HOUSE AVIATION SUBCOMMITTEE CONTINUES TO PONDER SECURITY

HOUSE AVIATION SUBCOMMITTEE CONTINUES TO PONDER SECURITY    The atrocities of Sept. 11 have driven home the point that no aspect of the U.S. airline industry is immune from terrorist attack, according to testimony at a second House Aviation Subcommittee hearing Tuesday.
   Security deficiencies in the airport system emerged in an unprecedented magnitude, in the wake of the hijackings that led to plane crashes into New York's World Trade Center, the Pentagon and western Pennsylvania, said Capt. Duane Woerth, president of the Air Line Pilots Association.
   “For the most part, we thought the threat to domestic flights was less than the threat to international flights,” Woerth said. “And we believed that the threats to cargo aircraft were minimal. It is now clear that any size aircraft flying from any size airport, international or domestic, carrying passengers or cargo can be used as a human-guided weapon.”
   House members, along with panelists from the aviation industry, focused on security issues to solve the U.S. airport system's dilemma.
   John Meenan, senior vice president of the Air Transport Association, suggested stricter measures for postal cargo on airplanes, including a federal mandate “requiring the x-ray screening of all mail so that it can be certified for appropriate carriage.”
   Rep. William Pascrell, D-N.J., grilled a panel member on how well-screened airport workers were before they accept a job.
   David Z. Plavin, president of the Airports Council International of North America replied that the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service controls certain spaces of work area in the airports, but that airports have no direct relationship with the INS when it comes to screening employees.
   “This is almost like ‘don’t ask, don’t tell,’ ” Pascrell said. “The airports and airlines can’t walk away from their responsibility in this.”