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UNIT 7 Civil Aviation Security 155

Unit 7 Notes
__________________
__________________
Civil Aviation Security __________________
__________________
__________________
__________________

Objectives __________________
__________________
After reading this unit, you will be able to:
__________________
y Define Civil Aviation Sequrity
__________________
y Understand CISF
y Know about various Preventive Measures
y Understand Search of Baggage
y Understand various Modern Techniques – TNA, Smart X-ray etc.

Civil Aviation Security refers to the techniques and methods

used in protecting airports, aircraft, passengers and
personnel associated with aviation from crime, sabotage and
terrorism.

Large numbers of people pass through airports every day.

Such a large gathering of people presents a natural target
for terrorism and other forms of crime due to the number of
people located in a small area. Similarly, the high
concentration of people on large airliners, the potential high
lethality rate of attacks on aircraft, and the ability to use a
hijacked airplane as a lethal weapon provide an alluring
target for terrorism.

CRIMES OF TERRORISM
It includes espionage, sabotage, kidnapping, extortion,
hijacking, robbery, bombing, holding a person prisoner or
hostage or any “threat” or “attempt” to kidnap, extort, bomb
or hold prisoners or hostage or any threat to do any injury to
a human being, animal or personal or real property or any
conspiracy to do any of the above in order to compel an act
or omission by any person or any government entity.
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Notes The act of terrorism against civil aircraft can be divided into
__________________ various categories viz. “ “unlawful seizure of aircraft” or
__________________ hijacking, bomb hoax call, sabotage, in-flight attack on
__________________ aircraft, ground attack on aircraft, damage to air navigation
__________________ facilities etc.
__________________
SOME GLARING CASES OF UNLAWFUL INTER-
__________________
FERENCE
__________________
__________________ Some of the glaring cases related to hijacking and sabotage
__________________ are enumerated below,
__________________ September 70 was one of the most significant months in
the history of civil aviation when not one but three large
commercial jets were hijacked together by Popular Front for
the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). Out of these two aircraft
(a B707 of Trans World and a DC-8 of Swiss air) were made
to land at a desert airstrip of Jordan known as Dawson and
the third one (a Jumbo jet of Pan American Airways) was
taken to Cairo. After two days a VC-10 of BOAC (British
Overseas Airways Corporation) was also taken to Dawson.
Later the hijackers off-loaded the passengers and crew and
burnt all the aeroplanes.

“2 June 76” Airbus aircraft of Air France while on a flight

from Tel Aviv to Paris via Athens with 24 passengers on board
was hijacked by four Palestine supporters and taken to
Entebbe (Uganda) taking 10 persons on board as hostages.
On July Israel sent its aircraft on a secret mission to Entebbe
where its soldiers rescued the hostage in a dare devil
operation killing all the hijackers.

The single deadliest airline catastrophe resulting from the

failure of airport security to detect an onboard bomb was Air
India Flight 182 in 1985, which killed 329 people.

In June 85, Air India Jumbo jet named “Kanishka” on a flight

from Montreal to Mumbai via London fell into the North
Atlantic Sea near the coast of Ireland, killing all 329 persons
on board. During investigation it was found that a bomb had
been placed in the cargo compartment of the aircraft that
exploded during flight. This was the worst and most brutal
aeroplane accident caused by sabotage.
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UNIT 7 Civil Aviation Security 157
In Dec 88, a Pan American Airways B747 aircraft crashed Notes
due to sabotage, during a flight from London to New York __________________
with 259 passengers on board, killing all passengers and crew __________________
and the parts of the burning aircraft fell over Lockerbie town __________________
in Scotland that set many houses ablaze and killed many __________________
innocent people on ground too (total 270 casualties).
__________________
On 8 April 94, an Executive jet aircraft carrying Presidents __________________
of two African nations Rwanda and Burundi on flight from __________________
Tanzanian capital Dar-es-Salaam to Rwandan capital Kigali __________________
was hit down by a missile killing both the Presidents and __________________
eight others on board the aircraft. This was the first instance
__________________
when Heads of two nations got simultaneously killed under
a single air casualty.

In Nov. 96, an Ethiopian Airlines B767 aircraft on flight from

Addis Ababa to Abjdan (Ivory Coast W.Africa) was hijacked
by three persons just after take-off. The airliner crashed into
the sea just one Km off the beach due shortage of fuel and
the fuselage broke into two parts. Out of 178 Persons on board,
only 55 could be rescued.

The Rome and Vienna airport attacks in December 1985 were

two more instances of airport security failures. The attacks
left 20 people dead when gunmen threw grenades and
opened fire on travellers at El Al airline ticket counters.

Never the less, the most tragic security related incident was
that of the horrific attack & destruction of World Trade
Centre in New York by using the hijacked aircraft as missiles
on 11th September 2000 (Known as 9/11).

Security
Airport security provides a first line of defence by attempting
to stop would-be attackers from bringing weapons or bombs
into the airport. If they can succeed in this, then the chances
of these devices getting on to aircraft are greatly reduced.
As such, airport security serves two purposes: To protect
the airport from attacks and crime and to protect the aircraft
from attack.

In India, Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) is the

regulatory authority for control of Civil Aviation Security.
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Notes They formulate and implement and monitor security system

__________________ at various airports in the country. Civil Aviation Security
__________________ consists of airline security and airport security at the
__________________ airports.
__________________ The airline security checks are carried out by the Security
__________________ personnel of concerned airlines, who are employed, trained
__________________ and made responsible for carrying out pre-boarding Security
__________________ checks of person and baggage. (Pre-boarding Security checks
__________________ are conducted after the airport security checks are over).
__________________ In addition, airlines are also performing security checks
__________________ inside the aircraft. Some airlines do this by employing on-
board guards (armed or un-armed). These guards may be
sitting with the passengers in disguise at various strategic
locations inside the cabin (Like El-Al airline of Israel) and in
case of any requirement they may suddenly jump and
overpower the terrorists. In addition, they also carry out
checks of cargo, catering and other items required to be
loaded on board the aircraft.

Airport security provides a first line of defence by attempting

to stop would-be attackers from bringing weapons or bombs
into the airport. It serves two purposes: To protect the
airport from attacks and crime and to protect the aircraft
from attack.

Airport security is the responsibility of the aerodrome

operators (Like Airports Authority of India) who employ local
police or CISF or any other such agency for this job. Airport
security is further divided into two parts; City side security
and Air side security.

City side security includes security of Terminal building,

passengers, baggage, all access points to the airport. Air side
security includes security of operational areas (like runways,
taxiways, apron etc.), Boundary wall, Navigational aids,
Radio facilities and other essential airport equipments and
installations.

Normally the following procedures in steps are adapted to

carry out the security checks at our airports;
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UNIT 7 Civil Aviation Security 159
1. When a passenger enters the airport, the security official Notes
checks the ticket to make sure that the passenger is __________________
having a bonafide reason to enter the airport premises. __________________
__________________
2. The passenger it made to pass through Door Frame
Metal Detectors (DFMD), which normally works on the __________________

principle of eddy current inspection. __________________

__________________
3. The Check-in baggage (The Registered baggage, which
__________________
is carried inside the cargo hold) is passed through the
__________________
X-Ray Machines and “Security Checked” tag is pasted a
on it, and the baggage is returned to the passenger. __________________
__________________
4. The passenger then goes to get the boarding pass, and
then gives the “Security Checked” baggage to the airline
counter for moving it to conveyor belt for loading on to
the aircraft.

5. The Cabin baggage (Carry on Baggage) is then carried

by the passenger to the security hold (Sterile Area) after
undergoing X-Ray check for the baggage and physical
checking (Frisking), passing through Door Frame Metal
Detectors (DFMD) and checking through Hand Held
Metal Detectors (HHMD).

6. In India a passenger is allowed to carry only one hand

baggage inside the cabin with him. However, no weapon
of any kind what so ever is permitted in the cabin.
Earlier in India due to religious reasons, Sikh
passengers were permitted to carry their holy Kirpan
(dagger) along with them inside the cabin. However after
a number of hijacking incidents, even this privilege was
withdrawn.

7. So much so that many innocent looking objects like nail

cutters, scissors, wires, screw drivers or similar other
household items are not permitted inside the cabin.
However all these things can be carried inside the cargo
baggage.

8. In India airline staff has instructions not to accept

unaccompanied baggage unless and until the passenger
himself travels along with. And in case it is necessary
to send such unaccompanied baggage, the practice of
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Notes allowing a suitable cooling period is adopted. The idea

__________________ is that if any explosive or bomb etc. is hidden inside the
__________________ baggage, its effect could be seen outside (and not inside
__________________ the aircraft) during the waiting period.
__________________ 9. In case of even accompanied baggage, many airlines in
__________________ India follow the procedure of baggage identification by
__________________ the passenger. For this purpose bonafide passengers are
__________________ required to identify their baggage individually and only
__________________ then it is loaded on the aircraft (inside the cargo
__________________
compartment).
__________________ 10. At busy airports closed circuit television cameras are
extensively used for monitoring the entry, movement
and exits of undesirable elements over the passenger
lounge and other strategically important areas to safe
guard not only against breach of security but also to
prevent theft burglary etc.

11. As far as the security of the airport boundary and

installations are concerned, boundary walls/Fencing as
per ICAO Specifications, Watch towers, regular
patrolling, continuous vigil etc. are introduced.

CENTRAL INDUSTRIAL SECURITY FORCE (CISF)

In our country at most of the airports the responsibility of
Security has been entrusted with the Central Industrial
Security Force (CISF), a paramilitary organisation, since the
year 1999, and the remaining airports are also in the process
of being handed over to CISF. Earlier this job used to be
carried out by the local police, which had a Skeleton set of
staff. In addition, concerned airlines also have their own
security staff to carry out their security checks before
passengers board the aircraft.

In the backdrop of hijacking of Indian Airlines aircraft (IC-

814) in December, 1999, airport security matters were
reviewed by the Ministry of Civil Aviation. It was decided
that in order to bring in uniformity of practices and
procedures and ensure effective control and supervision of
the Ministry of Civil Aviation, airports security should be
entrusted to a single dedicated force instead of different State
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UNIT 7 Civil Aviation Security 161
Police forces with divergent work culture and practices. The Notes
Committee of Secretaries (COS) in its meeting on 7th __________________
January, 2000 recommended that in the long-term there was __________________
a need for a more professionalized force for civil aviation. __________________
The Commissioner of Security (CA) further recommended __________________
that Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) should be
__________________
inducted at all airports in India. The dedicated CISF
__________________
contingent earmarked for aviation security functions at
__________________
airports in India has been notified as Aviation Security Group
(ASG). Accordingly now CISF has been deployed or being __________________

deployed at most of the Indian airports. __________________

__________________
After deployment of CISF at airports, there has been a
marked improvement in all areas of airport security
including Perimeter Security, Access Control, Terminal
Building Security, Apron Security, Surveillance, Passenger
Handling etc. ASG staff has proved their worth in handling
all types of security situations at airports and have been
meticulous in implementing security procedures. They have
been quick to plug any loopholes in security and the security
system is constantly upgraded to neutralize emerging
threats. In addition they have been able to bring about a
higher level of security awareness among all agencies
operating at the airports, including the passengers.

For the purpose of security, Hand Held Metal Detectors

(HHMD) and Door Frame Metal Detectors (DFMD) are
normally used.

PREVENTIVE MEASURES
In good old days there used to be no system as security
checking with regard to passengers and their baggage. Like
a rail passenger or a bus passenger the airlines and airport
agencies could just make sure that the air traveller is holding
a valid ticket and then he could freely board the aircraft. At
most some police personnel could be posted at the airport
just to ensure that only authorised people enter the airport
“operational area” so that there are no incidents of pilferage
or thefts and no one disturbs or interferes with operation of
aircraft (this was done more with a view to ensure safety of
aeroplanes rather than from the security angle). During
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Notes those days there used to be a free atmosphere and passengers

__________________ could carry almost any thing within the permissible load
__________________ limits except perhaps the inflammable articles like petrol or
__________________ kerosene that could endanger the safety of aircraft.
__________________ Subsequently after 1968 when the incidents of hijacking were
__________________ on rise in many countries started tightening their security.
__________________ However still not much of the importance was given to this
__________________ aspect as it was assumed that cases of hijacking are confined
__________________ to certain pockets of the world and only limited number of
__________________
nations were affected by that phenomenon. Thus it was not
much difficult to carry weapons or similar other restricted
__________________
articles into the aeroplanes.

For example in October 1968 in USA an ex-naval official

boarded a Trans World Airways B707 carrying with him a
huge pile of grenades, fire arms and other material inside
the aircraft. He also took a rifle along by concealing it into a
fishing rod. Later he hijacked the aircraft and took it to Italy
about 1000 kilometres away. This gives an indication of the
standards of the security arrangements available during
those days.

However slowly most of the countries started recognizing

the importance of security after experiencing phenomenal
increase in the tendency of hijacking all over the world. For
this purpose these countries started adopting strict security
measures for making air travel safer. The very first step in
this direction was to do the through checking of passengers
and their baggage. Similarly the staff and officials of airlines
and airport were also subjected to security checks before
entering the airport area. Worldwide inspection and
screening of passengers and cabin baggage went into effect
July 15 1974.

Because of strictness in security checking a large number of

arms and ammunition were detected during seventies and
early eighties. Thus more than 225 thousand weapons and
ammunition were seized from 1971 to 1981 during such
checking at various airports. Out of this there were more
than 80,000 firearms ammunition and explosives and over
150 thousands were knives and similar type of articles.
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UNIT 7 Civil Aviation Security 163
It is interesting to note that where as in 1971 there were Notes
only 36 cases of seizures of arms and ammunition and only __________________
115 cases of seizure of knives in 1973 these number rose to __________________
the astronomical figures of 13,461 and 32,525 respectively. __________________
In 1975 the numbers rose to a record figure of 32,538 and __________________
20,866 respectively.
__________________
As per reports from US Government during the year 1973 __________________
about 3500 passengers were detained for checking at 531 US __________________
Airports since they were suspected to be possessing weapons. __________________
Out of them about 300 people refused to be checked and __________________
therefore they were not allowed to board the aircraft. The
__________________
remaining 3200 were arrested. And then about 2000 guns
35000 pounds of ammunition and about 23,000 knives and
other dangerous weapons were recovered from them.
(However many of the above articles were carried by girls
travelling alone possibly for self-defence).

After such strict checking the number of weapons carried by

air travellers started decreasing. Perhaps by that time it was
well understood by all that it was difficult to carry these
items in view of intensified security measures at various
airports. Perhaps due to the same reasons even there was
considerable reduction in number of cases of unlawful
seizures.

The number of unlawful seizure of aircraft which had reduced

in 1973 has continued at about the same level since then.
The relatively static level of occurrences was mostly due to
successful implementation of the world wide inspection/
screening of passengers and their baggage carried out by
security personnel.

INSPECTION/SCREENING OF PASSENGERS IN
INDIA
It is now becoming a regular practice at most of the airport
to check the person and baggage of passengers before
boarding the aircraft. This examination is normally done by
physical checking and through X-ray machines metal
detectors and various other means. For this purpose special
training is provided to security personnel in handling airport
security.
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Notes In addition various other precautions are also taken with a

__________________ view to reduce the cases of entry of unscrupulous elements
__________________ inside the aeroplane. For this purpose certain security
__________________ measures taken in India and various other countries are
__________________ highlighted below.
__________________ In India no unaccompanied baggage is accepted by airline
__________________ staff unless and until the passenger himself travels along
__________________ with. And in case it is necessary to send such unaccompanied
__________________ baggage the practice of allowing a suitable cooling period is
__________________
adopted. Under this procedure the baggage is not loaded
immediately in the aircraft but is kept at a suitable place for
__________________
a reasonable period (known as cooling period). The idea is
that if any explosive or bomb etc. is hidden inside the baggage
its effect could be seen outside (and not inside the aircraft)
during the waiting period.

In case of even accompanied baggage many airlines in India

follow the procedure of baggage identification by the
passenger. For this purpose all bonafide passengers are
required to identify their baggage individually and only then
it is loaded on the aircraft (inside the cargo compartment).
The airline staff sorts out the baggage that had not been
identified by any passenger and keep it away till the
travelling passengers comes and claims it to be his/her
belonging.

Actually this procedure sometimes creates problems too. If

a passenger is not familiar with the practice of baggage
identification or sometimes due to language and
communications problem or similar other reasons the
passengers may not come forward to identify the baggage.
At times these people board the aircraft while their baggage
is kept out waiting for identification. Under such
circumstances the airline staff has to waste a lot of precious
time in making a series of announcement to find out the
concerned passenger and to make him identify the baggage.
This may cause even delay to flights. However if due
weightage is given to security aspect such exercises are
considered necessary.

In India a passenger is allowed to carry only one hand baggage

inside the cabin with him due to security reasons. However
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UNIT 7 Civil Aviation Security 165
no weapon of any kind what so ever is permitted in the cabin. Notes
Earlier in India due to religious reasons Sikh passengers __________________
were permitted to carry their holy Kirpan (dagger) along __________________
with them inside the cabin. However after a number of __________________
hijacking incidents even this privilege was withdrawn. __________________

So much so that many innocent looking objects like scissors, __________________

wires, screwdrivers or similar other household items are not __________________
permitted inside the cabin. However all these things can be __________________
carried inside the cargo baggage. However inspection of __________________
baggage and security checking remain effective only if such __________________
inspections are carried out vigorously and sincerely. Any
__________________
lapse in these vigils may give an opportunity to the terrorists
to conduct their business in usual manner.

For example in April 1988 a Kuwait airways B747 was

hijacked during its flight from Bangkok to Gulf by persons
carrying weapons. The Don Muang airport at Bangkok on
the other hand is well equipped with Magnetometer (and X-
ray equipment). Thus it gave a doubt to the investigating
agencies whether the security officials were alert enough
during checking?

Similarly in June 1990 a renowned American journalist

whose daughter had perished in Lockerbie crash flew on
London Heathrow-New York route carrying a radio/cassette
recorder in which a dummy bomb was hidden. The intension
was to demonstrate the slackness of such agencies. Since
security officials failed to detect the bomb it created an
embarrassing situation for the British Government.

ADDITIONAL VIGIL
Many countries adopt additional preventive measures.
Among these nations Israel is considered as one of best. In
addition certain other countries are also quite strict.

For example Israel carries security commandos on its flights.

Mostly these commandos sit inside the cabin along with
normal passengers at specific locations (normally in civil
cloths). If required these people can attack and immobilize
the hijackers. It is understood that national carriers of USA
Netherlands Switzerland Pakistan and many more countries
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Notes also carry plain clothed commandos on some of their flights.

__________________ Sometimes airlines of certain countries carry male as well
__________________ as female commandos aboard their flights in the guise of
__________________ normal passengers who sit in the cabin along with other
__________________ passengers and behave like normal travellers.
__________________ Some quarters are of the view that security guards should
__________________ not be armed on an airliner because if a bullet should
__________________ penetrate the skin of a pressurised cabin the aircraft could
__________________ disintegrate or the passengers be sucked out. Some examples
__________________
in this regard have also been given in respect of Iraqi airlines
crash near Jordan on 25 December 1986 in which a large
__________________
number of passengers and crew were killed as a result of a
shoot out between hijackers and the armed guards and that
of El Al flight of 1969 when Leila Khaled narrowly missed
from blasting a grenade.

However this is not always true. Pressurised bombers B-29

were frequently hit by bullets and riddled by sharpenels
during raids over Japan during World War II yet were able
to return safely. Of course if by chance the bullets happen to
hit the crucial fuel or hydraulic lines or a part of the engines
perhaps there could be a problem. It may be mentioned that
usually the sky marshals use low-velocity bullets to lessen
the risk. On most of the flights passengers are not allowed
to enter the cockpit without any valid reason and even this
can be done only with the specific permission of the pilot in
command. For this purpose Israel was the first nation to
introduce bullet proofing and automatic door closing
technique of the cockpit doors in their aircraft. This was soon
followed by many other airlines.

Many airports have been effectively utilizing services of

trained dogs and sometimes pigs for detection of bombs
explosives and firearms etc. These animals are capable of
sniffing and identifying dangerous objects either carried by
a passenger or kept inside the baggage (additionally these
animals can also identify drugs and therefore they are also
used to combat drug trafficketing.)

USE OF CLOSED CIRCUIT TV

At busy airports closed circuit television cameras are
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UNIT 7 Civil Aviation Security 167
extensively used for monitoring the entry, movement and Notes
exits of undesirable elements inside the airport. __________________
__________________
Security personnel in a control room keep watch through
__________________
CCTV over the passenger lounge and other strategically
important areas to safe guard not only against breach of __________________

security but also to prevent theft burglary etc. Thus any __________________
terrorist burglar or vandal can be easily spotted and __________________
apprehended even without his knowledge by the help of __________________
closed circuit TV. __________________

The installation of CCTV is done in sensitive areas of the __________________

airport such as passenger lounge arrival departure lounges __________________

check-in areas security hold areas etc. It can be further
extended to operational areas boundary gates and various
other important locations depending upon the requirement.

Benefits from CCTV surveillance are plenty and if exploited

fully many a possible incidents can be prevented before hand.

SEARCH OF BAGGAGE:
Acts of unlawful interference with International Civil
aviation continue to pose a serious threat to the safety
regularity and efficiency of civil aviation despite the best
efforts of nation’s airport administrations and airline
operators to implement the aviation security program
advocated by ICAO.

In order to achieve their goal of preventing such acts security

measures have been extensively intensified at various
airports with a view to ensure safety to passengers and
aeroplanes. In the 1970’s it became a requirement to search
all articles such as handbags brief cases packages etc. carried
abroad the commercial airliner. Similarly physical
examination of the air traveller is also conducted.

In India and most of the other countries the security staff

carry out frisking of passengers before they are allowed
inside the aircraft. For this purpose each passenger is made
to pass through metal detectors and thus anyone carrying a
weapon gets detected. The metal detectors work on the
principle of eddy current inspection. They may be hand held
or walk through (Mostly walk through).
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Notes As far as hand search of baggage is concerned it is time

__________________ consuming and cumbersome process. On a conservative
__________________ estimate a B747 aircraft carrying about 500 passengers on
__________________ an international flight may carry more than 1000 packets of
__________________ hand baggage and other such items. In a manual search each
item has to be opened swiftly examined by security officials.
__________________
Now if one piece of baggage takes half a minute to examine it
__________________
may take about 500 minutes (or about eight hours) for one
__________________
man to complete the search. Even if four security personnel
__________________ are employed for the job they may take more than two hours
__________________ to do Job. And at an international airport where dozens of
__________________ such flights depart on regular basis such a search may become
a nightmarish experience. Apart from delay the
inconvenience caused to passengers is also deplorable.
Moreover there is no way to ensure that such a method will
be fool proof.

It is therefore evident that manual searching of carry-on

luggage is not a satisfactory solution for high capacity aircraft
through it can be adopted for domestic flights at small
airports.

Thus the need for having X-ray examinations of baggage was

introduced. Under this system the baggage is passed through
X- ray beams over conveyer belts. The X-rays images are then
displayed on a display monitor that shows the inside contents
of the baggage. Thus any dangerous article can be easily
detected without opening the baggage.

X-ray system has another feature known as film safe

procedure. X-ray beams used for X-ray detection are using
heavy filtration and therefore any camera film carried inside
the passenger baggage does not get exposed.

At some of the airports in USA and in many other countries

a number of incentives are offered to security officials who
can unearth a hidden weapon or an explosive. Some times
the cash award may be as much as $25 for a single piece of
weapon. This in turn gives good motivation to security
officials to be more vigilant.

At certain airports (like Frankfurt in Germany) special

chambers for checking the baggage have been designed.
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UNIT 7 Civil Aviation Security 169
Baggages about which security staff are doubtful are sent to Notes
these chambers, which are made of steel called __________________
decompression chambers. In these chambers conditions __________________
similar to actual flight conditions are produced and in case __________________
the baggage contains any bomb the same gets detonated. __________________
__________________
MODERN TECHNIQUES
__________________
(TNA, VAPOUR DETECTION, SMART X-RAY AND TOMOG- __________________
RAPHY) __________________
__________________
The inherent danger posed by Semtex plastic that had caused
the crash of Pan Am Jumbo over Lockerbie had been troubling __________________
the security authorities all over the world.

USA developed a technique in 1989 to detect the presence of

Semtex through a process known as TNA (Thermal Neutron
Analyser). Under this technique passenger’s baggage is
bombarded with neutrons, which causes the scanned items
to emit gamma rays. By observing the concentration and
other features of gamma rays it is possible to detect the
presence of plastic explosives. It was reported that USA had
tested a large number of luggage and cargo items through
this technique and its detection capability was found as 95
percent of various types and shapes of explosives.

The cost of this machine was more than 500,000 lbs. Certain
TNA machines have already been installed at JFK airport
in New York, Miami Airport, London airport etc.

TNA takes about six seconds to scan a single bag. Since TNA
equipment uses some amount of radiation it cannot be used
for screening passengers nor is it suitable for screening
“carry-on baggage”. The high cost of the machine is another
hitch in fast implementation of this equipment at all airports.

As an alternate to TNA another method called “Vapour

Detection” is also being used for detection of plastic
explosives. This machine works on the principles of sensing
of minute amount of vapour emitted by explosives. The device
uses gas chromatography or chemi-luminescence techniques
for this purpose. The machine is comparatively slower that
TNA requiring about 30 seconds per passenger and has
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Notes slightly less effective performance. However the cost of a

__________________ vapour detector is much less ($80,000) than TNA and thus it
__________________ can be effectively used as a back up to TNA machine. For
__________________ examination of bulky cargo the commercial models using
__________________ mass-spectrography are used which is a variation on the
vapour analysis theme.
__________________
__________________ Another effective process is called “Enhanced X-Ray system
__________________ (also known as “Smart X-Ray system”). In this process X-ray
__________________ machines linked with computers are used. They are
__________________
programmed to highlight suspicious objects by evaluating
parameters such as mass contiguity and atomic weight. Thus
__________________
the true and intricate features of different objects carried by
air-passengers can be determined.

As a matter of fact the enhanced X-ray system is part of

“Explosives Detection System (EDS), which consists of
enhanced X- ray nuclear technology and electromagnetic
measurements for detection of explosives hidden inside the
baggage. All of these approaches attempt to take a
fundamental property of explosives to differentiate it from
the normal passenger baggage.

The latest topic in bulk explosives detection technology is

called as “computer tomography”. This system was first
developed in the medical science as CAT-Scanning. Later it
was modified to cater for security needs. Tomographic images
are obtained by acquiring multiple views (or slices) of an
object. A powerful computer is used to reconstruct the slices
and display the relative densities of the individual object
within each slice. The information allows the equipment to
automatically locate and highlight the suspicious object
regardless of their shape and environment. In contrast
traditional X-ray images are required to be interpreted
manually by the security officials. This is a difficult job as
the images are superimposed, overlapped and cluttered.

A number of airports in Europe and in the Middle East have

started using “computer tomography” for example Brussels
airport, London (Gatwick), Manchester airport etc.
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UNIT 7 Civil Aviation Security 171
IMPROVEMENTS Notes
__________________
With introduction of strengthened efforts and advanced
__________________
techniques in the field of Civil Aviation Security, the security
__________________
situation at various airports has improved at tremendous
__________________
pace. Thus even now though, hijacking continues to occur
but with a reduced pace and intensity. It is also felt that __________________

through the security and punishment measures that had been __________________
instituted in most of the countries it has probably been __________________
possible to deter a number of would be case of unlawful __________________
interference to civil aviation. Thus it is envisaged that with __________________
continued efforts in this direction matter can be brought __________________
within controllable limits.

References:
1. BCAS website http://www.bcasindia.nic.in/

2. DGCA Website http://dgca.nic.in/ also http://dgca.gov.in/

3. AAI website http://aai.aero/AAI/

4. Ministry of Civil Aviation website http://

civilaviation.nic.in/

5. “Aviation Terrorism” –Bimal K. Srivastava, 1998 Manas

Publications, Ansari Road, Daryaganj, New Delhi-110002

6. Various related ICAO Annexes & Documents

7. Indian Aircraft Manual

8. Various Air Safety Circulars, AICs and other important

notification issued by DGCA

Questions
General Questions.
1. Write different steps taken by various security
personnel for security checking of a passenger travelling
from Delhi Airport to Mumbai with baggage.

2. What types of modern techniques are used in controlling

the security problems?
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Notes 3. What are the area falling under the jurisdiction of “City
__________________ Side Security”
__________________
4. What are the area falling under the jurisdiction of “Air
__________________
Side Security”
__________________
__________________ Objective Type of questions
__________________
a. It is possible to identify the presence of RDX and plastic
__________________ bombs by using ——-
__________________
b. DFMD is a security equipment, which stands for —
__________________
__________________ c. HHMD is a security equipment, which stands for —-

d. Name the Annex Number of ICAO dealing with the

Aviation Security

Answers to Objective Type of questions

a. Smart X-Ray and Tomography

b. Door Framed Metal Detector

c. Hand Held Metal Detector.

d. Annex 17