Airlines And September 11

On September 12, 2003 Ð'- two years after the terrorist acts of September 11, 2001, Nathaniel Heatwole, a 20-year-old American student intentionally carried a box-cutter (similar to those used by the terrorists on September 11, 2001), matches, bleach stored in sunscreen bottles and modeling clay made to look like plastic explosives through a check-point at Raleigh-Durham airport in North Carolina. He carried the items onboard a Southwest Airlines plane and left the package in one of the bathrooms. Having finished this "mission," Heatwole repeated it in the Baltimore-Washington International airport. Later, Heatwole sent letters to the FBI, explaining what he did and where the hidden packages could be found. The American Daily magazine, which reported Heatwole's story suggested that the level of security in US airports is very poor, even at a time when all of the law enforcement agencies are on high alert.

US airports make up a critical national infrastructure, worth several hundred billion dollars. Despite this, most financial resources allocated by the government for aviation security goes to airlines and not the airports themselves.

In 2004, the US federal budget set aside $4.5 billion for aviation security, but airports will receive only $17 million. The largest chunk of money will go to increasing passenger checks and expanding the network of systems to discover explosives in luggage. In 2003, the Transportation Security Administration hired an additional 56,000 employees for these operations.

To make the passage through the control points quicker and easier, materials about the rules of conduct during boarding are broadcast by the media. Passengers are advised not to wear shoes with metal buckles and to take off jewelry when passing through the checkpoint. They are also advised to avoid carrying cheese and chocolate, which look like explosives on the x-ray machines, and can cause unnecessary difficulties. In accordance with the new rules, cutting instruments and devices that can be used as weapons cannot be brought onboard an airplane Ð'- these include knives of any size, scissors, baseball bats, golf clubs, hockey sticks, large keys, screwdrivers, hammers, axes, razor blades, toy guns and even toy robot