Archive for September, 2007
Thursday, September 27th, 2007
Disadvantaged Moroccan Youth Train For Airport Jobs
Schiphol and Rotterdam airports have announced plans to provide one hundred disadvantaged Moroccan youth — currently living in the Netherlands — with a fast-track, five-week training program so they can become airport workers. After completing training, the youths will be able to hold trainnee positions. From there, they can work up through the ranks to […]
No Comments » - Posted in Airport Security & Screening by Annie Jacobsen
Wednesday, September 26th, 2007
Panama Arrests 6 Syrians Who Tried to Enter Cockpit
On Tuesday, police at Panama City's Tocumen International Airport arrested six Syrian men traveling on Copa Airlines Flight 231 after other passengers feared "the suspects were going to storm the cockpit armed with cutlery," and told crew about it. (Go, Juan and Juanita Doe!)
According to Panama's National Police director, Rolando Mirones, the Syrians approached […]
No Comments » - Posted in Dry Runs and Probes by Annie Jacobsen
Friday, September 21st, 2007
“Terrorist Threat” at Raleigh-Durham Airport
(note: the correct flight number is American Eagle flight 4518, not flight 518)
Two airline passengers were arrested at Raleigh-Durham International Airport earlier tonight after causing what airport spokeswoman Colleen Fischvogt has just confirmed with me was a "serious incident on American Eagle Flight 518 from Jacksonville." Local news station WRAL reports, "the disturbance was […]
No Comments » - Posted in U.S. Homeland Security by Annie Jacobsen
Friday, September 21st, 2007
Woman Walks Through Logan Airport with Mock Bomb
A 19-year old MIT student was arrested earlier today by Massachusetts State Police after walking through Logan International Airport with a simulated bomb attached to her chest. The device included a circuit board, greed LED lights and wires running to a 9-volt battery. In one hand, the woman, identified as Star Simpson, held a lump […]
No Comments » - Posted in Federal Air Marshals, Airport Security & Screening by Annie Jacobsen
Thursday, September 20th, 2007
Leocha: Flight Attendants Have Your Back
When shoe bomber Richard Reid reported to Ayman Al-Zawahiri what he'd learned about flight attendants while making test runs on El Al, Reid wrote, “generally flight attendants are security." So, there is no end to the irony that the incompetent terrorist didn't take his own observations seriously; it was a flight attendant who, five months […]
No Comments » - Posted in U.S. Homeland Security by Annie Jacobsen
Wednesday, September 19th, 2007
Frontier Airline Flight 514 Passenger Speaks Out
On August 26, 2007, in "Passenger Tries to Open Aircraft Door Mid-Flight," I reported the following aviation incident — citing a FOX News story:
A male passenger, traveling from Denver to New York on Frontier Airlines Flight 514, was arrested Saturday morning at La Guardia Airport after trying to open the aircraft exit door […]
No Comments » - Posted in U.S. Homeland Security by Annie Jacobsen
Tuesday, September 18th, 2007
German Terror Suspect Worked at Frankfurt Airport
Terror suspect Adem Yilmaz, one of the three alleged ringleaders in the foiled German bombing plot, worked at Frankfurt Airport from 1997-2002. Spiegel reports that Yilmaz, a foreign national and citizen of Turkey, had been employed by German rail company Deutsche Bahn — and that he worked in the security division on the train that […]
No Comments » - Posted in The Al-Qaeda Threat by Annie Jacobsen
Sunday, September 16th, 2007
USF Terror Suspect Had Two Passports, Different Names
The St. Petersburg Times offers new details on University of South Florida terror suspects Ahmed Mohamed and Youssef Megahed (Egyptian transliteration: "Mujahid"). In addition to providing details about the explosives, ammunition, fuses, gasoline, bomb making instructions and martyr-referencing video that the pair were carrying when they were pulled over by police for speeding, the Times […]