Aviation and Airport

American Airlines, TSA end weeklong feud
TSA inspector at O’Hare used an air temperature probe attached to the exterior of seven unattended American Eagles to hoist himself onto nearby jet bridges and access the planes; sensitive devices had to be recalibrated, resulting in delays
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NYC airports to get $400 million for explosive detectors
Responding to post 9/11 federal mandates, three New York City-area airports invested about $400 million in security upgrades; the federal government has agreed to reimburse the airports for the expenses
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All is not clear with the Clear "fast pass" program
TSA suspended Verified Identity Pass (VIP) from the Registered Traveler program because one of VIP’s computer, containing the personal details of 33,000 customers who had registered for the program; the lap top was found, and TSA reinstated VIP; Priva technologies, locked in a legal battle with VIP over trademarks, is unhappy
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NASA awards general aviation technology prizes
NASA wants to encourage innovations that would lead to aircraft that are safer, more affordable, easier to fly and also have less of a negative impact on the environment and on the communities that surround airports
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Verified Identity Pass gets back to RT business
TSA suspended company from the Registered Traveler program after one of its computer, containing the personal details of 33,000 customers who had registered for the program, was lost; lap top was recovered and handed over to TSA for forensic review; company now allowed to register passengers
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TSA keeps list of people who forgot driver's licnese, passport at home
TSA began storing the information in late June, tracking many people who said they had forgotten their driver’s license or passport at home; the database has 16,500 records; agency says it is changing its policy on the list
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QRSciences Holdings acquires Spectrum San Diego
The acquisition will boost QRSciences’ product offering of security related applications including the detection of explosives and narcotics, metal detection and imaging
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TSA to expand regulation of private aviation
TSA plans to regualte, for the first time, the 15,000 private planes now flying with no security rules; these planes use a network of 4,700 small airports which themselves are only lightly monitored for security
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Self-healing wire to bolster avaiation safety
In 1996 an explosion downed TWA flight 800 off the shore of Long Island, killing all 230 passengers and crew; University of Dayton researcher who identified a plausible cause of the explosion has developed a self-healing wire designed such explosions in the future
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TSA may fine airlines over mistaken terrorist IDs
The ACLU says there are one million names on the DHS terrorist watch list, while TSA says there are only 400,000; whatever the exact figure is, TSA wants to make sure that the airlines do not misidentify innocent passengers as terrorists, and threatens to sue airlines which do so
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TSA testing shoe scanning technology
he Transportation Security Administration is testing show scanning machines from L2 Communications; this is a step toward eventually allowing passengers to keep their shoes on when they go through the security checkpoint
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EU publishes airlines blacklist
EU, increasingly worried about lax air travel security, bars airlines from Indonesia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sierra Leone, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan, and Gabon from entering European airspace;
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New crime: Forged eye biometrics recognition stamps
How accurate is iris scanning biometric technology? read on: Three individuals are arresed at the Dubai airport for smuggling forged eye biometrics recognition stamps; the criminals’ goal: to facilitate the entry to the UAE of individuals who were previously banned
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ACLU: Terrorist Watch List hits one million names
ACLU claims terrorist watch list reached one million names; launches online watch list complaint form
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TSA: ACLU’s terrorist watch list facts and figures are a myth
The Transportation Security Administration refutes the facts and figures used by the ACLU in the latter’s claim that the list is now 1-million strong
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