My Airport Operations

Background For the vast majority of post-baby boomers the term "Suicide Bomber" has become a regular part of near daily vocabulary.However, the concept is neither new, nor as clear cut as one might think. By definition, a suicide attack is a type of assault in which the attacker expects or intends to die in the process.As a military strategy, Suicide attacks have a long and tenacious history. Perhaps the earliest recorded and best known use...

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Last year, airlines and passengers contributed $2 billion in taxes and fees to the TSA. The federal government -- in other words, taxpayers -- picked up the rest of the organization's $8 billion tab. 1 For many airports, airlines and CAA offices, aviation security (AVSEC) is perceived as little more than a “black hole” into which countless dollars are culled from profit each year simply to meet State and International regulatory compliance.  The common perception...

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Safety, Security and Moreby Professor Francis G Spranza, MA, President,Spranza Inc. Evolution of Roles Heinrich Kubis was Germany's (and the world's) first flight attendant, in 1912. 1Borrowing from the Maritime and rail industries of the day, early commercial aviation pioneers sought to replicate the customer service found on the grand steamships and luxury rail accommodations of the day.Kubis acted as steward, purser and general flight engineer on the great zeppelin airships of his day. In...

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Prior to 9/11, a captain had the right to refuse or request armed intervention during a hijacking. Now this issue is unclear.   While a captain still has the full dispostion of the aircraft during a crisis or hijacking, the right to tell law enforcement to stany away for now is no longer. This was the issue that got my father killed in October of 1971 when he became the first captain to die in...

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Conducting an AVSEC Inspectionby Professor Francis G Spranza, MA, President,Spranza Inc. The Strategic Review As an airline ground security coordinator, airport security manager or CAA AVSEC Inspector, over the course of your tenure, you will be required to perform periodic AVSEC Audits.  The first step in this process is conducting a Strategic Review.  In short, taking a top level look at the direction, purpose and goals of the AVSEC function as it relates to the...

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Sky Cowboys: Myth or Reality?by Professor Francis G Spranza, MA, President,Spranza Inc. In the post 9/11 frenzy to secure commercial aviation against incidents of hijacking and potential threats in the air, the US Congress passed, as part of the Homeland Security Act of 2002, the Arming Pilots Against Terrorism Act.  The legislation called for a Federal Flight Deck Officer program intended as an additional layer of security in turbulent times."  Under this program, eligible flight...

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When an alarm system is broken, you fix it, you don’t turn off the alarm. But that’s what Congressman Mike Rogers-R (Alabama) who is also the chairman of the Transportation Security Subcommittee Congressman said in a recent Bloomberg article – he believes that the terrorist threat has changed and that we should look at getting rid of the air marshal program. Was George Bernard Shaw right? Do we truly learn nothing from history? Let’s say your house gets robbed,...

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Does anyone have any experience with Airport ID Media or Lock & Key audits?  We're due for both and I'm a little fuzzy on the details for those two items.

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I'm realatively new to the Airport Security Coordinator role, actually I'm brand new to it as of November.  I'm doing a lot of learning as I go so if any of you out there are dealing with the security aspects of your respective airports, let us know.  If you have any pointers on anything from updating your ASP to issuing badges, this is the place to talk about it.

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