Aviation and Airport

Thruvision offers T-ray security scanner
Terahertz radiation offer the promise of effective scanning of passengers without revealing anatomically correct images of their bodies
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Briefly noted
Pentagon to ask Obama for $581 billion budget for next fiscal year… Security requirements for private aircraft arriving and departing the United States
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Disease-carrying travelers still a threat
It is now eighteen months since the Andrew Speaker saga: Despite having drug-resistant tuberculosis, and although his name appeared on no-fly lists, Speaker managed to fly to Greece for his wedding, travel to Italy, and come back to the United States; GAO says some improvements have been made, but problems remain
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UAV-based anti-missile defense appears doomed
DHS’s Project Chloe envisioned a UAV-based system to defend commercial airlines against shoulder-fired missiles; Northrop Grumman tests show the system to be more complex, and costlier, than originally anticipated
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U.K. passports costs rise by 39 percent to pay for biometrics
Fingerprinting and facial scanning are costly procedures, and the Home Office attempts to recoup the cost of adding biometric data onto the document
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New UAV can fly safely close to the ground
UAVs are useful, but they cannot fly close to the ground because they cannot avoid hazards such as buildings, trees, and power cables; Carnegie Mellon researchers develop a UAV capable of “seeing” — and avoiding — such obstacles
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Global Entry arrives in Atlanta
U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents who pre-register for the program may use the Global Entry kiosk as an alternative to the regular passport control line
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FAA issues final rule to increase airliner explosives survivability
Aircraft manufacturers will have to ensure that cockpit doors can handle small arms fire or fragmentation devices, and that the flight deck and passenger compartment are protected from smoke, fumes, and noxious gases that could be released by an explosion
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Briefly noted
U.S. plans pilot program to bar unsafe imports… Restrictions on liquids coming to an end
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EU votes down millimeter wave scanners
Millimeter wave scanners offer a new level of security at airport checkpoints, but they also offer anatomically correct images of people’s private parts; EU votes against using them
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Better baggage security through simulation
Aussie researcher develops software which allows airport managers to examine how baggage handling operations at a typical airport would cope with upgrades to security systems
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TSA to assume responsibility for watch list matching responsibilities
There have been many — many, many — complaints about the accuracy and effectiveness of DHS no-fly watch list; TSA takes responsibility from individual airlines for matching names on the list with passengers
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Innovative shoe scanner to make travel safer, lines shorter
University of Manchester researcher develops a technology which allows security personnel to spot people with concealed items in their shoes as they walk through passport control or through traditional security checks
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TSA meets initial screening cargo goal
Congress has mandated through the 9/11 law that 50 percent of cargo on passenger carrying aircraft be screened by February 2009 and 100 percent of cargo be screened by August 2010; TSA says it currently screens all cargo on narrow body, passenger-carrying aircraft; these account for more than 90 percent of all passenger carrying aircraft in the United States
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TSA to require background checks of private jets' passengers
There are about 15,000 corporate jets in the United States, flying out of 315 small airports; until now, there was no security scrutiny of these planes and the hundreds of thousands of passengers who use them every year; this is going to change
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