Aviation and Airport

New plane design meet safety requirements
Delta-winged plane designs are claimed to be capable of carrying more than 1,000 passengers on a single deck with 20 exits and eight aisles; simulation shows they meet safety standards
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Biometrics to be used in fast-tracking trusted travellers through airports
The United States and the United Kingdom agree on using fingerprint, iris, and facial recognition technology to speed up frequent travellers’ journeys through immigration control
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Growing opposition to fingerprinting foreign visitors to U.S.
Legislators support airline industry’s contention that forcing them to fingerprint foreign visitors to the United States would ruin them financially; airlines say that fingerprinting 33 million visitors a year would cost $12 billion over 10 years
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Weight-sensitive aircraft seats
New plane or helicopter seats will rely on active suspension to sense the forces on the seat and change its levels of cushioning; the seat uses a magnetorheological fluid damper
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No need for an ID to board a plane
TSA takes into account the fact that IDs may be lost or misplaced, and has devised a policy which allows for identity verification without IDs
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Logan to use see-through scanners on passengers
Machines using backscatter and millimeter wave technology will scan passengers’ bodies for weapons and contraband — with TSA promising that privacy concerns which greeted the technologies early on have been addressed
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Delta's passengers can pay for faster security check
Delta will offer its passengers the option of paying $128 a year for speedier security lines; Delta has hired Verified Identity Pass to enroll passengers in Registered Traveler and operate the lines
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Plane wings made of glass
Researchers learn more about the atomic structure of glass, offering the possibility of constructing plane wings — and other things — with glass rather than metal, thus avoiding the danger of metal fatigue
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Air passnegers now must show an ID to be allowed on board
Until this past weekend, a passenger who agreed to secondary search of his or her body and baggage at airport check-points was allowed to board even if they did not have — or refused to show — an ID; this policy was changed on Saturday
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Cargo security front and center at coming IATA meeting
The air cargo industry has a compelling business motive to protect its longevity by ensuring it is a fast, reliable, secure means of moving freight globally, and a moral duty to safeguard human life
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TSA launches news airport airside and perimeter security
Billions of dollars have been invested in — and strict regulations promulgated for — passenger and baggage screening to prevent explosives from being taken on board; very little money has been invested in and no specific mandates imposed regarding airport perimeter security; TSA is changing this — and also takes the next essential step: coordination among the different money bodies involved in airport perimeter security
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DHS experiments with testing planes for radioactive cargo
In an effort to prevent terrorists from bringing radioactive materials into the United States on planes, DHS engages in 4-month, $4 million test to see whether the government’s radiation-detection equipment can pick up depleted uranium and other radioactive material hidden aboard passenger planes
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OMG helps UAVs see as human pilots do
Northrop Grumman tests Oxford Metrics Group’s software which make UAVs “see” things the way a human pilot would
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Problem for New Zealand aviation: Laser attacks
Kiwi aviation authorities are worried about a plague of laser attacks on planes coming in for landing at the country’s airports — especially the very busy Wellington facility; laser emiiters are more powerful now and more readily available, and bathing the cockpit with green laser beam my temporarily blind pilots as they approach the airport
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U.K. governmet report reveals incidents of toxic fumes on planes
Pilots had to wear emergency oxygen masks in flight due to toxic fumes; last year 116 “contaminated air events” reported to the Civil Aviation Authority
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