Britain Reviews Airport Security Oct 8, 2001

Britain is urgently reviewing security at its airports after an undercover reporter smuggled a nine-inch knife on board a British Airways flight to the US, a newspaper reported yesterday.

The Sunday Telegraph said a journalist carrying the knife - an item on the government's list of implements banned from planes following the September 11 terrorist strikes on New York and Washington - passed through the airport security checks.

The paper said that along with the nine-inch (23cm) knife, the journalist was also able to take a 12-inch knitting needle and a sharp metal nail file on board the flight from London Gatwick to Orlando, Florida.

The items were part of a 'Leatherman' multipurpose tool, and though it was picked up by an airport X-ray, the journalist was still allowed through, said the paper. An official told the journalist he would "turn a blind eye" when informed the tool was "needed for work", it claimed.

The journalist also smuggled scissors, a nail file, chopsticks and tweezers - all 'banned items' - on board an Air France flight from London's Heathrow Airport to Miami, Florida.

Transport Secretary Stephen Byers said he was "very concerned" by the security lapses and has ordered an immediate investigation, according to the paper.

"We are taking this very seriously. We have ordered airport security to be tightened since the terrorist attacks and we want to find out exactly why this was allowed to happen," the weekly quoted him as saying.

A spokesman for Air France said: "We are very concerned that this has happened."

http://news.airwise.com/display/story.html?name=2001/10/1002543564.html

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), October 08, 2001

Answers

What about all that super security of other countries that I have been hearing about for the past month?

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), October 08, 2001.

Here is another example...

Madrid Scanning Machines Under Scrutiny Oct 8, 2001

Staff at Madrid's Barajas airport in Spain began to manually check passengers' luggage last Friday after US aviation officials approved only one of the airport's scanning machines.

Inspectors from the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) found that only one of the X-ray machines at Barajas met American standards and staff had to sift through baggage by hand in order to avoid delays at the single approved machine.

An Iberia flight en route to Chicago, USA was ordered back to Madrid so that baggage could be re-examined and other aircraft heading for the runway were also made to return.

http://news.airwise.com/display/story.html? name=2001/10/1002543564.html

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), October 08, 2001.