The Real Cost of Flying
On 19/01/2012, in Just to let you know..., by steve
Since 2006, we have accepted the norm of zip-top-bagging our liquids, gels and aerosols, and ditching our water bottles at airport security checkpoints. Without going into the issue of whether or not these measures are effective from a security point of view, has anyone stopped to think about how these rules affect our wallets and the environment? Well, eCollegeFinder did and they produced a very interesting infographic which you can access here.
Check it out, the stats are pretty amazing!
Viewfinder View 6 – Helpful Security
On 16/01/2012, in Viewfinder view, by steve
Not aviation related but still very nice… If a roll of paper from the cash-register needs to be rolled up again, what better resource to use than the security guy. If somebody decided to rob this hamburger joint, throwing the roll against the robber would probably have had the right surprise effect!
How not to protect
On 16/12/2011, in Battle stations, by krisztian
An oldie, but still very current. This video shows the arrival of Condoleezza Rice at Brussels Airport. Diplomatic Security agent argues with a Belgian State Security agent and the protocol service, almost getting into a fight, WHILE Ms. Rice is already OUT OF THE PLANE and on her way down the stairs…
Lessons learned:
- Make good and proper arrangements PRIOR to the arrival of your principal with the local security teams;
- Be diplomatic, even if that means biting your tongue from time to time;
- Your ego is not the one needing protection;
- Cameras are ALWAYS watching your protection detail.
Enjoy the video (courtesy VRT).
Budapest’s SkyCourt – will the security check point hold up?
On 06/04/2011, in On the go..., by steve
Budapest Ferihegy Airport has recently opened an impressive passenger hall between Terminal 2A and 2B. It is something truly attractive with an inner space that seems to be even bigger than it actually is… and it is huge by any measure. The architects have really excelled with this steel and glass building which embraces you with light whether it is day or night. You can eat and shop or just sit around while you wait for your flight.
A cute idea picked right from Las Vegas casinos… when you enter the SkyCourt after security control, you must walk through the booze store to reach the rest of the facility. The stores are not particularly impressive though, they are the usual collection of brand names selling stuff at exorbitant prices. But this is not the biggest problem of SkyCourt.
Its biggest problem is the security check point.
I do not know what the experts had in mind when they allocated the ridiculously cramped area for the security lanes… may be they wanted to maximize the commercial space and cut the rest just a little too small. This will be a killer when traffic picks up. Last night there were only about 20 of us and with two lanes operating, we stood in line for almost 5 minutes!
Click here to read the full article
HOME SAFES AND OTHER SECURITY SAFES FOR TRAVEL BUGS
On 03/04/2011, in Just to let you know..., by steve
For frequent travelers, safety is a primary concern. It can be in the forms of safety before, during and after departure and safety of personal belongings. The fun and excitement disappear when cases of simple traveling become the start of habitual paranoia, more so a traumatic experience triggered by an obvious lack of security. Leaving home for a long period of time entails making sure contracts and similar important documents plus personal valuables like cash and pieces of jewelry are held in place where there is restricted access to avoid any instance of loss or damage.
Same goes when an employee has to travel often for official business, all files bearing confidential information about the company and its transactions and company property such as computer software programs should have a certain spot in the office away from the prying eyes and hands of nosy colleagues and outsiders and the effects of natural calamities. In these situations, security safes turn out to be helpful and indispensible.
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Do it yourself security in Vienna
On 22/11/2010, in CDM, by steve
Mind you, I do like Vienna Airport in Austria. It is a nice place which has managed to stay small in spite of becoming bigger. I also do fly from Vienna a lot and so perhaps it is unfair when I come with another story of a passenger handling hiccup… you know, big numbers and all that.
A while ago, I told you the story of SN flight 2908 and this time here is the story of SN 2906.
On arrival at the airport, I saw that the gate assigned to this flight was C31. In order to understand the circumstances, you need to know that in Terminal C of Vienna airport, they do security on a gate by gate basis. There are fair sized holding areas for each gate just off the main concourse and you access these via the well known metal detectors and X-ray machines for your hand luggage.
The main concourse in Vienna Terminal C
When I got to C31, they were processing the passengers for a flight going to Hamburg, departure time 17.35. On the monitor screen in the “Next flights” section, SN 2906 was shown with its departure time of 18.15. You needed good eyes to spot this information and clearly, passengers arriving at the gate had some trouble spotting their flight number. They were all confused by the big letters proclaiming that this was the gate for Hamburg (and also Brussels if you looked close enough…).
For me, those small letters spelled disaster. At 17.20, the last of the stray Hamburg passengers were still rushing through security and there was obviously no way for the flight to push back on time and vacate the gate for the incoming Brussels Airlines Avro RJ100. But apparently the guys allocating the gates were more optimistic than me…
Click here to read the full article
Via bends and kinks to Honolulu
On 04/10/2010, in On the go..., by steve
The shortest route to HNL
There are many ways of flying from Brussels to Honolulu and the travel time is in excess of twenty hours in all cases. You might say that it does not matter since no sane person would want to do a trip like that in one stretch but in case you do, the best option is Continental Airlines from Brussels to Newark (EWR) and then again Continental Airlines Newark to Honolulu (HNL) non-stop. CO is the only airline offering a non-stop connection from the US East Coast to HNL. It is a flight of 10 hours and 30 minutes though very often 10 to 15 minutes are shaved from the schedule time. The only uncertain aspect of such a routing is the 90 minute transfer time in Newark. Although clearing immigration, picking up your bag, rechecking it and going through security can be done under an hour, leaving you 30 minutes to find your gate, if the flight from Brussels is late, things can get tight and you may end up waving good-by to the departing 767… However, we have done this route twice now and made the connection each time so may be there is less to worry about than I imagined. Continental knows whet they are doing when they allow this connection.
Five years ago we flew to Honolulu with Delta just a few days after Hurricane Katrina destroyed most of New Orleans. We had to change planes in Atlanta and the fuel situation was so bad there that we had to land in Dallas to fuel the 767 for the long leg to HNL. In early September this year it was Hurricane Earl inching up the East Coast that was threatening to disrupt air traffic in the New York area and hence make a joke of our 90 minute connection time (proving that I was not worrying over nothing). As it happened, Earl was slower than forecast and it arrived a day after us even then staying well clear of the coast, sparing New York and the various connections.
Boarding in Brussels
Misty morning in Zaventem...
The 767-400 was docked at terminal B in Zaventem and when the pre-boarding announcement came, there was a mad rush towards the gate as if each and every passenger on that place was travelling in first class, had multiple disabilities, was accompanied by five kids or all three… The gate agents tried to organize a boarding-by-rows process but they were facing a mission impossible. For one, the announcements could barely be heard so no one was really sure which rows were being called so they all pushed forward, blocking the way of those who knew that they had been called… There were several American families who remained seated as instructed, patiently waiting their number to come up while they watched the multilingual, undisciplined crowd milling about, making a joke of the whole boarding process.
Click here to read the full article
Surprise in Vienna – When the system really fails
On 21/06/2010, in CDM, by steve
Brussels Airlines flight SN2908 is the evening counterpart of SN2901, the red-eye Brussels-Vienna flight that takes you to that magnificent city in time for a meeting that can start as early as 10.00 and conclude as late as 18.00 since SN2908 will bring you home comfortably. The only trouble with SN2908 is that it is apparently late in nine cases out of ten… No doubt this is a flight at the end of the series of rotations assigned to the 737 performing it and ATC delays and a bit of bad weather can all conspire to make an on time run a mission impossible. I have spent quite some time and euros at the Starbucks outlet conveniently located near the gate usually assigned to 2908 waiting for her to put in an appearance.
But in all cases, we knew about the delay right on arrival at the airport and could plan our extra sojourn accordingly. But not on this Friday, 18 June when we were dished up something completely new, shaking my trust in the information management savvy of our industry.
In case you are not familiar with Vienna airport, in the terminal used by Brussels Airlines the gates have a kind of holding area which you enter through a security check done at the entrance. Each gate has its own screening equipment. The gate and the security check point is normally manned about one hour before the published boarding time.
The boarding time for SN2908 was 20.05 and so a little over 19.00 processing of passengers into the holding area began as usual. One would assume that all this activity is started on the basis of the news that the aircraft is in the air and will be landing more or less on time.
As I don’t like queues, I was one of the first through security and then planted myself near the air-bridge doors ready to walk when the sign was given. I like to have a place for my flight case in the overhead bins…
Click here to read the full article
The tower with a soul… 18.
On 10/06/2010, in The tower with a soul, by lajos
Approaching the present day…
What a strange folk we are, we Hungarians! We complain when we have to work with an obsolete system and when it is replaced with something new, we complain that we are forced to learn new tricks when we had actually grown used to the old ones. This was the situation with the introduction of the MATIAS system that followed Eurocat2000 and whose introduction was anything but smooth. As I heard from “inside”, the new system was simply too complicated for many an experienced colleague and they were actually quite happy to profit from the announced cut in personnel. They retired and my generation had a chance to follow them up in the Supervisor positions. Their place was in turn filled with new hires and those youngsters showed in short order that controlling the terminal area was not such a difficult task after all.
All of a sudden traffic became much more fluid and they turned aircraft on final with a flair never before seen. This was a revelation for us in the tower. Wow, it can be done like this also! We saw the change clearly since watching traffic being handled by the old guard we often shook our heads in amazement, especially when the odd aircraft flew all the way down to the town of Kecskemet for a bit of sightseeing as a result of being cleared for descent and turn to base leg far too late…
Click here to read the full article
The tower with a soul… 16.
On 27/05/2010, in The tower with a soul, by lajos
9/11 and other events of consequence.
11 September 2001 started like any other late summer day. Unlike most people, I do like September. The stifling heat of August is gone, allergens are also mostly gone, and so I breathe easier. So, for me fall is not a reminder of passing but of a new beginning. May be there are others who think the same… Anyway, on that fateful day we were on day-shift. One half of our group was working in the tower from 7 to 9, the other was downstairs having breakfast or just drinking coffee. Switching TV channels, they happened on a channel showing one of the World Trade Center towers in New York belching smoke from a gaping hole in its side. At first they thought they were watching an action movie, except that this was a news channel… Paying more attention they soon realized that this was no action movie, they were watching the real thing! A passenger aircraft flew into the very building I too had visited a few years back. Soon the news arrived also in the tower cab and it gave me the creeps followed by a feeling of emptiness in me. After 9 it was us who watched the news and saw the second plane crashing into the other tower. We were not even surprised… But in each of us the question arose: what now?? Aircraft were still coming and going at Ferihegy airport but the news spread like wildfire and was soon everywhere. With this, a new chapter was opened in the life of the airport. A very dark chapter.
The years since have convinced me that the whole story was not what we at first thought it was, or rather how others tried to make us see it. I have been to the part of the world where they thought the enemy was hiding and getting to know the people there, I started having my doubts. I am afraid that behind this whole horrible event one will find capitalist interests and the push for world hegemony. What better proof do you need than the fact that since the change of leadership in the US, there are far fewer terrorist acts in the world.
Click here to read the full article
US DOT/Volpe Survey on the subject of aircraft cyber security
On 15/04/2010, in SWIM, by steve
Hello,
My name is Kevin Harnett and I work for the Department of Transportation, Volpe National Transportation Systems Center in Cambridge, Mass. My team is actively involved in supporting the FAA, DoD/USAF, and UK on several Cyber Security aircraft initiatives, such as: Electronic Flight Bags (EFBs) Security Testing, Aerospace Network Security Simulator (ANSS), Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen), Flight Object (FO), RTCA SC-216 (Aeronautical System Security), and DoD Commercial Derivative Aircraft (CDA) cyber security.
BACKGROUND
With developments in the aerospace industry to support the future Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) and new E-Enabled aircraft (such as the Boeing 787 and 747-8 and the Airbus 380 and 350, and technology retrofits to legacy aircraft), the use of technologies such as IT communication protocols and COTS equipment are being used on aircraft at unprecedented levels. The use of these technologies raises concerns about potential cyber security vulnerabilities that may have an impact on aircraft safety. The FAA realizes that these industry developments will have an impact on Aircraft Certification Office (ACO) workloads and required skill sets but needs feedback from industry to determine the extent of the impact. The purpose of this survey is to solicit information from aircraft manufacturers, aircraft component manufacturers and aircraft operators on near to mid-term developments that will impact the ACO workload.
SURVEY
Click here to read the full article
Safety briefing – the missing element
On 28/01/2010, in Battle stations, by steve
This blog is about air traffic management. But, by the nature of our business, we tend to travel more than the average citizen and the pilots among us spend half their life strapped to the aircraft that carry us around. So it is appropriate to say something for once as a passenger rather than the ATM expert I often claim to be.
I am one of those passengers who actually follows the safety briefing, checks the location of the emergency exits and who has actually studied the operation of the damn things. I would hate having to read the opening instructions with smoke filling the cabin… I never take off my shoes until we are at cruising level. And yes, I do check that my life vest is under my seat and yes, I did find an empty container once and complained before we were airborne.
Recently however I started missing something from the safety briefing. If you look at the statistics, the likelihood of needing my life vest is distinctly lower than the need to know what I should do in case the chap or gal sitting next to me turns out to have explosives in his or her pants and decides to use it too.
Click here to read the full article
Is being blown up part of my human rights?
On 12/01/2010, in Battle stations, by cleo
It is bad enough that aviation is the target of people hell bent on blowing things up. It is even worse that there are others in pretty high places who will help them… even if unwittingly.
Violating human rights?
There is no point in denying that the aviation security system, including the extensive and supposedly fool-proof US elements, have failed miserably when it allowed a Nigerian guy with explosives in his underpants to board several planes on Christmas day. I can only surmise what his dad is thinking about all this when his noble act of warning the US embassy about his son’s activities went totally unheeded… Will he, or other dad’s in a similar predicament, raise the flag in the future or just shrug their shoulders? But there is worse…
Body imaging technology is a proven tool to discover this kind of plan. True, no scanner will (for now) see explosives tucked in body cavities but that will surely come one day. Or not…
The good ladies and gentlemen of the European Parliament maintain that full body scanning violates EU citizens’ human rights. In some EU states, the problem arises only if “sensitive” body parts are also displayed. Great! So what have the same nice, caring EU persons done to make aviation safer?
They decided that it was not their business!
While in the United States aviation security is seen as an important government task, in Europe security and its related expenditures are thrust squarely onto the shoulders of the flying community. Airline passengers pay through the nose for the privilege of not being blown up while politicians sit back contentedly… Would they be so relaxed if the threat was the same against the underground or the railways? Hardly!
Airline security does not bring votes… passenger rights and emission trading schemes do. So, focusing on the latter, Europe has never bothered to build a comprehensive, effective and cost-efficient security infrastructure for aviation.
Shooting their mouth off about protecting human rights and so eventually blocking the introduction of full body scanning is nothing short of being misguided on the grandest scale possible.
I would dearly like to know whether the MEPs really consider it preferable to be blown to kingdom come in the knowledge that no screener has seen their willy to arresting the one guy who is behind all the mischief. Makes you almost wonder: what is in the parliamentarians’ underpants?
Same time, same place, same level…15
On 09/11/2009, in Same time, same place..., by steve
Security and its guardians – Part 2
A phone call is enough…
Some people must have realized years ago just how easily the fear of god can be put into an airport by the simple impediment of a telephone call. If you were a safety official, what would you do if someone were to call at three in the morning, saying that Flight so and so will have a bomb on it? As likely as not, you would order a search of the aircraft, an extra careful check of passengers and luggage and, having turned up nothing suspicious, you would just sit back with your fingers crossed until the threatened plane arrived home safely. But you would never, not once, treat the telephone calls as not being for real. A lot of money and time is being wasted as a result of these telephone nuts, for less than a fraction of one percent of such telephone calls actually have a real threat behind them.
The telephone exchange at our airport had the disconcerting habit of regularly putting through callers to the control center’s extension whenever they could not make heads or tails of what the caller wanted. It was only natural that a call starting with the words “bomb” or “explosives” should end up ringing the supervisor’s line. Over the years most of us had the good fortune of talking to these nameless people cheerfully promising to blow up everything from aircraft to radar installations and from the catering kitchen to cars in the parking lot. While we chatted away, technicians desperately tried to trace the call, mostly ending up at a coin-box, long deserted by the time the police arrived.
Click here to read the full article
Roger-Wilco contributor honored
On 10/09/2009, in Battle stations, by steve
Security is an area that affects almost all facets of our life these days. Aviation security is but one of the many areas where highly trained professionals labor day and night to keep us safe. We try to bring you posts that introduce this fascinating subject in the widest sense of the word.
Most of the security related posts on Roger-Wilco come from the pen of “krisztian” who is not only managing the close protection team of RAP Security but is often out in the field, doing the hard work of the foot soldiers.
His dedication has recently been recognized by IBSSA, the International Bodyguard and Security Services Association, when he was presented with the award for “Your continuous outstanding service rendered to IBSSA”.
Congratulations to “krisztian” and our best wishes for many more safe and successful operations.
Two-way communication and the efficiency of public security
On 19/08/2009, in Battle stations, by krisztian
Strolling through the center of Brussels today my mind wandered off as my wife was shopping. I started an incognito surveillance of the security staff present in the mall, the different stores and the public areas. Of course, it was not all that hard to pick them out of the crowd, as they all wear clothing portraying the company they work for. This of course is done deliberately, if only to show the competition who is working where. More importantly, the clothing shows possible ‘threats’ that security is present and that somebody is keeping an eye out.
With the law on security being very strict in Belgium, everybody is aware of the fact that security officers can not do much in case of a crime… Nevertheless the men and women in the field do a good job. They show the public that somebody cares, that somebody is there to assist and in this they do succeed.
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Teach for the future
On 24/07/2009, in Battle stations, by krisztian
In every conflict, be it in business, world clashes, local disputes or the upbringing of our children, we have always said: “learn from the past.”
Learning from the past
For this reason even military academies study ancient wars and tactics used therein to teach their future military leaders. In my domain, security, we do the same. We base our training on the past, scenarios that we have seen, that our instructors have lived are replayed and countered in order to make us ‘ready’ for what awaits us.
This sounds logical; we can only learn from our mistakes and praise ourselves over our victories. And to a certain level this is true. We do need to learn from our mistakes and use the past to shape the present. However, it is exactly in this last sentence that we make the biggest mistake.
As we live in the present and head towards the future, the enemy of the present lives in the future, a step ahead, always.
Look at 9/11. Aviation security has changed since those events, some might argue for the better, some might say for the worse, but is has changed. We have adapted our security measures to something that has happened in the past. We have made it virtually impossible for terrorist organizations to perpetrate such an act again. But the terrorists know this, and they will counter us using our biggest weakness, the fact that we live and train for the present.
Click here to read the full article
