Aviation and Airport

DHS IG: General aviation is but limited security threat
General aviation accounts for 77 percent of all domestic flights and includes air cargo transport, emergency medical flight operations, flight school training, and corporate and private aviation; DHS IG says the threat general aviation poses to U.S. national security is “limited and mostly hypothetical.”
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Philadelphia airport enjoys stimulus package funds
DHS secretary Napolitano announces $26 million in stimulus package funding for screening technology at Philadelphia International Airport
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SF airport receives first installment of stimulus package money
The stimulus package added $3 billion to the DHS budget; of that, about $1 billion will go toward bolstering airport security; San Francisco International receives first $15 million
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TSA clarifies fingerprinting requirements
TSA makes clear that only non-U.S. citizens will have to give fingerprints upon leaving the United States — and for now, only for a pilot project at Atlanta and Detroit airports
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Tracking security lines speed
Purdue University researches used Bluetooth signals from mobile phones and other wireless devices to track how long it takes travelers to get through security lines at Indianapolis International airport
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Congress offers relief to Washington State cherries growers
Congressional mandate, going into effect last Monday, requiring 100 percent screening of cargo on passenger planes, threated Washington State cherries grower; Congress offers growers relief
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House passes TSA authorization, tells agency to consult GA
The House of Representatives the Transportation Security Administration Authorization Act; bill sends a message to TSA to increase general aviation (GA) industry participation on security initiatives
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House limits whole body imaging
Worries about privacy lead Congress to vote, 310-118, to ban whole body imaging at airports; the bill would ban TSA from using whole-body imaging instead of metal detectors as the first-screening device at airports
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TSA bans Delta flights to African capitals
Citing security concerns, TSA told Delta Air Lines that airline would have to delay its planned launching of direct flights between Nairobi and Atlanta via Dakar
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IG: TSA's financial data jeopardized by lax controls
Inspector General reports finds that TSA’s financial statements are vulnerable to tampering; TSA does not review computer accounts to ensure people who have left the agency are locked out, and does not check the privileges associated with each active account regularly to ensure that level of access remains necessary
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Puffer machine, RIP
The puffer machines were once thought of as a good solution for airport security: passengers would walk through a portal in which a blast of air would dislodge particles off their clothes and bodies to detect traces of explosives; things have not worked out, and TSA pulls the plug on the futuristic device
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Auto-EDS explosive detection system to be tested at Waco airport
The Transportation Security Administration has chosen two small airports — Waco Regional Airport in Texas and Hyannisport, Massachuseets — to test a new explosive detection system
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New security measures on passenger planes may hurt cherries growers
About a quarter of the cherries grown in Washington state — some 1.3 million 20-pound boxes — are flown in the cargo hull of passenger planes to Pacific Rim countries like Japan and Korea; growers of highly perishable crops like cherries worry that a new requirement that all cargo on U.S. passenger flights undergo a security scan could create lengthy delays, leaving crops to rot in hangars as they await inspection
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Heavier passengers to pay more for flying
Air cargo flies this way: if something is twice the weight, you pay twice as much; airline industry analysts say that the day of passengers paying according to their weight may not be far
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London airport in trials of facial recognition security
Stansted Airport outside London is testing security gates with facial recognition software as the first part of an eventual roll out of the new security gates to ten more U.K. airports
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