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Nancy Kates, who wore a large underwire bra, told the San Francisco Chronicle the security check by a female TSA agent before JetBlue flight 472 at Oakland International Airport was too invasive. <snip> TSA spokesman Nico Melendez said security agents must "resolve an alarm" in all circumstances. "Unfortunately, we can't take a passenger's word for it," Melendez told the San Francisco Chronicle.

TRIPOLI, Libya - Hijackers in Sudan's wartorn Darfur region seized a jetliner carrying nearly 100 people, including local Darfur officials, and forced it to land at a World War II-era airfield in the heart of the Sahara Desert in neighboring Libya, officials said. A Libyan official at the remote Kufra airport said there were 10 hijackers belonging to a Darfur rebel group and were demanding enough fuel for the Boeing 737 to continue to France. -snip-

A Federal Judge in Georgia has decided to ignore state law and uphold an airport ban on firearms. Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue had previously supported gun rights in the public, non-secure areas of airports, citing not only public safety but also the fact that there is no law against it on the books in Georgia. "If my wife wanted to carry a gun, if she was going from the parking lot, walking from one of those far parking lots to pick up a grandchild or something like that, I think that's a good idea, yes," he was quoted as saying...

Pentagon Makes Fighting Extremism Top Priority Seven years after the Sept. 11 attacks, the Pentagon on Thursday officially named "the long war" against global extremism as its top priority and pledged to avert any conventional military threat from China or Russia through dialogue. The Defense Department, in a new national defense strategy, also emphasized the need to subordinate military operations to "soft power" initiatives to undermine Islamist militancy by promoting economic, political and social development in vulnerable corners of the world. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he hoped the change would help establish permanent institutional support for counterinsurgency skills...

In Chicago, people like Robert Perry are subjected to exhaustive security checks. He was patted down, his wheel chair was examined and his hands were swabbed, all in public view in a see-through room at the security checkpoint. Perry, 71, is not alone "It's humiliation," Perry said. Perry was also taken to a see-through room by a TSA agent when his artificial knee set off the metal detector. "He yelled at me to get the belt off. 'I told you to get the belt off.' So I took the belt off. He ran his hands down over and pulled the...

BAGHDAD, July 22, 2008 – Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki waved to cheering crowds July 20 as he stepped off the first plane landing at Najaf International Airport. Iraqi girls smile in celebration of the Najaf International Airport inauguration, July 20, 2008. U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Michel Sauret, Multinational Division Center  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. The celebration marked the opening of a new airport that will facilitate travel, boost business opportunities and increase tourism. "The Najaf airport is a starting point for competition among provinces and local governments to make extraordinary progress toward reconstruction. …...

HOUSTON -- A federal magistrate has released a convicted mail thief to participate in a nationally televised professional boxing event, Local 2 Investigates reported Wednesday. Donald Albert Mouton, 30, is part of an arrest sweep involving stolen mail from Continental Airlines jets at Bush Intercontinental Airport. He and another man have been arrested so far, with federal agents planning more arrests next week. "I'm not a bad person. I'm one of the finest gentlemen walking around," said Mouton while training Wednesday afternoon at the Ultimate Warriors Boxing Club on Mesa Drive in northeast Houston. After performing sit-ups and other exercises,...

Imagine two scales at the airline ticket counter, one for your bags and one for you. The price of a ticket depends upon the weight of both. That may not be so far-fetched. "You listen to the airline CEOs, and nothing is beyond their imagination," said David Castelveter, a spokesman for the Air Transport Association, a Washington, DC-based trade group. "They have already begun to think exotically. Nothing is not under the microscope." He declined to discuss what any individual airline might be contemplating, including charging passengers based on weight. With fuel costs almost tripling since 2000, now accounting for...

An Afghan hijacker who forced an airliner to fly to Britain is now working at Heathrow, it has been disclosed. Nazamuddin Mohammidy, 34, was one of a gang of nine that threatened to blow up an internal flight in Afghanistan, along with 173 passengers and crew, unless they were granted political asylum. The Afghan hijackers forced the Boeing 727 to divert to Britain where they surrendered to police and the SAS after a 70-hour stand-off at Stansted Airport, Essex in Mohammidy, of Hounslow, Middlesex, is now working as an office cleaner for British Airways. The discovery came after he...

WASHINGTON, May 13, 2008 – Servicemembers transiting through Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, near Washington, D.C., now have a new area to spend time between flights after the recent dedication of a new United Service Organizations lounge. Military and government leaders participate in a ribbing-cutting ceremony to officially open the new United Service Organizations lounge at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on May 8, 2008. From left are: Bill Fairl, of CACI; Paul Maladrino, Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport manager; David Speck, of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority; Jon Love, with Pitney Bowes; Virginia Sen. Patsy Ticer; Ned Powell, with...

U.S. Wary Of Small Boat Terrorism As boating season approaches, the Bush administration wants to enlist America's 80 million recreational boaters to help reduce the chances that a small boat could deliver a nuclear or radiological bomb somewhere along the 95,000 miles of U.S. coastline and inland waterways. According to an April 23 intelligence assessment obtained by The Associated Press, "The use of a small boat as a weapon is likely to remain al Qaeda's weapon of choice in the maritime environment, given its ease in arming and deploying, low cost, and record of success." While the United States...

A pilot's laptop, filled with top secret security information was reported missing at Dulles Airport and the ripple effects were felt across the country. The Mesa Airlines employee couldn't find the personal laptop he brought with him while co-piloting a United Express flight from Birmingham, Alabama to Dulles International Airport. 17 airports were forced to make emergency changes to access codes at Dulles, Atlanta, Phoenix, Chicago's O'Hare and San Antonio. Various officials within the airline industry admit that with these access codes, someone who went though security could, with the touch of a few buttons, get onto a plane or...

SKIP the video intro on the top of the page. Go below, where you see the Reagan's face and the video is there. This is the Kowloon airport of Hong Kong, the world's craziest airport.

Glasgow Airport bombers 'planned nightclub terror campaign' By Duncan Gardham, Security Correspondent Last Updated: 11:23pm BST 11/04/2008 Islamic extremists planned to carry out a series of spectacular terror attacks against British nightclubs, the Old Bailey has heard. Glasgow Airport bomber's email to brother Hundreds of people at one club in London escaped death last June only because two car bombs packed with improvised explosives and gas cylinders failed to go off. Sabeel Ahmed will be deported as soon as he is released One of the devices was left directly outside the Tiger Tiger club in the capital’s Haymarket area and...

LOUISVILLE (WAVE) -- Metro police and firefighters are on the scene of a plane crash near Bowman Field. The aircraft is down in the 2600 block of Valetta Road near the Seneca Gardens neighborhood. The 6-seater Cessna P210N went down shortly before 3 p.m. and police officials tell us it narrowly missed a house in the residential neighborhood. Emergency crews pulled two people from the wreckage. They were taken to the hospital. No word yet on their condition. We have a crew on the scene and we'll have the latest coming up on WAVE 3 News.

Attacks on nuclear power stations, oil and gas terminals, Canary Wharf and Heathrow’s control tower were being considered by leaders of the plot to blow up seven transatlantic airliners in mid-flight, a court was told yesterday. Documents found on computer memory sticks at the home of an alleged terrorist ringleader contained a list of targets across Britain – including the gas pipeline between Britain and Belgium. The man, Assad Sarwar, was said to be in contact with terrorist leaders overseas and visited Pakistan a month before his arrest as preparations for the airline attacks were being finalised. Peter Wright, QC,...

NEW YORK - To the untrained eye, the man looked like any other traveler as he waited in line at Kennedy Airport. But something about the way he was acting caught the attention of two security screeners. For 16 minutes, they questioned him, scanned every inch of his body twice with a metal-detecting wand and emptied his carry-on bag onto a table. Out came a car stereo with wires dangling from it. The man was eventually found to have done nothing wrong — he said he had pulled the stereo out of his car because he was afraid it would...

Afghanistan to Ask NATO for Bigger Army Afghan officials will go to the NATO summit in Romania Thursday with a request: pay to increase our national Army by 40 percent. A bigger Army, Afghan officials argue, will allow the US and other coalition members to scale back in the coming years. This appeal comes amid pleas from the US and Canada for other NATO members to commit more to the Afghanistan mission, which many analysts say has floundered over the past year for lack of resources and a coherent strategy. France is expected to contribute another 1,000 forces and...

he loud buzzer caused a few jumps and laughs, but a lot of interrogations. A fake metal detector at Al-Madinah Cultural Center's entrance in Coffman Union was part of an airport simulation the student group held to kick off Islam Awareness Week. Minnesota's large Muslim population and past racial profiling incidents are pertinent to the University community, chemistry junior Nadia Hug, the group's events coordinator, said. "In general, racial profiling is a topic that we should all be thinking about as university students," she said. Salwan Abdullah, a biology junior and one of the members who played airport security, said...

A MAN who allegedly tried to smuggle a gun on to a domestic flight at Melbourne airport has been charged by police. He was arrested as he tried to hail a taxi outside the domestic terminal after screening equipment allegedly detected a pistol in his carry-on luggage. Sources told the Herald Sun the man was trying to board a plane with the loaded gun.

Wednesday, March 26, 2008 AP March 26: A firefighter inspects the scene where explosions blew the manhole covers off an underground electrical vault in Los Angeles. March 26: A firefighter inspects the scene where explosions blew the manhole covers off an underground electrical vault in Los Angeles. LOS ANGELES — A hospital spokeswoman says a Los Angeles firefighter has died of injuries from a series of explosions that blew the manhole covers off the top of an underground vault. Deborah Ettinger says the firefighter was pronounced dead after being taken to Centinela Freeman Regional Medical Center Wednesday afternoon. Another firefighter...

Explosion reported, no further word on injuries or exact location. Just the title and "More soon" on the BBC site.

DALLAS -- Dozens of federal inspector credentials giving access to airports have gone missing, an NBC 5 investigation revealed. According to the investigation, 122 Federal Aviation Administration safety inspector badges have been stolen or lost in the past five years. The credentials are one of the few forms of identification that give complete and unfettered access to airport facilities, including the cockpits of planes in flight.

MIAMI (AP) -- A man with multiple passports was arrested Monday after he bolted from security screeners at Miami International Airport, jumped from a second floor concourse and broke his arm and ribs, authorities said. Transportation and Security Administration officials became suspicious of Faid Beydoun as he stood in a security line, waiting to board a Los Angeles-bound flight. When Beydoun's travel documents also raised concerns, agents asked him to step out of line for a secondary screening. Beydoun, who was carrying multiple passports, then ran from security screeners, jumped 25 feet off the second floor concourse and broke his...

The images of the 9/11 hijackers passing through airport security remain etched in our national conscience. After the tragic events of that day, the federal government took over the job of passenger inspection. Each and every hand-carried bag is examined by trained workers hired by the Transportation Security Administration. But, using a hidden camera, CBS4 found that hundreds of people who work at Denver International Airport are passing through a checkpoint into the airport's secure area every day without being examined, and the TSA's rules allow it. A man CBS4 interviewed who wished to remain anonymous is among these workers...

Three Afghan nationals are being held in New Delhi, India after they tried boarding a flight to France, via Kuwait, using Mexican passsports identifying themselves as: Antonio Lopez Juan (42) Javier Sanchez Alberto (20) Atonio Lopez Ernesto (16) According to Indian press reports, the three men departed from Nedumbaserry Airport in India, on February 11, without incident. When they arrived in Kuwait, emigration officials found them suspicious because they did not speak any Spanish. They were deported back to India. The three had reportedly arrived in New Delhi on January 23 this year, as per the stamps on their passports....

Is the U.S. Failing in Afghanistan? It was malice in wonderland at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday as Bush Administration envoys insisted things are getting better in Afghanistan, while angry lawmakers from both parties cited facts and figures showing just the opposite. Even the senior Republican on the panel, Senator Richard Lugar, found the Administration's claims wanting. "I'm not sure that we have a plan for Afghanistan," he said. Long seen as the "forgotten war" eclipsed by Iraq in U.S. priorities, Afghanistan is in the Washington spotlight this week with the release of three independent reports concluding...

By Audrey Hudson - The Oakland International Airport did not break any laws or regulations when it denied 200 Marines and soldiers access to the passenger terminal during a layover last year from Iraq to the troops' home base in Hawaii, the Transportation Department says. Calvin L. Scovell III, the department's inspector general, blamed the mix-up on security concerns and a communication failure between the Defense Department and the Homeland Security Department. The contract to allow military layovers at the California airport "did not require that military personnel have access to the airport terminal; it only required that military personnel...

FOLSOM, Pennsylvania (AP) -- The skies won't seem especially friendly to anyone taking off from Philadelphia International Airport if they notice what a suburban couple wrote on the roof of their home. "(Expletive) U FAA," the message reads, though one letter of the profane word is substituted with an underline. Below that it is a picture of a plane with a slash through it and the words "no fly zone." Homeowner Michael Hall and his girlfriend, Michaelene Buddy, are angry that jets have been flying over their house since last month, when the Federal Aviation Administration altered departures heading out...

The World's Most-Delayed Airports Brian Wingfield, 01.14.08, 3:50 PM ET Washington, D.C. - If you're sitting on the tarmac, waiting for your plane to take off in Chicago or London or Asia, take heart. Things could be much worse. You could be in Brazil. In our tallying of the world's most delayed airports, the flight hubs in that country appeared at or near the top of our lists for both late arrivals and departures. At Brasilia International Airport, the world's worst for on-time departures, slightly less than 27% of all flights took off within 15 minutes of their scheduled departure...

Six years after the terrorist attacks of 2001, airport security remains a theater of the absurd....To understand what makes these measures so absurd, we first need to revisit the morning of September 11th... Conventional wisdom says the terrorists exploited a weakness in airport security by smuggling aboard box-cutters. What they actually exploited was a weakness in our mindset...In years past, a takeover meant hostage negotiations and standoffs; crews were trained in the concept of “passive resistance.” Just the opposite is true today. Any hijacker would face a planeload of angry and frightened people ready to fight back. No matter that...

BERLIN - Historic Tempelhof Airport — which played a key role in the Berlin airlift in the wake of World War II — will close to passengers in 2008, Germany's top administrative court confirmed Tuesday. The court threw out a bid to prevent Tempelhof's closure as part of plans to expand Schoenefeld airport, a former military airport on the city's outskirts, into Berlin-Brandenburg International Airport. Several airline companies that use the centrally located Tempelhof airport tried to block the closure. But the Leipzig-based Federal Administrative Court rejected their claims, approving an earlier decision by a Berlin-Brandenburg administrative court that argued...

Plane With 56 Crashes in Turkey 18 minutes ago ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — An Atlasjet plane crashed shortly before it was to land in central Turkey early Friday, killing all 56 people on board, the airline's chief executive said. A rescue helicopter had reached the wreckage of the plane on a mountainous region near the town of Keciborlu in Isparta province and reported back that no one had survived the crash, airline CEO Tuncay Doganer said.

This is not a scientific comparison, but when I saw one scene I remembered another. This is the recent scene: yesterday afternoon, Naha airport, Okinawa, Japan. Line crew gassing up a Cirrus SR22: Details to notice below: crew identically dressed in company uniform; complete safety gear -- hardhats, reflective chest straps with procedural checklist clipped on, puffy protective cuff to shield the plane's wing from damage. It's hard to see in the picture, but even the boots are part of the uniform: black, with red laces, and company logos on the back. Impossible to see in the picture: the coordinated...

I'm irked about the treatment I was subjected to while flying for Thanksgiving. I was approached by two security guards and asked to submit to a 'random' security check while at Austin Intl airport in Texas. This was after I had already been thru the standard security check to remove my shoes, belt, watch etc.... I argued with them saying that if the regular security was not making the place safe enough then the problem lay there and making people go thru further checks amounted to harassment. You'd think they'd just say fine and go find another random person to...

Part of a Newark Liberty International Airport terminal was evacuated Saturday as authorities investigated a possible gas leak, a spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said. People in a section of the airport's Terminal B noticed a strong odor around 11 a.m. that they thought smelled like natural gas, Port Authority spokesman Pasquale DiFulco said.

PHOENIX (AP) - A smoking suitcase was spotted Tuesday in the cargo area at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, airport officials said. The suitcase was in the cargo hold of a US Airways plane headed to San Antonio when it started emitting smoke, said Claire Simeone, an airport spokeswoman. The plane was moved to a less busy area while authorities investigated the suitcase on the tarmac. -snip- The Phoenix Fire Department called in a hazard materials team and the owner of the suitcase is being questioned by police, Rodriguez said.

We want to thank you for visiting our website! We plan on bringing some of the most prolific and beautiful warbird / air racer vintage aircraft to Petaluma to be hosted by the sponsors on Sunday Nov 11 between 8:30 A.M. and 2 P.M. The sponsors are cordially invited to view aircraft up close and personal. You will have a chance to meet active test pilots, air racers, airshow performers, and veterans who have served our country to preserve freedom. Between 1-2 P.M. you will have a chance to see these beautiful aircraft take to the skies for formation fly...

PHOENIX (AP) — A woman who died in police custody during an airport layover was intoxicated on a potent mix of alcohol and antidepressants and accidentally strangled herself on her shackles, an autopsy released Friday concludes.

More than a hundred people with fake identification were given employee security passes to Chicago's O'Hare airport, officials said Wednesday. The airport raid, which netted 23 undocumented workers from Mexico, showed that rigid new security protocols implemented in the six years since the terrorist attacks of September 11 are still not working. The city's department of aviation is supposed to rigorously screen all employees granted access to secure areas like the tarmac and cargo areas. That process is supposed to include fingerprinting, an FBI criminal check, and a security threat assessment. But 110 employees of one contractor on site used...

More than 20 workers were arrested today at O'Hare International Airport after authorities said employees at a suburban staffing agency used fraudulent security badges to gain access to unauthorized areas of the airport. Many of the workers arrested were illegal immigrants, authorities said. The eight-month investigation led to the execution of a search warrant today at Ideal Staffing Solutions, 170 N. Pine Lane in Bensenville, and the arrests of two managers there: Mary Gurin, 36, of Carpentersville, and Norinye Benitez, 24, of Franklin Park, according to a statement from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Each was charged with one count...

Brit Jumps Barbed Wire At Metro AirportPOSTED: 1:37 pm EDT November 1, 2007 UPDATED: 2:37 pm EDT November 1, 2007 ROMULUS, Mich. -- A British citizen who apparently missed his flight Wednesday night decided to try a different tactic to catch a plane: He ran across all lanes of I-94, through a field, across railroad tracks and over six strands of barbed wire before his attempt was put to a final halt by an airport security guard who tackled the man and sat on him. The 22-year-old is now in custody while police and airport officials try to figure out...

Phoenix – A mother and daughter, both wanted in Florida on charges of racketeering, were apprehended by alert U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport Wednesday night. While screening passengers arriving from Mexico City, CBP officers examined documents belonging to 24-year-old Silvana Theurell-Portillo. While asking routine questions of Theurell-Portillo, the officers queried her name in their systems and discovered that she was a fugitive, wanted in St. Lucie County, Fla. on gambling and racketeering charges. During questioning of her mother, 65-year-old Marina Portillo, CBP officers discovered that she also was wanted on similar charges in...

AN AIRPORT suspended a Roman Catholic worker after a Muslim colleague protested about an image of Jesus pinned up on a staffroom wall. Gareth Langmead, 40, was stunned to be sent home from Manchester airport after putting up the image of the Sacred Heart. Bosses are said to have ordered the car parks supervisor to be escorted off the premises after the Muslim complained. Mr Langmead was only reinstated three days later after an investigation found that his action was not intended to be “malicious or provocative”. The row comes a year after BA check-in worker Nadia Eweida was suspended...

Last Nov. 1, Noah Gotbaum phoned his father and stepmother to say that he had just discovered his wife, Carol, drunk and passed out in their town house on West 95th Street. An ambulance, he told them, was rushing her to St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center. He asked them to come watch his three young children, Ella, 7, Nathaniel, 5, and Tobias, 3. His stepmother, Betsy Gotbaum, who is the New York City public advocate, has been married to Victor Gotbaum, the former labor leader, for 30 years and has close relations with his children and grandchildren — particularly Noah’s children,...

NEW YORK (CBS) ― CBS 2 HD has obtained surveillance video showing three different angles of last week's arrest of Carol Anne Gotbaum at Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix. The video shows the daughter-in-law of New York City Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum reacting after learning she had missed her flight. It also shows Phoenix police officers move in on her, take her to the ground and arrest her. Different angles show officers taking Gotbaum to a holding cell, where she later died mysteriously. On the morning of Sept. 29, Gotbaum left her Upper West Side home, brought her children to...

Suspicious Device Investigated On Flight To Denver (CBS) DENVER A SkyWest flight from Eugene, Ore. to Denver International Airport was searched by federal authorities Thursday morning after landing, authorities said. There was a report of a suspicious device being carried by one passenger. The plane landed and was held away from the concourses. Passengers were taken off the plane as it was searched. They were then allowed back on board and the plane was going to taxi to a gate. The FBI was questioning two people on the flight, a spokesperson for DIA said. He added there was no threat...

An Alaska Airlines plane has been isolated at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and passengers unloaded because an "unclaimed package" was found as the aircraft was flying from San Jose this morning. The pilot of Flight 383 informed the airport control tower that he had something on his plane that was of concern to him, said airport spokeswoman Terri-Ann Betancourt. She said it was something that "looked like a cellphone" but was not sure what the object was. The airlines described it as an "unclaimed package" discovered while the Boeing 737-400 was en route. There were 104 passengers and five crew members...

"On September 27, 204 Marines and soldiers who were returning from Iraq were not allowed into the passenger terminal at Oakland International Airport. Instead they had to deplane about 400 yards away from the terminal where the extra baggage trailers were located." This was not a security measure. After going through super-tight security, checking for contraband, ammunition and explosives in Kuwait, the soldiers and Marines had been allowed in the terminal building in Germany and at JFK in New York. But on the far-left coast they were quarantined from civilians.

A woman late to her plane became irate, was put in handcuffs and was later found dead in a holding cell, police said. Authorities were investigating Saturday if the woman choked herself while trying to get free from the handcuffs. Carol Ann Gotbaum, 45, of New York, was arrested Friday at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport after a conflict with gate crews who refused to allow her to board a plane, said Sgt. Andy Hill, a Phoenix police spokesman. The airline said the plane was already preparing to depart. She was rebooked on the next flight, but "she became extremely...