Jamaica Launches Airport Security Probe

Jamaica Launches Airport Security Probe
Wants carrier to expedite report on man found in wheel well after flight from 
MoBay 


Friday, January 02, 2004
Jamaica Observer, Jamaica 


JAMAICAN aviation authorities have asked American Airlines to expedite a 
written report into the case in which a dead man was found in the wheel well of 
one of its aircraft at New York's Kennedy airport on Christmas Eve, hours after 
a flight from Montego Bay.

At the same time, the Jamaica embassy in Washington will also formally request 
from the US government, information on its own investigation into the incident, 
Jamaican sources said yesterday.

"The matter is being taken seriously and Jamaica would like to get to the 
bottom of it especially in the context of the recent developments with the 
United States making increasing demands for anti-terrorist measures on 
aircraft," said a senior industry official.

Jamaican officials have ruled out that the would-be stowaway, a black/Hispanic 
male, believed to be in his mid-20s, sneaked into the wheel well of the Airbus 
A300, that operated flight 1190 on Christmas Eve, while in Jamaica.

They say that the plane stayed on the ground at Montego Bay's Sangster for only 
an hour - too little time for any such breach - and claim, unofficially, that 
the body had been dead for up to four days before it was discovered.

Officials here conjecture that the person may had gone into the wheel well in 
the Dominican Republic, where the plane had overnighted four days before it 
came to Jamaica.

Attempts to stowaway in the wheel well of a aircraft often leads to death. Once 
the landing is retracted in flight there is little or no oxygen in the area. 
Moreover, the wheel well is not pressurised and any one riding there is subject 
to extreme high altitude temperatures.

But notwithstanding the low chance of survival of anyone travelling in the 
wheel well of a plane, Jamaican authorities are concerned about the security 
implications of an intruder getting there in the first place and the havoc that 
such a person could cause.

"This is a serious matter and we are very concerned about it," said a source 
close to the investigation. "The Civil Aviation Authority verbally asked 
American Airlines for a report and are now formally writing them about it."

In a separate interview, Robert Pickersgill, the minister with responsibility 
for transport, said that these circumstances placed pressure on America "to 
conduct a thorough investigation".

This would probably account for any delay by America to produce a final report 
on the incident, said Pickersgill.

The pressure would have increased in the face of a similar incident on Tuesday 
when a body was found in the wheel well of a British Airways Boeing 747 jet 
that flown from London's Heathrow airport to New York's Kennedy.
This body was believed to be that of a Nigerian between 30 and 35. The plane 
had previously stopped at Lagos.

These security breaches occurred at time when the United States was on high 
security alert against a possible terror attack by the al Qaeda network.

They have been followed hard by an announcement by Tom Ridge, the US secretary 
for homeland security, that America will demand that armed sky marshals be 
placed on some flights into the United States.

Ridge did not announce which countries would be subject to the regulations, but 
Air Jamaica has said that it will comply with any directive and that it was 
talking with the Americans on the issue.

"All these developments regarding aviation security makes the investigation 
into the matter with the American Airlines plane important for Jamaica," said a 
Jamaican official who is close to the matter.

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