"Airport Security Breach Report"

Thursday, June 30, 2005

Airport Security Report's Breach Report
Airport Security Report


DATE & SITE: May 16 -- Palm Beach Int'l Airport, Calif. AREA*: 2
CIRCUMSTANCES: Boynton Beach resident Reginald Antoine Cottle boarded a
plane dressed as a woman and using a female ID. RESULT: Cottle presented the
fake driver's licence to buy an AirTran [AAI] ticket to Atlanta. But he
aroused suspicions when he could not give the name on the ID. Editor's note:
Cottle pleaded guilty in court on June 24, and is expected to serve 120 days
in jail. 

DATE & SITE: June 8 -- Larnaca Airport (LCA), Cyprus AREA*: 7 CIRCUMSTANCES:
29-year-old George Metalaris drove his car under parked airplanes and came
close to at least one taxiing craft. RESULT: The pilot of the taxiing
aircraft said the car was coming right at his plane, and evasive action was
necessary to avoid a collision. Varying accounts have the pilot either
making a sharp turn on slamming on the brakes. The errant car was first
noticed by control tower workers. An ensuing 20-minute chase by police
around the tarmac briefly disrupted airport operations. It turns out that
Metalaris was fleeing a crime scene at a bakery, where he had taken about 70
Euros' worth of cookies. His seven-year-old nephew was in the car with him
throughout the incident. Editor's note: This type of incident, where a
driver - - often drunk or distraught -- gains access to airport runway or
ramp areas, occurs fairly regularly, demonstrating airports' vulnerability
at their perimeters or through open gates where suppliers and others
normally enter. 

DATE & SITE: June 8 -- Ranchi Airport (IXR), India AREA*: 8 CIRCUMSTANCES:
Jharkhand Chief Minister Arjun Munda brought his state finance minister,
Raghubar Das, onto the airport grounds via a special gate that only Munda is
allowed to use. RESULT: Airport regulations say that only the chief state
minister and the governor can use the special gate and avoid normal
screening. When Central Industry Security Force (CISF) personnel wanted to
stop Das at the gate for a security check, Munda ignored them and drove his
car on through. This was followed by reports of retaliatory behavior
directed at CISF personnel, their superiors and airport officials by other
members of Munda's staff and local police officials. Editor's note: This
incident is like one at Brisbane Int'l Airport (BNE) on March 24 (Airport
Security Report, April 6, p. 8) when the Papua New Guinea Prime Minister was
incensed, but still cooperative, when asked to submit to elaborate personal
screening procedures. Airports could find themselves in a sudden firestorm
of bad publicity for not having the security protocols (mainly exemptions)
for important officials those officials think they are entitled to. 

DATE & SITE: June 12 -- Indira Ghandi Int'l Airport (IGIA), India AREA*: 5
CIRCUMSTANCES: Explosive materials were found in a truck on airport grounds.
RESULT: The materials included 69 detonators, 15 meters of fuse wires, and
10 kg. of explosive chemicals. Editor's note: Initial accounts said
authorities thought these explosives were part of a plot connected to
bombings in movie theaters. But later it was reported that the materials,
and the truck, came from a crew blowing up rocks about 200 meters from one
of the runways. 

DATE & SITE: June 13 -- Newark Int'l Airport (EWR), N.J. AREA*: 3
CIRCUMSTANCES: Checkpoint screeners failed to detect a five-inch steak knife
in a passenger's carry-on bag. RESULT: A female passenger was about to board
a Continental Airlines [CAL] flight when she realized she had the knife in
her pocketbook, and returned to the checkpoint to surrender it. Northeast
TSA spokeswoman Ann Davis said several screeners would now receive remedial
training, and added that passengers also bear some responsibility for these
breaches. Editor's note: Regular readers of the "Breach Report" will be
forgiven if they think they've read this one before, as it sounds just like
another incident at EWR from February (Airport Security Report, Feb. 23, p.
8) -- right down to the passenger realizing the knife was still in her purse
at the boarding gate. Actually, this is the third missed knife at EWR this
year; the second one -- not reported at the time -- occurred in May. 

DATE & SITE: June 15 -- Fort Payne Airport (4A9), Ind. AREA*: 7
CIRCUMSTANCES: A 14-year-old boy stole a Cessna for a late-night joy ride.
RESULT: The boy, who was not identified because of his age, apparently got
through an unlocked gate or over the perimeter fence. He had also "borrowed"
his mother's van to make the five mile trip to the airport from his home.
Once on the tarmac, he found a key in the unlocked plane, removed its
tie-downs, began driving it around and wound up airborne. Police said the
teen, who had never flown before, logged about 30 minutes total in the air,
landing and taking off several times. Editor's note: Larry Coward, owner of
Valley Aviation, which owns the plane and runs the airport, said they never
had such an incident before. On the other hand, Fort Payne's mayor said that
the airport always leaves a gate open so flyers can leave after the facility
closes, so there is only so much that can be done in the way of tightening
security. Fort Payne is a town of about 13,000 people 80 miles northeast of
Birmingham, Ala. 

DATE & SITE: June 17 -- Lubbock Preston Smith Int'l Airport (LBB), Texas
AREA*: 4 CIRCUMSTANCES: A man entered a secured de-planing area through a
revolving-door exit with a large "Do Not Enter" sign on top. RESULT: A loud
alarm went off when the unidentified man started into the wrong side of the
revolving door, but he kept on going. He later said he was trying to buy a
ticket. The man was found at a checkpoint, briefly detained for questioning
and then released. Authorities also noticed the strong smell of alcohol on
this breath. Passengers already at the gates had to be re-screened, but no
flights were delayed. Editor's note: LBB, which in some ways is a smaller
version of Dallas/Forth Int'l Airport (DFW), has no concourses, but a
curvilinear terminal design, an LBB official explained to Airport Security
Report. The door in question leads from a de-planing area into baggage
claim. 

DATE & SITE: June 22 -- Danbury Municipal Airport (DXR), Conn. AREA*: 7
CIRCUMSTANCES: An apparently drunk 20-year-old stole a single-engine plane
for a three-hour joyride with two 16-year-old friends and landed in
neighboring New York State. RESULT: After Philippe Patricio of Bethel,
Conn., took the Cessna 172 Skyhawk at about 1:30 a.m. EDT, he apparently got
lost while nearly running out of gas in the air. Patricio eventually spotted
the Westchester County Airport (HPN) in White Plains, N.Y. After landing
there, he was arrested with a blood alcohol level of 0.15, nearly double the
legal level for driving a car in New York. Huffing about lax post-9/11
security at DXR compared to HPN, Westchester County Executive Andrew Spano
said a "significant number of beer cans" fell out of the cab when Patricio
disembarked. Editor's note: It remains to be seen if Patricio was inspired
by the youth from Fort Payne, Ind. (see item above). This incident, with
implications about lax security at small airports, has not only been
reverberating in Connecticut and New York, but has also been picked up by
the UK press. The day after, in fact, Conn. Gov. Jodi Rell (R) ordered a
statewide airport-security review. N.Y. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D)
called for an investigation. 

DATE & SITE: June 26 -- Seattle/Tacoma Int'l Airport (SEA), Wash. AREA*: 3
CIRCUMSTANCES: A passenger walked through a checkpoint without being
screened, apparently inadvertently. RESULT: A little after the incident at
11 a.m. Pacific Time, officials gave the order to "freeze the airport," when
flight departures were halted, checkpoints stopped processing passengers,
and the terminal subway went out of service. Security personnel found the
passenger and found no threat. Editor's note: This was the first of four
similar breaches that occurred within four days (see next three items). 

DATE & SITE: June 26 -- Vancouver Int'l Airport (YVR), Canada AREA*: 3
CIRCUMSTANCES: A passenger bypassed a checkpoint and got on a flight to
Toronto, apparently inadvertently. RESULT: In this incident, the passenger
in question actually got on a plane just before the breach was announced,
and flew to Toronto Pearson Int'l Airport (YYZ), where he was detained.
Meanwhile, back in Vancouver, scores of passengers in gate areas and already
aboard craft that had not taken off yet were re- screened and delayed. The
passenger was seen on some security-camera videotape from about 30 feet
away, with unclear images that did not make identification easy. Editor's
note: This incident was officially blamed on poor directions or, at least, a
misunderstanding. That is, according to an account by a spokeswoman for the
Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (CATSA), an airport employee tried
to point the passenger to the security checkpoint, but he somehow bypassed
it. Another reason given for the breach was that it had occurred during
YVR's peak period. 

DATE & SITE: June 27 -- Mineta San Jose Int'l Airport (SJC), Calif. AREA*: 3
CIRCUMSTANCES: A passenger walked through an unattended checkpoint at 11:15
a.m. Pacific Time. RESULT: While the concourse was left open, two
checkpoints were closed until the passenger was found and re-screened,
without incident. The checkpoints reopened within a half hour. Editor's
note: There seemed to a rash of such incidents near the western coast within
the same 24-hour period (see two items above). 

DATE & SITE: June 29 -- Pittsburgh Int'l Airport (PIT), Penn. AREA*: 3
CIRCUMSTANCES: A passenger walked through a checkpoint without being
screened. RESULT: The passenger boarded a flight to Houston's George Bush
Intercontinental Airport (IAH), where she and the other passengers were
screened. Editor's note: As Airport Security Report goes to press, this was
the fourth such breach within four days (see above three items). 

* Codes where security incident originated: 1 - Roadway/parking lot/off
airport 2 - Public ticket lobby/baggage claim 3 - Security checkpoint 4 -
Sterile concourse/gate area 5 - Checked baggage/cargo screening 6 - Inside
aircraft 7 - Airside operations area 8 - Airport perimeter 9 - Unknown 

Compiled by Airport Security Report from various news sources 


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