweater, stretch slacks and red suede boots. She was 80 if she was a day. She...

When a Gun Is Not a Gun by Russell Madden Whenever I think I've heard the ultimate in strangeness from the agents of the State, I run across yet another incident that cautions against succumbing to such premature finality. The mess that our airports have become is hardly a secret. Even before the destruction of the World Trade Center, security procedures at airports did not inspire confidence in either the sense or the abilities of those charged with keeping flyers safe from criminals, saboteurs, and terrorists. Air travelers were subjected to such "duh" questions as, "Did you pack your own...

A plane has landed at the French city of Lyon after being apparently hijacked on a flight from Italy, reports quoting French officials say. Sixty-seven passengers are reported to be on board. An unconfirmed report said the plane was an Alitalia service originally flying from Bologna in Italy to Paris. An armed man was said to have carried out the hijack. Some passengers were said to have got off the plane in Lyon. A spokesman at Lyon airport told BBC News Online he was unaware of any incident. A spokesperson for the National Police in Paris said a man had...

<p>November 18, 2002 -- JERUSALEM - A knife-wielding Arab terrorist tried to stab an El Al flight attendant and storm the cockpit of a jet carrying 170 people to Turkey last night - but was foiled by quick-thinking air marshals.</p>

<p>The first sign that something was wrong aboard El Al Flight 581 was a stewardess' scream.</p> <p>Then there was the sound of the cockpit door being kicked, the sight of another flight attendant sprinting toward the front of the plane, and, finally, a reassuring announcement.</p>

<p>Los Angeles -- In a defeat for the Bush administration, a federal judge ordered the government Friday to let thousands of non-U.S. citizens apply for airport security screener jobs that they were barred from holding under a new federal law.</p>

Grounded A federal agency confirms that it maintains an air-travel blacklist of 1,000 people. Nov. 15, 2002 | Barbara Olshansky was in Newark International Airport at the JetBlue departure gate last March when an airline agent at the counter checking her boarding pass called airport security. Olshansky was subjected to a close search and then, though she was in view of other travelers, was ordered to pull her pants down. The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks may have created a new era in airport security, but even so, she was embarrassed and annoyed. Perhaps one such incident might've been forgotten, but...

November 13, 2002 Airport Managers Say Deadline for Screening All Checked Bags Can't Be MetBy MATTHEW L. WALD ALT LAKE CITY, Nov. 12 — A significant number of airports cannot meet the Dec. 31 deadline for screening all checked bags for bombs, airport managers say, adding that they are counting on Transportation Security Administration waivers to sidestep the timing set by Congress. Delays will paralyze the air traffic system if federal officials insist on full screening, the managers said. With seven weeks to go, the security administration is already screening all bags at a few airports, but at others no...

Items Banned by 1994 Airline Rules Items Banned by 1994 Airline Rules The Associated Press Nov. 11 — Items listed in a 1994 airline industry manual that passengers were forbidden to carry beyond airport checkpoints:Ammunition Axes Box cutters Brass knuckles Carbon dioxide cartridges Dynamite Fireworks Gasoline Gun powder Hammers Hand grenades Hunting knives Mace Meat cleavers Oxygen tanks Paint Pepper spray Pistols Plastic explosives Radioactive materials Revolvers Rifles Starter pistols Swords Tear gas Toy transformer robots (forms toy gun) Toy weapons Among items allowed past checkpoints:Baseball bats Darts Hockey sticks Knitting needles Letter openers Pocket utility knives (less than four-inch...

Critics are lining up against an amendment to the landmark Homeland Security bill that would grant immunity to airport screening firms whose negligence may have contributed to the 9-11 attacks. The amendment, introduced last summer by House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas, "has nothing to do with homeland security … and is nothing less than a special-interest gift to the airport screening companies," said Rep. James Oberstar, D-Minn., ranking minority member on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, in a July 25 letter to colleagues urging them to reject the proposal. Specifically, the amendment "would eliminate the provision in the...

On 1997's El Corazón, Steve Earle wished for the return of Woody Guthrie to a world sorely lacking voices of righteous dissent. Here, Earle stops pining for ghosts and gruffly makes his own claim to the agit-folk crown. The controversial "John Walker's Blues" drew attention to the album and the ire of many who misunderstood it, but it's only one of many topical tunes on a disc that issues a kind of call to arms: over the distorted guitars and garbage-pail drums of "Amerika v. 6.0" and in the spare and creepy satire "Conspiracy Theory," Earle rallies listeners to resist...

You've heard the reports since September 11th, 2001. Hundreds of arrests at airports all over the United States of workers who provided false information with their employment applications, had engaged in identity theft/fraud, many of them were illegal immigrants, some with criminal records. Most of those arrested seemed to be ramp workers, security screeners, etc., many with access to restricted areas. Just this month, 28 workers were arrested at Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston. With the exception of some arrests that were made at the Salt Lake City Airport in December 2001, rarely have the words "mechanics" or "maintenance personnel"...

When Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., decided to join Sen. Bob Smith, R-N.H., in sponsoring legislation that allows airline pilots to carry guns as a defense against hijackers, she expressed surprise to find herself agreeing with her conservative colleague. "I think this is the first time I have ever stood with Senator Smith on an issue involving guns," she said. Boxer was not the only one who was surprised. I found it hard to believe that the inveterate gun controller could have taken the right position in a debate that pitted the National Rifle Association against the handgun prohibitionists at...

Former Security Chief Of El Al Airlines Says New Technology Will 'Revolutionize Aviation Security' IRVINE, Calif., Sept. 6 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Few people have heard of HiEnergy Technologies, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: HIET) of Irvine, California, but the company's Founder, Chairman and Chief Scientist, Dr. Bogdan Maglich, has been a key player in global scientific circles for half a century. Soon, both he and his latest discovery will make HiEnergy a dominant player in the high stakes aviation security market, a market that industry research predicts will experience compound annual growth of 47 percent, from $600-million in 2002 to $8-billion by...

<p>September 6, 2002 -- WASHINGTON - The Senate overwhelmingly backed a measure yesterday that would arm airline pilots on a voluntary basis in a dramatic security step aimed at preventing a repeat of the Sept. 11 attacks. A similar bill already has passed the House by a wide margin.</p>

Bush to OK Guns for Airline Pilots By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Filed at 6:37 p.m. ET WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Senate voted overwhelmingly Thursday to allow commercial pilots to carry weapons in the cockpit after the Bush administration dropped its opposition to the idea. The administration, though, said a number of safety and logistical issues needed to be resolved. In a letter to two senators, the White House recommended giving pilots lockboxes for the weapons so they won't be left in the cockpit. It also said only pilots who volunteer to carry weapons and receive extensive training should be armed....

<p>The Bush administration plans to adopt a small-scale test program of arming commercial pilots, reversing its previous opposition to guns in the cockpit.</p> <p>The administration is modeling its plan after similar proposals that circulated in Congress this summer. One such plan would have armed as many as 1,400 pilots, about 2% of those flying.</p>

<p>CNN has a poll on their main page asking the question "Would you feel safer while flying if pilots were allowed to carry guns in the cockpit?"</p>

Carry-on bags concealing potentially deadly weapons. Six major airlines. Eleven airports. Fourteen flights. And not once did anyone catch on. To test the supposedly more stringent security imposed at the nation's airports after the Sept. 11 attacks, Daily News reporters boarded flights over the Labor Day weekend carrying contraband - including box cutters, razor knives and pepper spray. Not a single airport security checkpoint spotted or confiscated any of the dangerous items, all of which have been banned from airports and planes by federal authorities. The four airports where the Sept. 11 terrorists boarded planes - Newark International, Boston's Logan...