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.

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 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

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

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

"B2431" wrote:
...
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.

The are federal criminal laws which apply to air carrier and what is a
weapon, and they apply to media doing undercover stunts. I know of no
criminal law which says you cannot have a utility knife on board a
charter aircraft.

This flight could even have been Part 91. Is it now OK for some
do-gooder to observe a passenger of ours who looks Middle Eastern and
has an apparent large knife and odd stuff to put in the aircraft, and
call the police? Because he appears to the citizen not to be known to
you.

If you say OK, they'll come out and ask a few questions and everything
will be cool. But what if they surround you and your friend with
drawn weapons?

I'm not defending what NBC did, nor a big fan of the ACLU, and the FBO
acted laudably. But unless there's a criminal law violated here, this
incident shouldn't sound all that good to us pilots.

Fred F.

TaxSrv wrote:

"B2431" wrote:

...
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.


The are federal criminal laws which apply to air carrier and what is a
weapon, and they apply to media doing undercover stunts. I know of no
criminal law which says you cannot have a utility knife on board a
charter aircraft.

This flight could even have been Part 91. Is it now OK for some
do-gooder to observe a passenger of ours who looks Middle Eastern and
has an apparent large knife and odd stuff to put in the aircraft, and
call the police? Because he appears to the citizen not to be known to
you.

It has always been OK to report suspicious behavior.


If you say OK, they'll come out and ask a few questions and everything
will be cool. But what if they surround you and your friend with
drawn weapons?

Well, I'm not a rocket scientist, but I'd suggest that you make no quick
moves towards your pockets and that you do EXACTLY what they tell you to
do. Is this really that hard to figure out?


I'm not defending what NBC did, nor a big fan of the ACLU, and the FBO
acted laudably. But unless there's a criminal law violated here, this
incident shouldn't sound all that good to us pilots.

Well, it sounds fantastic to this pilot.


Matt

"TaxSrv" wrote in message
...
"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?

Why would I believe anything that NBC has to say about a car dealer? These
are the guys who tried to prove that Chevy trucks were dangerous by using
fireworks to cause the gas tanks to explode.