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85-472: Aviation security is focused on protecting air travelers, aircraft and infrastructure from intentional harm or disruption, rather than unintentional mishaps. Aviation is safer today than it has ever been. Modern commercial aviation boasts an accident rate of approximately 1 fatal accident per 16 million flights, far lower than historic numbers. On December 14, 1903, the Wright Brothers conducted

170-608: A Transcontinental & Western Air Fokker F-10 carrying Knute Rockne , coach of the University of Notre Dame 's football team, reinforced all-metal airframes and led to a more formal accident investigation system. On 4 September 1933, a Douglas DC-1 test flight was conducted with one of the two engines shut down during the takeoff run, climbed to 8,000 feet (2,438 metres), and completed its flight, proving twin aircraft engine safety. With greater range than lights and weather immunity, radio navigation aids were first used in

255-590: A catastrophic engine failure on Southwest Airlines Flight 1380 in April 2018. Another aspect of safety is protection from intentional harm or property damage , also known as security . The terrorist attacks of 2001 are not counted as accidents. However, even if they were counted as accidents they would have added about 1 death per billion person-miles. Two months later, American Airlines Flight 587 crashed in New York City, killing 265 people, including 5 on

340-614: A certain mode of travel can be measured: (1) deaths per billion typical journeys taken, (2) deaths per billion hours traveled, and (3) deaths per billion kilometers traveled. The following table displays these statistics for the United Kingdom (1990–2000), and has been appended. (Note that aviation safety does not include travelling to the airport.) The first two statistics are computed for typical travels by their respective forms of transport, so they cannot be used directly to compare risks related to different forms of transport in

425-486: A community with a widely dispersed population must operate circuitous routes that tend to carry fewer passengers per distance (km or mile). A higher number is more favorable. Freight is measured in mass-distance . A simple unit of freight is the kilogram-kilometre (kgkm), the service of moving one kilogram of payload a distance of one kilometre. The metric units (pkm and tkm) are used internationally. (In aviation where United States customary units are widely used,

510-574: A field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania , not reaching Washington, D.C. , for its intended target, either the U.S. Capitol or the White House . The attacks resulted in the deaths of 2,996 people, including the 245 civilians , a law enforcement officer , and the 19 hijackers on board the four airplanes. On July 5, 2002, a gunman opened fire at Los Angeles International Airport (Israel's El Al Ticket Counter). The shooter killed two people and injured four. On August 10, 2006, security at airports in

595-494: A lightning strike on an airplane is rare. Modern airliners like the Boeing 787 Dreamliner with exteriors and wings made from carbon-fiber-reinforced polymer have been tested and shown to receive no damage from lightning strikes during testing. Ice and snow can be major factors in airline accidents. In 2005, Southwest Airlines Flight 1248 slid off the end of a runway after landing in heavy snow conditions, killing one child on

680-500: A low-crime country with little need for security checks. Sweden introduced security checks for international departures when international regulations demanded that around the 1970s/1980s. In September 2001, there was a decision to introduce security checks also for domestic flights. This took a few years to implement as domestic airports and terminals were not prepared with room for this. At smaller airports fire fighters can also be security guards. The Department for Transport (DfT)

765-410: A particular travel "from A to B". For example, these statistics suggest that a typical flight from Los Angeles to New York would carry a larger risk factor than a typical car travel from home to office. However, car travel from Los Angeles to New York would not be typical; that journey would be as long as several dozen typical car travels, and thus the associated risk would be larger as well. Because

850-561: A perspective to the realm of everyday transportation, air travel is taken to include only standard civil passenger aviation, as offered commercially to the general public. Military and special-purpose aircraft are excluded. Between 1990 and 2015, there were 1874 commuter and air taxi accidents in the U.S. of which 454 (24%) were fatal, resulting in 1296 deaths, including 674 accidents (36%) and 279 fatalities (22%) in Alaska alone. The number of deaths per passenger-mile on commercial airlines in

935-588: A restricted area is entered. Throughout the world, there have been a few dozen airports that have instituted a version of a "trusted traveler program". Proponents argue that security screening can be made more efficient by detecting those people who are threats and then searching them. They argue that searching trusted, verified individuals should not take the amount of time it does. Critics argue that such programs decrease security by providing an easier path to carry contraband through. Another critical security measure used by several regional and international airports

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1020-457: A system, from 75% engineering and 25% certification in past years. It calls for a global harmonization between certifying authorities to avoid redundant engineering and certification tests rather than recognizing the others approval and validation. Groundings of entire classes of aircraft out of equipment safety concerns is unusual, but this has occurred to the de Havilland Comet in 1954 after multiple crashes due to metal fatigue and hull failure,

1105-569: A test flight of their powered airplane from slope of Big Kill Devil Hill in North Carolina. Upon takeoff, the airplane lifted about 15 feet off the ground, stalled, and crashed into the sand. Only three days later, on December 17, 1903, Wilbur's brother, Orville Wright , would fly the airplane for the world's first powered, sustained, and controlled heavier-than-air flight in history. Although the failed test flight on December 14 would be mostly forgotten in aviation, it remains to this day one of

1190-551: A test run for a planned terrorist attack called Operation Bojinka . The explosion was small, killing one person, and the plane made an emergency landing. Operation Bojinka was discovered and foiled by Manila police in 1995. The Rome and Vienna airport attacks in December 1985 were two more instances of airport security failures. The attacks left 20 people dead when gunmen threw grenades and opened fire on travelers at El Al airline ticket counters. The September 11 attacks are

1275-479: Is commonly measured in twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), rather than cargo weight, e.g. a TEU-km would be the equivalent of one twenty-foot container transported one kilometer. Transportation density can be defined as the payload per period, say passenger / day or tonne / day. This can be used as the measure of intensity of the transportation on a particular section or point of transportation infrastructure, say road or railway. This can be used in comparison with

1360-425: Is handled by security guards provided by the airport itself, with police assistance if needed. The Swedish Transport Agency decides the rules for the check, based on international and European regulations. Airports are generally defined by law as "vital installations", which give protection guards extra authority, like demanding identity documents and search people's belongings. Sweden has traditionally seen itself as

1445-521: Is not limited by size or weight by the DfT/CAA, although most airlines do impose their own rules. The UK trialed a controversial new method of screening passengers to further improve airport security using backscatter X-ray machines that provide a 360-degree view of a person, as well as "see" under clothes, right down to the skin and bones. They are no longer used and were replaced by millimeter wave scanners which shows any hidden items while not showing

1530-438: Is one of the safest modes of transportation when measured by distance traveled . The Economist notes that air travel is safer by distance travelled, but trains are as safe as planes. It also notes that cars are four times more hazardous for deaths per time travelled, and cars and trains are respectively three times and six times safer than planes by number of journeys taken. Because the above figures are focused on providing

1615-464: Is that of fiber optic perimeter intrusion detection systems . These security systems allow airport security to locate and detect any intrusion on the airport perimeter, ensuring real-time, immediate intrusion notification that allows security personnel to assess the threat and track movement and engage necessary security procedures. This has notably been utilised at Dulles International Airport and U.S. Military JFPASS. On May 30, 1972, three members of

1700-526: Is the controversial use of backscatter X-rays to detect hidden weapons and explosives on passengers. These devices, which use Compton scattering , require that the passenger stand close to a flat panel and produce a high resolution image. A technology released in Israel in early 2008 allows passengers to pass through metal detectors without removing their shoes , a process required as walk-through gate detectors are not reliable in detecting metal in shoes or on

1785-517: Is the distance (km or miles) travelled by passengers on transit vehicles ; determined by multiplying the number of unlinked passenger trips by the average length of their trips. Passengers per hour per direction (pphpd) measures the maximum route capacity of a transport system. A system may carry a high number of passengers per distance (km or mile) but a relatively low number of passengers per bus hour if vehicles operate in congested areas and thus travel at slower speed. A transit system serving

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1870-616: Is the governing authority for airport security in the United Kingdom, with the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) also responsible for certain security regulatory functions. In September 2004, with the Home Office , DfT started an initiative called the "Multi Agency Threat and Risk Assessment" (MATRA), which was piloted at five of the United Kingdom's major airports — Heathrow , Birmingham , East Midlands Airport , Newcastle and Glasgow . Following successful trials,

1955-863: Is the responsibility of the Finnish Police , which has an airport unit at Helsinki Airport . The airport unit has a criminal investigation, a canine and a TEPO (terrorist and bomb) squad, and a PTR (police, customs and border guard) intelligence component. Furthermore, units of the Finnish Border Guard units at airports often arrest wanted individuals or fugitives at the border, and the Finnish Customs seizes e.g. weapons, false documents or explosives in addition to wanted individuals. French security has been stepped up since terrorist attacks in France in 1986. In response France established

2040-616: Is the world's first dual biometric access control system for airports. This program replaces the old Airport Restricted Area Passes issued to airport employees after security checks by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service , the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and Transport Canada with new cards (issued after the same checks are conducted) that contain biometric information (fingerprints and iris scans ) belonging to

2125-553: Is to prevent harm to aircraft, passengers, and crew, as well as support national security and counter-terrorism policy." While some countries may have an agency that protects all of their airports (such as Australia , in which the Australian Federal Police polices the airport), in other countries the protection is controlled at the state or local level. The primary personnel will vary and can include: Other resources may include: Some incidents have been

2210-618: The Air Commerce Act of 1926 , which required pilots and aircraft to be examined and licensed, for accidents to be properly investigated, and for the establishment of safety rules and navigation aids; under the Aeronautics Branch of the United States Department of Commerce (US DoC). A network of aerial lighthouses was established in the United Kingdom and Europe during the 1920s and 1930s. Use of

2295-487: The Customs and Excise Department will check passengers and crews' luggage to discourage smuggling of drugs and contraband from entering Hong Kong. Passenger miles The units of measurement in transportation describes the unit of measurement used to express various transportation quantities , as used in statistics, planning, and their related applications. The currently popular units are: Passenger-distance

2380-512: The EU , Canada , and the United States. On May 7, 2020, Southwest Airlines Flight 1392 struck and killed a pedestrian while landing on runway 17R at Austin–Bergstrom International Airport . No injuries were reported to the 53 passengers and 5 crew aboard the aircraft. The victim, who was not a badged airport employee, was subsequently confirmed to have breached airport security in reaching

2465-650: The International Air Transport Association (IATA) releases its statistics in the metric units.) In the US, sometimes United States customary units are used. The dimension of the measure is the product of the payload mass and the distance transported. A semi truck traveling from Los Angeles to Chicago (approximate distance 2,015 miles) carrying 14 short tons of cargo delivers a service of 14 * 2,015 = 28,210 ton-miles of freight (equal to about 41,187 tkm). Intermodal container traffic

2550-739: The Japanese Red Army undertook a terrorist attack, popularly called the Lod Airport massacre , at the Lod Airport, now known as the Ben Gurion International Airport , in Lod . Firing indiscriminately with automatic firearms and throwing grenades , they managed to kill 24 people and injure 78 others before being neutralized (one of them through suicide). One of the three terrorists, Kozo Okamoto , survived

2635-672: The McDonnell Douglas DC-10 in 1979 after the crash of American Airlines Flight 191 due to engine loss, the Boeing 787 Dreamliner in 2013 after its battery problems , and the Boeing 737 MAX in 2019 after two crashes preliminarily tied to a flight control system. Parts manufactured without an aviation authority's approval are described as "unapproved". Unapproved parts include inferior counterfeits, those used beyond their time limits, those that were previously approved but not properly returned to service, those with fraudulent labels, production overruns that were not sold with

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2720-669: The Mossos d'Esquadra and the Ertzaintza , respectively, have replaced the Policía Nacional except for documentation functions. The Guardia Civil handles the security and customs checking, often aided by private security guards. Local police provide security and traffic control outside the airport building. Security measures are controlled by the state-owned company Aena , and are bound to European Commission Regulations, as in other European Union countries. Airport security

2805-540: The United Kingdom , Canada , and the United States was raised significantly due to the uncovering by British authorities of a terror plot aimed at detonating liquid explosives on flights originating from these countries. This is also notable as it was the first time the U.S. Terror Alert Level ever reached "red". The incident also led to tighter restrictions on carrying liquids and gels in hand luggage in

2890-827: The Vigipirate program. The program uses troops to reinforce local security and increases requirements in screenings and ID checks. Since 1996 security check-points have transferred from the Police Nationale/Gendarmerie de l'Air to private companies hired by the airport authorities. As a member of the European Economic Area , Iceland has adopted EC regulation No 300/2008 into national law and thus complies with EU standards on airport security for all international flights. Domestic flights within Icelandic territory are however exempted from

2975-402: The non-directional beacon (NDB): the ground-based VOR stations were often co-located with DME transmitters and the pilots could establish their bearing and distance to the station. To highlight the jetliner evolution, Airbus split them in four generations: The fatal accident rate fell from 3.0 per million flights for the first generation to 0.9 for the next, 0.3 for the third and 0.1 for

3060-719: The 1930s, like the Australian Aeradio stations guiding transport flights, with a light beacon and a modified Lorenz beam transmitter (the German blind-landing equipment preceding the modern instrument landing system - ILS). ILS was first used by a scheduled flight to make a landing in a snowstorm at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania , in 1938, and a form of ILS was adopted by the ICAO for international use in 1949. Hard runways were built worldwide for World War II to avoid waves and floating hazards plaguing seaplanes . Developed by

3145-408: The 1950s. A number of ground-based weather radar systems can detect areas of severe turbulence. A modern Honeywell Intuvue weather system visualizes weather patterns up to 300 miles (480 km) away. Distance measuring equipment (DME) in 1948 and VHF omnidirectional range (VOR) stations became the main route navigation means during the 1960s, superseding the low frequency radio ranges and

3230-824: The Minnesota Department of Public Safety, Office of Traffic Safety Volume of traffic, or vehicle miles traveled (VMT), is a predictor of crash incidence. All other things being equal, as VMT increases, so will traffic crashes. The relationship may not be simple, however; after a point, increasing congestion leads to reduced speeds, hanging the proportion of crashes that occur at different severity levels. Energy efficiency in transport can be measured in L/100 ;km or miles per gallon (mpg). This can be normalized per vehicle, as in fuel economy in automobiles , or per seat, as for example in fuel economy in aircraft . MacNeal 1994 discusses

3315-656: The Netherlands are provided by multiple Private security companies . Since early 2020, security staff at Schiphol Airport make use of CT-scans on all passenger filters, allowing passengers to keep their liquids and electronics inside of their bags as opposed to having to take them out. Airport security in Spain is provided by police forces, as well as private security guards. The Policía Nacional provides general security as well as passport (in international airports) and documentation checking. In Catalonia and Basque Country ,

3400-591: The U.S. and introduced during World War II, LORAN replaced the sailors' less reliable compass and celestial navigation over water and survived until it was replaced by the Global Positioning System . Following the development of radar in World War II , it was deployed as a landing aid for civil aviation in the form of ground-controlled approach (GCA) systems then as the airport surveillance radar as an aid to air traffic control in

3485-531: The United States between 2000 and 2010 was about 0.2 deaths per 10 billion passenger-miles. For driving, the rate was 150 per 10 billion vehicle-miles for 2000 : 750 times higher per mile than for flying in a commercial airplane. There were no fatalities on large scheduled commercial airlines in the United States for over nine years, between the Colgan Air Flight 3407 crash in February 2009, and

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3570-668: The United States, the TSA is working on new scanning machines that are still effective searching for objects that are not allowed in the airplanes but that do not depict the passengers in a state of undress that some find embarrassing. Explosive detection machines can also be used for both carry-on and checked baggage. These detect volatile compounds given off from explosives using gas chromatography . Computed tomography and walk-through body scanning (Thz radiation) may also be done. Artificial intelligence systems are also being used, for example for translation service on information stations around

3655-459: The United States, the unit is used as an aggregate in yearly federal publications, while its usage is more sporadic in other countries. For instance, it appears to compare different kind of roads in some publications as it had been computed on a five-year period between 1995 and 2000. In the United States, it is computed per 100 million miles traveled, while internationally it is computed in 100 million or 1 billion kilometers traveled. According to

3740-655: The aforementioned airports. It also applies to all entities located inside or outside airport premises providing services to airports. The standards of regulation 300/2008 are implemented by Commission Regulation (EU) 2015/1998. The regulation no 2320/2002 from 2002 introduced the requirement to have security checks for all passenger flights, also domestic. Some EU countries had no checks for domestic flights until around 2005 (introducing full security checks took some time since terminals might need expansion). Passenger, luggage and freight security checking and security guard duties are outsourced to contractors. General public security

3825-418: The agency's permission, and those that are untraceable. Unapproved faulty parts have caused hundreds of incidents and crashes, some fatal, including about 24 crashes between 2010 and 2016. Foreign object debris (FOD) includes items left in the aircraft structure during manufacture/repairs, debris on the runway and solids encountered in flight (e.g. hail and dust). Such items can damage engines and other parts of

3910-496: The aircraft. In 2000, Air France Flight 4590 crashed after hitting a part that had fallen from a departing Continental Airlines DC-10. A pilot misinformed by a printed document (manual, map, etc.), reacting to a faulty instrument or indicator (in the cockpit or on the ground), or following inaccurate instructions or information from flight or ground control can lose situational awareness , or make errors, and accidents or near misses may result. The crash of Air New Zealand Flight 901

3995-439: The airport and for reducing the time airplanes spend at the gate between flights (by monitoring and analyzing everything that happens after the aircraft lands). In the future, it may also be used in conjunction with CT machines and Thz radiation detectors. It may also be used for use with biometric deployment across touchpoints and of new solutions, such as risk-based screening and intelligent video analytics. A recent development

4080-405: The availability of an air option makes an otherwise inconvenient journey possible. Aviation industry insurers base their calculations on the deaths per journey statistic while the aviation industry itself generally uses the deaths per kilometre statistic in press releases. Since 1997, the number of fatal air accidents has been no more than 1 for every 2,000,000,000 person-miles flown, and thus

4165-554: The body of the passenger. The Hong Kong International Airport is secured by the Hong Kong Police Force and Aviation Security Company (AVSECO). Within the police force, the Airport District is responsible for the safety and security of the airport region. Airport Security Units are deployed around the airport and are armed with H&K MP5 A3 sub-machine guns and Glock 17 pistols . The security of

4250-903: The case of large airports, pay for a small contingent of local police officers to remain on site as well. Safety and security at Canada's airports are provided by local police forces. The RCMP once used to provide this service at most airports, but remains so only for a few today: Regulation (EC) No 300/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council establishes common rules in the European Union to protect civil aviation against acts of unlawful interference. The regulation's provisions apply to all airports or parts of airports located in an EU country that are not used exclusively for military purposes. The provisions also apply to all operators, including air carriers, providing services at

4335-407: The construction, running costs of the infrastructure. Fatalities by VMT ( vehicle miles traveled ) is a unit for assessing road traffic fatalities. This metric is computed by dividing the fatalities by the estimated VMT. Usually, transport risk is computed by reference to the distance traveled by people, while for road traffic risk, only vehicle traveled distance is usually taken into account. In

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4420-494: The contents of all carry-ons as well as metal detectors, explosive trace detection (ETD) equipment and random physical searches of passengers at the pre-board screening points. X-ray machines, CTX machines, high-resolution x-rays and ETDs are also used to scan checked bags. All checked baggage is always x-rayed at all major commercial airports. CATSA launched its Restricted Area Identity Card (RAIC) program in January 2007. RAIC

4505-432: The country. If airport security does succeed then the chances of any dangerous situation, illegal items or threats entering into an aircraft, country or airport are greatly reduced. As such, airport security serves several purposes: To protect the airport and country from any threatening events, to reassure the traveling public that they are safe and to protect the country and their people. Travellers are prohibited to pass

4590-510: The crash of Pan Am Flight 214 in 1963. At that time, aircraft were not designed to withstand such strikes because their existence was unknown. The 1985 standard in force in the US at the time of the glider crash, Advisory Circular AC 20-53A, was replaced by Advisory Circular AC 20-53B in 2006. However, it is unclear whether adequate protection against positive lightning was incorporated. The effects of typical lightning on traditional metal-covered aircraft are well understood and serious damage from

4675-409: The elderly as well as for attending business meetings that take place in the secure area of the airport. In the United States, at least 24 hours notice is generally required for those planning to attend a business meeting inside the secure area of the airport. Other countries, such as Australia do not restrict non-travellers from accessing the airside area, however non-travellers are typically subject to

4760-433: The exposure from a standard chest x-ray is almost 100 times higher. While airport security measures are crucial for ensuring passenger safety, they inadvertently introduce hygiene challenges. A study at Helsinki-Vantaa airport during the 2015-2016 flu season pinpointed the plastic security screening trays, frequently used in security checks, as a significant vector for the spread of respiratory viruses. The study emphasizes

4845-418: The failure of airport security to detect an onboard bomb was Air India Flight 182 in 1985, which killed 329 people. Another onboard bomb that slipped through airport security was the one on Pan Am Flight 103 in 1988, which killed 270 people; 259 on the plane, and 11 residents of Lockerbie, Scotland . Another notable failure was the 1994 bombing of Philippine Airlines Flight 434 , which turned out to be

4930-418: The fatal accidents, Controlled flight into terrain 21%, runway excursions 17%, system or component failure : 6%, Touchdown off the runway : 5%, Abnormal Runway Contact : 4% and fire : 2%. Safety has improved from better aircraft design process , engineering and maintenance, the evolution of navigation aids, and safety protocols and procedures. There are three main ways in which the risk of fatality in

5015-481: The first aviation accidents in history. In the early years of air travel, accidents were exceedingly common. 1929 was named the year of "The Great Crash" due to the frequency of aircraft accidents that occurred during the year, with 24 fatal accidents reported. In 1928 and 1929, the overall accident rate was about 1 in every million miles (1.6 million kilometers) flown. In today's industry, that accident rate would translate to about 7,000 fatal accidents each year. For

5100-500: The ground, causing 2001 to show a very high fatality rate. Even so, the rate that year including the attacks (estimated here to be about 4 deaths per billion person-miles), is safe compared to some other forms of transport when measured by distance traveled. The first aircraft electrical or electronic device avionics system was Lawrence Sperry 's autopilot , demonstrated in June 1914. The Transcontinental Airway System chain of beacons

5185-733: The ground. Even a small amount of icing or coarse frost can greatly impair the ability of a wing to develop adequate lift , which is why regulations prohibit ice, snow or even frost on the wings or tail, prior to takeoff. Air Florida Flight 90 crashed on takeoff in 1982, as a result of ice/snow on its wings. An accumulation of ice during flight can be catastrophic, as evidenced by the loss of control and subsequent crashes of American Eagle Flight 4184 in 1994, and Comair Flight 3272 in 1997. Both aircraft were turboprop airliners, with straight wings, which tend to be more susceptible to inflight ice accumulation, than are swept-wing jet airliners. Aviation security Airport security includes

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5270-526: The incident. The world's first terrorist attack while in flight was Cubana Flight 455 on October 6, 1976, when the airliner flying from Barbados to Jamaica was brought down by two time bombs , killing 73 people. Evidence implicated several Central Intelligence Agency -linked anti-Castro Cuban exiles and members of the Venezuelan secret police DISIP , including Luis Posada Carriles . The single deadliest airline catastrophe resulting from

5355-432: The journey would take a much longer time, the overall risk associated with making this journey by car would be higher than making the same journey by air, even if each individual hour of car travel is less risky than each hour of flight. For risks associated with long-range intercity travel, the most suitable statistic is the third one: deaths per billion kilometers. Still, this statistic can lose credence in situations where

5440-568: The last. With the arrival of Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS), satellite navigation has become accurate enough for altitude as well as positioning use, and is being used increasingly for instrument approaches as well as en-route navigation. However, because the GPS constellation is a single point of failure , on-board Inertial Navigation System (INS) or ground-based navigation aids are still required for backup. In 2017, Rockwell Collins reported it had become more costly to certify than to develop

5525-676: The late 1920s was airfield lighting , to assist pilots in making landings in poor weather or after dark. The Precision Approach Path Indicator (PAPI) was developed from this in the 1930s, indicating to the pilot the angle of descent to the airfield. This later became adopted internationally through the standards of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). Jimmy Doolittle developed instrument rating and made his first 'blind' flight in September 1929. The March 1931 wooden wing failure of

5610-471: The lighthouses has declined with the advent of radio navigation aids such as non-directional beacon (NDB), VHF omnidirectional range (VOR), and distance measuring equipment (DME). The last operational aerial lighthouse in the United Kingdom is on top of the cupola over the RAF College main hall at RAF Cranwell . One of the first aids for air navigation to be introduced in the United States in

5695-441: The lower body extremities. Alternately, the passengers step fully shoed onto a device which scans in under 1.2 seconds for objects as small as a razor blade. In some countries, specially trained individuals may engage passengers in a conversation to detect threats rather than solely relying on equipment to find threats. A single backscatter scan exposes the target to between 0.05 and 0.1 microsievert of radiation. In comparison,

5780-666: The most widely recognized terrorist attacks in recent times involving air travel. On the morning of September 11, 2001, 19 members of the Islamic terrorist group Al-Qaeda took control of four airplanes on the east coast of the United States and deliberately crashed two into both World Trade Center towers in New York City and the third into the Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia . A fourth plane crashed into

5865-601: The need for enhanced sanitation practices in these areas. Generally people are screened through airport security into areas where the exit gates to the aircraft are located. These areas are often called "secure", "sterile" and airside . Passengers are discharged from airliners into the sterile area so that they usually will not have to be re-screened if disembarking from a domestic flight; however they are still subject to search at any time. Airport food outlets have started using plastic glasses and utensils as opposed to glasses made out of glass and utensils made out of metal to reduce

5950-497: The number of people located in one place. Similarly, the high concentration of people on large airliners increases the potentially high death rate with attacks on aircraft, and the ability to use a hijacked airplane as a lethal weapon may provide an alluring target for terrorism (such as during the September 11 attacks ). Airport security attempts to prevent any threats or potentially dangerous situations from arising or entering

6035-608: The person issued the RAIC. While CATSA is responsible for pre-board passenger and random non-passenger screening, they contract out to third-party "service providers" such as G4S , Securitas and GardaWorld to train, manage and employ the screening officers. In addition, individual airport authorities which were privatized in the 1990s by the Canadian Government are responsible for general airport security rather than CATSA and normally contract out to private companies and in

6120-680: The restricted area is the responsibility of the police and AVSECO. While the airport is under the control of the Airport Authority Hong Kong (AAHK), the security power has been delegated to the AVSECO staffs. All persons and baggages carried by them must be X-Rayed and checked at the security screening points of the AVSECO (with a few exceptions at the Tenant Restricted Area). The Immigration Department will check incomers passport and other identities, while

6205-496: The result of travelers carrying either weapons or items that could be used as weapons on board aircraft so that they can hijack the plane . In passenger security screening , travelers are screened by metal detectors and/or millimeter wave scanners . Explosive detection machines used include X-ray machines and explosives trace-detection portal machines (a.k.a. "puffer machines"). In some cases, detection of explosives can be automated using machine learning techniques. In

6290-832: The runway. The accident is under investigation. All restrictions involving airport security are determined by Transport Canada and some are implemented by the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (CATSA) in conjunction with the Airport Operator. Since the September 11 attacks, as well as the Air India bombing in 1985 and other incidents, airport security has tightened in Canada in order to prevent any attacks in Canadian Airspace. CATSA uses x-ray machines to verify

6375-448: The safest year ever for commercial aviation, both by the number of fatal accidents as well as in fatalities. By 2019, fatal accidents per million flights decreased 12 fold since 1970, from 6.35 to 0.51, and fatalities per trillion revenue passenger kilometre (RPK) decreased 81 fold from 3,218 to 40. Runway safety represents 36% of accidents, ground safety 18% and loss of control in-flight 16%. Loss of control inflight represents 35% of

6460-419: The same security scans as travellers. Sensitive areas in airports, including airport ramps and operational spaces, are restricted from the general public. Called a SIDA ( Security Identification Display Area ), these spaces require special qualifications to enter. Systems can consist of physical access control gates or more passive systems that monitor people moving through restricted areas and sound an alert if

6545-534: The scheme has now been rolled out across all 44 airports. Since the September 11 attacks in New York and Washington , the United Kingdom has been assessed as a high risk country due to its support of the United States in its invasions of both Afghanistan and Iraq . From January 7, 2008, travelers are no longer limited to a single piece of carry-on luggage at most of the UK's major airports. Currently, hand luggage

6630-407: The second safest year ever after 2015 with 16 accidents and 2013 with 265 fatalities. For planes heavier than 5.7 t, there were 34.9 million departures and 75 accidents worldwide with 7 of these fatal for 182 fatalities, the lowest since 2013 : 5.21 fatalities per million departures. In 2017, there were 10 fatal airliner accidents, resulting in 44 occupant fatalities and 35 persons on the ground:

6715-438: The security checkpoint with liquids, including water, that are over 100 milliliters (3.4 U.S. fl oz). This is due to the risk of liquid explosives such as nitroglycerin which is colourless and indistinguishable from water. It is undetectable with the security X-ray which would pose great threat if brought on board. Monte R. Belger of the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration notes "The goal of aviation security

6800-651: The security rules. The exemption was granted by the EEA Joint Committee citing the geographical remoteness of the country as well as its low population density and small size of aircraft used in domestic operations. Airport security in the Netherlands is provided by the Koninklijke Marechaussee , Royal Military Constabulary. In addition to the Royal Military Constabulary, security services in and around airports in

6885-603: The techniques and methods used in an attempt to protect passengers, staff, aircraft, and airport property from malicious harm, crime , terrorism , and other threats. Aviation security is a combination of measures and human and material resources in order to safeguard civil aviation against acts of unlawful interference. Unlawful interference could be acts of terrorism, sabotage, threat to life and property, communication of false threat, bombing, etc. Large numbers of people pass through airports every day. This presents potential targets for terrorism and other forms of crime because of

6970-523: The ten-year period 2002 to 2011, 0.6 fatal accidents happened per one million flights globally, 0.4 per million hours flown, 22.0 fatalities per one million flights or 12.7 per million hours flown. From 310 million passengers in 1970, air transport had grown to 3,696 million in 2016, led by 823 million in the United States, then 488 million in China . In 2016, there were 19 fatal accidents of civil airliners of more than 14 passengers, resulting in 325 fatalities,

7055-423: The usefulness of such items as weapons. In the United States non-passengers were once allowed on the concourses to meet arriving friends or relatives at their gates, but this is now greatly restricted due to the September 11 terrorist attacks . Non-passengers must obtain a gate pass to enter the secure area of the airport. The most common reasons that a non-passenger may obtain a gate pass is to assist children and

7140-467: Was a result of receiving and interpreting incorrect coordinates, which caused the pilots to inadvertently fly into a mountain. Boeing studies showed that airliners are struck by lightning twice per year on average; aircraft withstand typical lightning strikes without damage. The dangers of more powerful positive lightning were not understood until the destruction of a glider in 1999. It has since been suggested that positive lightning might have caused

7225-490: Was built by the Commerce Department in 1923 to guide airmail flights. Gyrocopters were developed by Juan de la Cierva to avoid stall and spin accidents, and for that invented cyclic and collective controls used by helicopters . The first flight of a gyrocopter was on 17 January 1923. During the 1920s, the first laws were passed in the United States of America to regulate civil aviation , notably

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