A TSA inspector is able to enter several parked, unattended jets, but the airline defends its security practices
By Jon Hilkevitch | Chicago Tribune reporter
11:04 PM CDT, August 20, 2008
The Transportation Security Administration suffered embarrassment Wednesday over an inspector who climbed carelessly around the outside of nine American Eagle planes parked overnight at O'Hare International Airport. But just hours later, the agency struck back, saying the government employee portrayed as a bumbling Barney Fife was able to expose security lapses by entering seven of the jets.
The investigator gained access to the unattended Embraer regional jets during random inspections that are conducted every day at U.S. airports to verify compliance with security regulations and uncover potential security risks that criminals or terrorists could capitalize on to tamper with aircraft, agency officials said.
But American Airlines, the parent company of American Eagle, said it followed all security procedures.
"Security doesn't necessarily mean that the airplane door is locked," said American spokesman Tim Wagner. "We have security procedures, which I am not going to describe in any detail, that we perform with every aircraft overnight before the plane departs the next day."
In addition, the airline said actions taken by the security officer that the TSA later acknowledged were inappropriate—hanging onto sensitive equipment mounted on the aircraft fuselages to pull himself up to the doors—could have jeopardized the safety of passengers flying the next morning.
Fortunately, the airline said, "vigilant" American Eagle employees observed the investigator's "unorthodox inspection techniques," and maintenance inspections required under Federal Aviation Administration procedures were carried out.
more:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-tsa_21aug21,0,5107335.story
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