NBC news stupidity

You might express you outrage to this irresponsible act to
I did. Now to sit back and see their spin on the stupidity.

Cy Galley
Safety Programs Editor
EAA Sport Pilot
----- Original Message -----






To: AAAE Transportation Security Services Committee

AAAE Non Hub/General Aviation Committee

AAAE Regulatory Membership



From: Rebecca Morrison
- Staff Vice President,
Transportation Security Policy Department, AAAE



Attempted Security Breach at GA Facility



Date: August 11, 2004



The following is a description of an incident that occurred today at the
St. Louis Downtown Airport, a large GA facility. We are sharing this
story with you as there are indications that it might be repeated
throughout the country. We would like to thank Bob McDaniel, the
Director at the St. Louis Downtown Airport, for sharing the details of
the incident outlined below.



Earlier today two Middle Eastern men attempted to penetrate our
security. They telephoned one of my helicopter FBOs and asked about a
charter flight. After discussion of price and directions to the
business, they arrived an hour later. When the office agent asked how
they were going to pay for the flight they produced cash. When asked
for ID, they produced driver's licenses from two different states and
they were driving a car licensed in a third state.



Things didn't smell right so the mechanic took them into the hangar to
see the aircraft while the office person called the FBI and local
police. The helicopter they were going to fly was blocked in by other
aircraft so the mechanic was able to stall them by having to slowly
shuffle the blocking planes. Meanwhile the two men got their backpacks
and odd-shaped luggage out of their car. Soon the local police arrived
and they were hauled off to jail in handcuffs.



After a little time behind bars, the FBI verified that the two men were
employed by NBC New York and were on assignment to get a story of how
easy it is to charter a helicopter for a terrorist attack. The men had
stayed in a local hotel and purchased box cutters, leather-man knives,
and other potential weapons at the local Wal-Mart using a credit card.
The box cutters had been hidden in the lining at the bottom of the back
packs and the other weapons were hidden throughout their baggage. They
had audiotaped the telephone conversation with Arlene and were going to
use it as part of a national news story about how easy it is to get
information and directions to the location of the helicopter and then
hijack it to commit a terrorist attack.



I doubt they will be back at our airport soon and this is a story that
will never be seen since they were caught. A very "well-done" to my FBO
and staff and the local FBI and police response forces. We have since
learned that we were the first airport where this had been attempted and
NBC planned to attempt similar penetration stories around the country.
Please helm me spread the word to other airports.





Please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions or comments.





**********************************

Rebecca K. Morrison

Staff Vice President, Transportation Security Policy

American Association of Airport Executives

601 Madison Street, Suite 400

Alexandria, VA 22314

703 797-2524
Fax: 703 820-1395

In article i1SSc.295339$XM6.210622@attbi_s53,
"Cy Galley" wrote:

You might express you outrage to this irresponsible act to
I did. Now to sit back and see their spin on the stupidity.

Cy Galley
Safety Programs Editor
EAA Sport Pilot
----- Original Message -----






To: AAAE Transportation Security Services Committee

AAAE Non Hub/General Aviation Committee

AAAE Regulatory Membership



From: Rebecca Morrison
- Staff Vice President,
Transportation Security Policy Department, AAAE



Attempted Security Breach at GA Facility



Date: August 11, 2004



The following is a description of an incident that occurred today at the
St. Louis Downtown Airport, a large GA facility. We are sharing this
story with you as there are indications that it might be repeated
throughout the country. We would like to thank Bob McDaniel, the
Director at the St. Louis Downtown Airport, for sharing the details of
the incident outlined below.



Earlier today two Middle Eastern men attempted to penetrate our
security. They telephoned one of my helicopter FBOs and asked about a
charter flight. After discussion of price and directions to the
business, they arrived an hour later. When the office agent asked how
they were going to pay for the flight they produced cash. When asked
for ID, they produced driver's licenses from two different states and
they were driving a car licensed in a third state.



Things didn't smell right so the mechanic took them into the hangar to
see the aircraft while the office person called the FBI and local
police. The helicopter they were going to fly was blocked in by other
aircraft so the mechanic was able to stall them by having to slowly
shuffle the blocking planes. Meanwhile the two men got their backpacks
and odd-shaped luggage out of their car. Soon the local police arrived
and they were hauled off to jail in handcuffs.



After a little time behind bars, the FBI verified that the two men were
employed by NBC New York and were on assignment to get a story of how
easy it is to charter a helicopter for a terrorist attack. The men had
stayed in a local hotel and purchased box cutters, leather-man knives,
and other potential weapons at the local Wal-Mart using a credit card.
The box cutters had been hidden in the lining at the bottom of the back
packs and the other weapons were hidden throughout their baggage. They
had audiotaped the telephone conversation with Arlene and were going to
use it as part of a national news story about how easy it is to get
information and directions to the location of the helicopter and then
hijack it to commit a terrorist attack.



I doubt they will be back at our airport soon and this is a story that
will never be seen since they were caught. A very "well-done" to my FBO
and staff and the local FBI and police response forces. We have since
learned that we were the first airport where this had been attempted and
NBC planned to attempt similar penetration stories around the country.
Please helm me spread the word to other airports.





Please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions or comments.





**********************************

Rebecca K. Morrison

Staff Vice President, Transportation Security Policy

American Association of Airport Executives

601 Madison Street, Suite 400

Alexandria, VA 22314

703 797-2524
Fax: 703 820-1395


I also doubt that this incident will make it off the cutting room floor!
I hope that the judge throws the book at them!

"Orval Fairbairn" wrote:
I hope that the judge throws the book at them!

I think it's implied they were not arrested. What law did they
violate?

If media goes undercover to a used car dealer to show how buyers can
get screwed, you'd probably agree with that. If they go undercover to
an FBO under circumstances which were obviously suspicious, what's the
difference? The targeted auto dealer may be known to be sleazy, but
if the FBO had agreed to the charter, what adjective do they deserve?

Fred F.

"Cy Galley" wrote in message news:i1SSc.295339$XM6.210622@attbi_s53...
You might express you outrage to this irresponsible act to
I did. Now to sit back and see their spin on the stupidity.

Cy Galley
Safety Programs Editor
EAA Sport Pilot
----- Original Message -----


snip

There surely must be some crime they can be charged with. Oddly, I
just read a book 'Storming Heaven' by Dale Brown with just this
scenario except they end up getting shot down.

Harry K

I think it's implied they were not arrested. What law did they
violate?

"Hauled off in handcuffs" normally implies an arrest.

And in post-terrorist America, there will easily be *some* law that can be
stretched to fit.

If media goes undercover to a used car dealer to show how buyers can
get screwed, you'd probably agree with that. If they go undercover to
an FBO under circumstances which were obviously suspicious, what's the
difference?

Because they were in effect a false alarm in a time of public danger.

On Thu, 12 Aug 2004 22:18:54 GMT, "Cy Galley"
wrote:

Maybe, just maybe they will treat them like any one else trying the
same stunt. They had potential weapons and could easily be
infiltrators into the stations.

They should be held with no bail on federal charges, and taken to
court. Let the network defend them and if necessary pay the fines and
let the bosses serve the time as accomplices for planning the jobs.

I agree with the "throw the book at them". They certainly would were
it some student or individual trying to show a weakness in the system.
Besides any terrorist could claim they were just trying to expose any
weaknesses.

Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member)
(N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair)
www.rogerhalstead.com

On 13 Aug 2004 03:50:21 GMT, (G EddieA95) wrote:

I think it's implied they were not arrested. What law did they
violate?

"Hauled off in handcuffs" normally implies an arrest.

And in post-terrorist America, there will easily be *some* law that can be
stretched to fit.

If media goes undercover to a used car dealer to show how buyers can
get screwed, you'd probably agree with that. If they go undercover to
an FBO under circumstances which were obviously suspicious, what's the
difference?

Because they were in effect a false alarm in a time of public danger.

If they had the weapons it was as real as it gets. Treat them as
such.

Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member)
(N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair)
www.rogerhalstead.com

From: "TaxSrv"
Date: 8/12/2004 9:48 PM Central Daylight Time
Message-id:

"Orval Fairbairn" wrote:
I hope that the judge throws the book at them!

I think it's implied they were not arrested. What law did they
violate?

If media goes undercover to a used car dealer to show how buyers can
get screwed, you'd probably agree with that. If they go undercover to
an FBO under circumstances which were obviously suspicious, what's the
difference? The targeted auto dealer may be known to be sleazy, but
if the FBO had agreed to the charter, what adjective do they deserve?

Fred F.

If it is illegal to smuggle weapons onto a charter it is also illegal to
attempt to do so.

How far were they prepared to go? If they had displayed the weapons in flight
to prove they could do it it would be just as criminal, in my opinion, as
telling a stewardess in flight you have a bomb even if you didn't.

Your analogy to the crooked car dealer was unfortunate in that one could easily
infer you were saying the charter service was also crooked.

Dan, U.S. Air Force, retired

G EddieA95 wrote:

I think it's implied they were not arrested. What law did they
violate?


"Hauled off in handcuffs" normally implies an arrest.

And in post-terrorist America, there will easily be *some* law that can be
stretched to fit.


If media goes undercover to a used car dealer to show how buyers can
get screwed, you'd probably agree with that. If they go undercover to
an FBO under circumstances which were obviously suspicious, what's the
difference?


Because they were in effect a false alarm in a time of public danger.

Even if they can't be charged criminally, they at least should bill NBC
for the law enforcement costs incurred. And the FBO should sue them for
the mental anguish caused to their employees. It had to be just a
little nerve wracking trying to stall people that you believed to be
armed terrorists.


Matt

Roger Halstead wrote:

On Thu, 12 Aug 2004 22:18:54 GMT, "Cy Galley"
wrote:

Maybe, just maybe they will treat them like any one else trying the
same stunt. They had potential weapons and could easily be
infiltrators into the stations.

They should be held with no bail on federal charges, and taken to
court. Let the network defend them and if necessary pay the fines and
let the bosses serve the time as accomplices for planning the jobs.

I agree with the "throw the book at them". They certainly would were
it some student or individual trying to show a weakness in the system.
Besides any terrorist could claim they were just trying to expose any
weaknesses.

Not to mention that dragging them kicking and screaming through the
system would accomplish two important things.

One, it would probably be picked up by OTHER networks, thereby
promoting the reality that the GA industry is watching out for itself,
and two, it would annoy NBC.

Mark Hickey