Archive » Airline Security

Well, this should make you feel nice and comfortable when you fly:
News 8 has recently revealed serious flaws in the way the FAA licenses mechanics who fix planes.
There is evidence of years of problems in testing these mechanics. There is also evidence that hundreds of mechanics with questionable licenses are working on aircraft in [...]

Homeland insecurity alert.

Look, I’m fine with just taking my shoes off, okay?

Quick response.

Piercing. (Photo source.)

Homeland insecurity alert.

Remember Andrew Speaker? He’s the TB-infected American who was able to slip through several airline security layers and fly around the globe despite being on a no-fly list in May. There were several other TB/security incidents this year that have fallen down the memory hole.
Looks like we still haven’t learned anything (via SJMercNews):
A Santa Clara [...]

Terrible Stupidity Abounds.

“Allahu Akbar!”

Honor guard ordeal.

Several MSM outlets got a hold of a joint FBI-DHS homeland security bulletin warning of potential shoe bomb attacks. ABC News:
Following the seizure in Europe of hollowed-out shoes containing blasting caps, U.S. authorities have been told to be on the lookout for thick-soled shoes that could be used to conceal explosives, as infamously was [...]

Suspicious behavior.

“I heard the flight attendant say, ‘Help me!’”

Monkey business.

Chee-bomber, chee-bomber. Plus: Whither the John Doe amendment?

Friday night Factor.

TSA: Thousands Standing Around. Those Silly Asses. Taking Scissors Away.

On alert. Plus: A first-hand report from a pilot on airline (in)security.

Chertie has chosen to lie in bed with the very people who make a living intimidating and suing vigilant Americans who take homeland security seriously.

Crying over spilled water.

Update: New WashTimes article on the report here.
This weekend, dogged Washington Times reporter Audrey Hudson previewed a Department of Homeland Security Inspector General’s report on the handling–and mishandling–of Flight 327. Longtime readers will remember this incident as an airline security object lesson on the need for passengers to say something when they see something. Thirteen [...]

Back in 2003, a teenager was arrested and charged for joking about a bomb in his luggage.
In 2004, a British student was arrested and released after making a bomb joke before boarding a flight from Miami to Britain.
We are constantly warned not to make light of homeland security while passing through airport checkpoints and threatened [...]

Christopher Soghoian, a PhD student in the School of Informatics at Indiana University Bloomington, created a fake boarding pass generator to expose flaws in airport security. A reader sent this link to the generator, but it looks like it has been taken down.
Looks like he could be in big trouble for blowing the whistle. Wired [...]

***scroll for updates, including new info from Annie Jacobsen (remember Flight 327?)…who were the ringleaders of Bojinka II (is there a better name? let me know)…here’s the reason for the liquid ban: ABC says the jihadists were going to hide the explosives in sports drink bottles…reports of dry runs…USNews now also reporting details involving hydrogen [...]

***updated…10pm Eastern-new details about Haq via AP – he “forced his way through a security door by holding a gun to a 13-year-old girl’s head”…told 911 dispatcher, “These are Jews and I’m tired of getting pushed around and our people getting pushed around by the situation in the Middle East…”***
***new photo of Haq via AP…***

***7/30 [...]

***scroll for updates…university library cancels its NYT subscription!…and the WSJ explains the circumstances that led the newspaper to publish its SWIFT story…read the whole thing…the NYTimes covers the House resolution condemning the paper…***
I mentioned the other day that I’d been hearing buzz about a protest at the New York Times building.
It’s coming together and there [...]

But don’t worry. He’s been sent to…Saudi Arabia!
Great, just great:
New Zealand has deported a Yemeni man identified as having direct links with the terrorists involved in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States who was taking pilot training in the country this year, the government said Saturday.
Rayed Mohammed Abdullah Ali was deported to [...]

Annie Jacobsen investigates.

***scroll down for an important update***
A number of us in the blogosphere have been catching wind of rumors that a surface-to-air missile was fired at an America West flight originating out of New York. Here’s a post at Little Green Footballs, where many commenters are wisely skeptical but wanting more info.
I just got off the [...]

The kill-me-first dress code is dead. It’s good news for air marshals who exposed this reckless bureaucratic idiocy last December. Via the Washington Post:
The dress code for federal air marshals has been modified, apparently relegating a fashion spat to the back of the Homeland Security closet.
The issue of what the marshals wear when flying [...]