Introduction.
In the following discussion I will be detailing the various changes that have taken place regarding aircraft and airport security and regulation as a result of the horrific terrorist attacks on 11 September, 2001. This day was perhaps the single most influencial day in aviation since the advent of flight at Kitty Hawk in 1903. September 11th brought to light many vulnerabilities present in the modern air travel system. The attacks also changed the way the world approaches air travel and the safety issues present when traveling by aircraft. The September 11th attacks showed that crime targeting mass casualties had become an epidemic that had spread to our vital transportation system (1). Air travel plays an important role in the …show more content…
At the time, it could be argued that many Americans lived under a flase sense of security. They believed that terrorism was a foreign problem, occurring only in countries that were less secure or otherwise less stable than our own. The terrorists that attacked the United States, 19 in total, were able to breach security and board 4 airliners providing domestic service within the United States (6). These flights were American Airlnies Flight 11, United Flight 175, American Airlines Flight 77, and United flight 93. Aboard these aircraft were 213 passengers, 25 flight attendants, 8 pilots, and the 19 terrorists who commandeered the aircraft (5). All of these individuals were killed that day along with some 3000 others on the ground (5). The attacks targeted two very important buildings in the United States. These were the Pentagon in Washington D.C., and the World Trade Center towers in New York City. Had it not been for the courageous actions of United 93’s passengers, other targets such as the White House and the Capitol Building in Washington D.C. could have been involved. The casualties involved in the attacks included 2,606 at the World Trade Center and 125 at the Pentagon (5). Almost immediately after 9/11, security came to the forefront as an inssue that needed to be discussed. All of a sudden, airport security was now seen as a major factor in national …show more content…
This act created the Transportation Security Adminstration or TSA. The role which the ATSA defined for the TSA was to ensure security in all modes of transportation. The ATSA also shifted responsibility of aircraft security from the airlines to the TSA. The act required deployment of federal security screeners at 429 commercial airports across the country by November of 2002. Some aviation related security measures remained the responsibility of the FAA. Included among these was security of air traffic control facilities and control of the newly established AIP or Airport Improvement Program, which provides grants for the planning and development of public use ariports