Archive » Airline Security

In response to my post about the plane of suspected illegal alien Chinese in San Antonio forced down by homeland security officials last night, this tip just came in: The co-owner of the plane, Afzal Hameed, is president of Alpha Tango Flying Services in San Antonio, which trains pilots and mechanics. Guess who trained at [...]

You’re not going to believe this one. Audrey Hudson, the intrepid reporter for the Washington Times, reports on the latest fiasco at the Federal Air Marshals Service under the leadership of Tom Quinn (” ‘Inch of snow’ shuts down air marshals”): Hundreds of federal air marshals were grounded and unable to access critical information to [...]

Physician blogger Dr. Bob says one of his patients, a federal air marshal, told him about a foiled hijacking involving boxcutters hidden in overhead luggage bins: He and his partner were assigned to a flight (the airline, airport, and destination were not disclosed) in their customary undercover security role. They boarded the airplane early in [...]

From the NY Daily News: A federal air marshal was arrested Tuesday on charges he played a role in a human trafficking ring that officials say worked out of a Flushing nightclub. Byungki Koo, 33, of Fresh Meadows, surrendered to officials Tuesday after he was indicted on charges that he tried to obstruct the probe [...]

The headless chicken brigade rides again. As you all know, the feds announced yesterday that the reckless moron who reportedly pointed a laser beam at an airplane overhead and temporarily blinded the pilot and co-pilot will be charged under the Patriot Act. Recriminations against the Justice Department have already begun: Jackboots! Fascists! Why charge the [...]

Still following all the latest on the laser beam mystery for you… This guy may have just been fooling around, but there is still plenty of concern about what may really be going on here. Phantom at The Daily Brief reminds us: Since 2002, the FBI has been issuing warnings about shoulder fired missiles being [...]

Still interested in the laser beam story? There’s an extensive timeline, with updated info, here. The latest AP report is here. And reader Rick Parnell passes along a relevant story from Navy News: PATUXENT RIVER, Md. (NNS) — The Vision Laboratory in Naval Air Systems Command’s (NAVAIR) Human Systems Division won an Aviation Week and [...]

Following up on those weird laser beam stories, I note that at least one online retailer has now stopped selling high power green lasers. (Thanks to reader Mike G. for the tip.) The proprietor of Laser Shoppe.com explains here and wants your opinion about his decision: Unfortunately, we have decided to STOP selling these lasers. [...]

This story out of Cleveland is disturbing. And it’s not the first report of a laser tracking a commercial plane in American skies. I blogged on Bill Gertz’s report in September about a Delta flight to Salt Lake City, Utah, that was diverted when a laser penetrated the cockpit and reportedly injured the pilot. And [...]

The fashion police at the Federal Air Marshals Service still don’t get it. But the Lakeland (Fl.) Ledger does. The paper weighs in with a scathing editorial about the dress code debacle here. Meanwhile, I received a “supervisor’s Daily Airport Activity Report” dated 12/15/04, which shows how managers are forced to play clothes cops. Here’s [...]

Audrey Hudson of the Washington Times has another great piece on the Air Marshal dress code story that I wrote about yesterday: Some federal air marshals are playing a high-tech game of hide-and-seek to dodge supervisors from inspecting their attire and ensuring compliance with a mandatory dress code. “The ‘suit Nazis’ are out there, so [...]

This post will be unusually long. That’s because I’ve decided to use my bandwith today to combat a government agency’s self-serving–and dangerous–spin campaign. The great thing about the blogosphere is that I can give over as much space as necessary to others who don’t have a voice. And nobody at the Transportation Security Administration, at [...]

Can you imagine if an al Qaeda bureaucrat had ordered the 19 Sept. 11 terrorists to wear “I heart Osama” T-shirts when they embarked on their murderous flights? No idiot would send his men on a covert mission wearing clothes that would so blatantly give them away, right? Wrong. Meet Federal Air Marshal Service Director [...]

Right Wing News delves into the fever swamps of the Democratic Underground and pulls out the 10 Worst Quotes from rabid libs. John Leo compiles the 2004 awards for over-the-top rhetoric. Quin Hilyer highlights the invaluable Media Research Center’s top examples of media bias. And keying off the news that “blog” is the word of [...]

Just heard Washington Times reporter Bill Gertz tease a disturbing story on FOX News a few minutes ago. He said he’ll have a piece in the paper tomorrow about a Delta flight to Salt Lake City, Utah, that was diverted last week when a laser penetrated the cockpit. He reported that the pilot was injured [...]

Unbelievable: Maryland Teacher Faces Possible $10,000 Fine For Bookmark Kathryn Harrington, 52, of Laurel, Md., was flying home from vacation last month when airport screeners found her bookmark. They thought the 8?-inch leather strap, with small lead weights at each end, resembled a weapon that could be used to knock people unconscious. Airport police charged [...]

My friend Michael Smerconish, Philly talk show host and columnist, has a soon-to-be New York Times bestseller coming out this week on the p.c. perils of airport security. His important book is called Flying Blind and government officials are already attacking Smerconish for advocating common-sense profiling. Department of Transportation spokesman Brian Turmail told the Boston [...]

Who needs Norm Mineta? Jonathan O’Keefe sends a link to this new citizens’ effort to take individual responsibility for airline security: Check it out.

The New York Times reports that Transportation Security Agency officials will take over screening of passengers on New York City helicopter tours. The new policy comes on the heels of intelligence suggesting that al Qaeda may utilize such helicopters to carry out terrorist attacks. What kind of checks were being done by the private helicopter-tour [...]

A plague of persistent P.C. follies in America’s airports… The invaluable Heather Mac Donald weighs in on the sacrifice of the Computer Assisted Passenger Prescreening System, or Capps II, at the hands of the civil liberties brigade. Annie Jacobsen and Clint Taylor follow-up on Flight 327. Time magazine talks to a federal air marshal who [...]

On July 26, the ambassador of Syria had an outraged letter published in the Washington Times regarding Northwest Flight 327: I am responding to Audrey Hudson’s article “Scouting jetliners for new attacks” (Page 1, Thursday). We are shocked by this article. It only reflects paranoia verging on the point of hysterics. The woman mentioned most [...]

Looks like Washington is paying attention to the Annie Jacobsen story. The Washington Times reports that “federal officials were summoned to Capitol Hill yesterday to brief Senate and House Judiciary Committee staff in response to reports of the incident, and the Federal Air Marshals Association requested a meeting with top officials in the Homeland Security [...]

In an article published late Friday night, “Misbehaving Syrians Carried Expired Visas (registration required),” the Dallas Morning News confirmed that 13 members of Nour Mehana had expired visas at the time of their June 29 flight on Northwest 327: Thirteen Syrian musicians whose behavior aboard a June flight stirred suspicions and talks of “dry runs” [...]

Following the lead of anonymous air marshals (see Eric Leonard’s KFI news story), some in the blogosphere are piling on Annie Jacobsen. One blogger calls her a “sniveling little twit.” Kevin Drum pooh-poohs “Panic in the Skies.” Armed Liberal advises Annie to take a “chill pill.” And Commissar at Politburo Diktat writes: We are freaking [...]

WNBC investigative reporter Scott Weinberger reported on Joe Scarborough’s MSNBC show tonight that the 14 Syrians on Northwest Flight 327 ALL had expired visas. He said his sources told him that law enforcement officials xeroxed the men’s paperwork without looking at the dates. The visas had expired nearly a month earlier, according to Weinberger. This [...]

National Review Online has just posted an article by Clint Taylor, who seems to have identified the mystery band on Flight 327. Will have more after the kids are asleep, but it looks like Taylor has done the sleuthing that the deep-pocketed mainstream media wasn’t interested in doing (and all it took was Google and [...]

The New York Times ran a piece today by Joe Sharkey purporting to report on “What Really Happened” on Flight 327 with the 14 Syrian passengers observed by writer Annie Jacobsen. The piece skews toward the Nothing Happened camp and concludes with a quote from Federal Air Marshal spokesman Dave Adams saying: “They gave their [...]

Just watched the excellent special report on MSNBC hosted by Joe Scarborough regarding Annie and Kevin Jacobsen’s account of what they saw on Northwest Flight 327. I am going to keep this short and simple, as this will be my last blogword on the matter unless anything new breaks. I believe the Jacobsens. I believe [...]

Via Michael Smerconish’s radio show this morning, we learn that Annie Jacobsen will be posting a follow-up to her Terror In The Skies, Again article at womenswallstreet.com around 9amPST/12noonEST. Jacobsen’s parents e-mailed me some family background: Annie Jacobsen is our daughter!! She is NOT the science fiction writer nor the psychic (with the same name). [...]

Mark Bogosian, an American Airlines pilot, is co-author of a helpful book for airline passengers. It’s Never Again: A Self-Defense Guide for the Flying Public. His co-authors are a SWAT team leader and a police commander. “Unless law enforcement is aboard, passengers and flight attendants are the first line of defense,” Bogosian notes. Along with [...]