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Police Investigate Aircraft Tire Slashings in Alaska

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Authorities are investigating an overnight vandalism spree that left dozens of airplanes with slashed tires at a small airport in the Alaska’s largest city.

The flattened tires were discovered Thursday morning on 87 small planes at Merrill Field, on the edge of downtown Anchorage. Police spokeswoman Jennifer Castro said police are investigating the vandalism, but she had few details.

Footage from security cameras was being reviewed as part of the investigation, airfield manager Paul Bowers said. Merrill Field, home to about 830 aircraft, has more security cameras than any other general aviation airport in the state, he said. (Read more from “Police Investigate Aircraft Tire Slashings in Alaska” HERE)

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Documents Reveal That 73 U.S. Airport Employees Linked to Terrorists

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Documents recently obtained by WFXT-TV through a Freedom of Information Act request reveal that 73 private employees at nearly 40 airports nationwide have been identified with potential ties to terrorists.

The 73 reportedly flagged employees still were allowed to work at the airports because the Transportation Security Administration did not yet have access to all of the terrorism-related databases used during the vetting process, a report from the Homeland Security Inspector General’s Office stated last year. Although this original 2015 report did not reveal where the 73 airport workers were employed, since its release, the TSA said that it has been given access to all terror-related databases, according to WFXT.

Charlie Leocha, chairman of the consumer traveler advocacy group Travelers United, told WFXT that the employees, whose identities have not yet been publicly released, could be anyone from a supervisor at an airport store to an airline employee with access to luggage . . .

Michael England, the TSA’s national spokesman, issued a statement in which he claimed that the compiled evidence does not suggest that the 73 DHS employees are on the U.S. government’s consolidated terrorist watch list. (Read more from “Documents Reveal That 73 U.S. Airport Employees Linked to Terrorists” HERE)

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Watch: Man Uses Microchip Implanted in Hand to Pass Through Airport Security

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A man who implanted a microchip containing his airline booking details into his hand was able to use it to pass effortlessly through security to his flight.

Andreas Sjöström, vice president of digital for technology consulting company Sogeti, had the near-field communication chip (NFC) about the size of a grain of rice injected into his hand with a syringe, before using it at Stockholm Arlanda Airport to pass through security and board his plane.

The technology has been used before to make digital payments, control a mobile phone and unlock doors, in the same way contactless payment cards work. All it requires is a scanner to link up to that is compatible with the NFC.

Sjöström uploaded his Scandinavian Airlines EuroBonus member ID to the xNT implant and using NFC readers in the Swedish airport was able to register his boarding pass and passport by simply pressing his hand to a scanner.

Uploading a video of his effort to Youtube, Sjöström explained: “A few weeks ago I had an NFC chip implanted into my hand, just beneath the skin. In this video I use the chip to pass through Stockholm Arlanda airport, through security, at the lounge, and finally through the gate to the aircraft.” (Read more from “Watch: Man Uses Microchip Implanted in Hand to Pass Through Airport Security” HERE)

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Terminal Confusion? DHS Push Could Make Some IDs Invalid for Flying

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Millions of air travelers across the U.S. are potentially at risk of finding themselves grounded in the new year thanks to a post-9/11 law that took a decade to finally come into effect.

The REAL ID Act, originally passed in 2005, was meant to tighten standards for government-issued IDs like driver’s licenses — to boot, it banned federal agencies from accepting any IDs that don’t meet the bar.

That means the TSA technically shouldn’t accept driver’s licenses from certain states, once the law is in full effect. While Washington let the rules slide for years, the Department of Homeland Security could start to enforce them in 2016 and is pushing states to comply.

And that has the potential to cause confusion, not to mention headaches at the airport — as many states are still not in full compliance, and different states are operating on different timetables . . .

DHS is enforcing the legislation in stages. Currently, it is only requiring the enhanced IDs for access to federal facilities. Some states have extensions, but those are set to expire next year — in January, June and October, depending on the state. (Read more from “Terminal Confusion? DHS Push Could Make Some IDs Invalid for Flying” HERE)

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Homeless Squatters Are Taking over LaGuardia Airport

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Vice President Joe Biden once compared it to a “Third World country” — but LaGuardia Airport has become so riddled with homeless that it could now even make some of those nations look good.

The number of derelicts living at the airport has increased dramatically in the past year, turning the main terminal into the city’s most popular de facto flophouse, where they sleep, eat and wash up while competing for space with passengers, according to Port Authority sources.

At least 50 homeless people live inside the airport’s Terminal B, which anyone can get into without passing through security, sources said.

On one night last week, men and women were sacked out on cardboard that they had spread out over warm vents on the floor, a reporter observed. Others were curled up on chairs near Air Canada while televisions blared above their heads. A few were bunched together in couples, but most were solo and kept their distance from others.

Meanwhile, passengers tried to keep as far away as possible while they waited for their flights. (Read more from “Homeless Squatters Are Taking over LaGuardia Airport” HERE)

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Now Arriving: Airport Control Towers With No Humans Inside

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

Passengers landing at remote Ornskoldsvik Airport in northern Sweden might catch a glimpse of the control tower – likely unaware there is nobody inside.

The dozen commercial planes landing there each day are instead watched by cameras, guided in by controllers viewing the video at another airport 90 miles away.

Ornskoldsvik is the first airport in the world to use such technology. Others in Europe are testing the idea, as is one airport in the United States. While the majority of the world’s airports will, for some time, still have controllers on site, experts say unmanned towers are coming. They’ll likely first go into use at small and medium airports, but eventually even the world’s largest airports could see an array of cameras mounted on a pole replacing their concrete control towers. (Read more from “Now Arriving: Airport Control Towers With No Humans Inside” HERE)

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Airport Security Advances Clash With Privacy Issues

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Photo Credit: NY Times

Photo Credit: NY Times

At a mock airport in an underground laboratory here at Northeastern University, students pretending to be passengers head through a security exit in the right direction, while a young man enters going the wrong way. On a nearby computer screen, a newly developed video surveillance software program flags the wayward person and sounds an alarm.

In a lab across the street, researchers are developing a new way to detect explosives using radar.

Just down the hall, a professor and a team of students are working on a scanning system that they hope will speed up security lines. The system uses machines installed in walls or other places to scan passengers as they walk past instead of having them walk individually into a conventional scanning machine.

“The goal is to have a system that provides better scanning of individuals going through security, while at the same time making it more convenient,” said Jose Martinez Lorenzo, a professor of mechanical and industrial engineering, who is directing the project.

But the ambitious research in the name of passenger safety and easing air travel delays is colliding with pressure to protect privacy and to reduce federal spending. (Read more from “Airport Security Advances Clash With Privacy Issues” HERE)

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Delta Flight Skids Off Runway, Crashes at LaGuardia Airport [+video]

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Officials were investigating to find out exactly what happened late Thursday, after a Delta Airlines flight skidded and crashed through a fence as it landed at LaGuardia Airport.

As CBS2’s Matt Kozar reported, two industrial cranes late Thursday were tasked with the job of lifting the 140,000-pound jet plane, which remained precariously perched on the metal security fence where it touched down several hours earlier . . .

The accident happened just after 11 a.m. on Runway 13 as Delta Flight 1086 was coming in from Atlanta.

While it was snowing at the time, two other planes had landed safely in the snow earlier, CBS2’s Tony Aiello reported.

Photos and video from the scene showed the MD88 aircraft sitting in the snow with its nose through a fence near the water. Passengers could be seen exiting the plane off the wing and trudging through the snow. (Read more about the crash at LaGuardia airport HERE)

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