Posted at 8:56 a.m. PST Thursday, January 15, 1998
Airlines, couriers flunk test in hazardous cargo
BY JONATHAN D. SALANT
Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- Despite warnings about the threat of terrorist attacks,
airlines and courier services aren't following required security
procedures designed to detect dangerous cargo, a government report
found.
Security is so lax that 10 packages wrapped in plastic and loaded with
50 pounds each of pesticide slipped by airline personnel undetected in
Miami three months ago and weren't discovered until one burst as it was
being loaded onto a plane, the Federal Aviation Administration report
said.
``The current level of compliance with approved security procedures was
unacceptably low,'' the Department of Transportation's inspector general
said after the FAA conducted its own inspection of airlines and courier
services in New York and Miami in the aftermath of the incident.
In response to the findings, Bruce Butterworth, the FAA's director of
civil aviation security operations, issued a strict warning to airlines
and courier services that transport cargo or baggage on airlines for
customers.
Butterworth also informed the airline industry in a November meeting
that the FAA was considering new security procedures, according to a
report obtained by The Associated Press. The report was signed by FAA
Administrator Jane Garvey and Transportation Inspector General Kenneth
Mead.
``We ran a number of tests and were not fully satisfied with procedures
being followed for accepting cargo,'' FAA spokesman Eliot Brenner said
Wednesday. ``Everyone involved has now been notified and is aware of the
correct procedures.''
Representatives of the airlines' trade group, the Air Transport
Association, declined comment Wednesday.
But terrorism expert Brian Jenkins, a member of a presidential
commission formed after the July 1996 crash of TWA Flight 800, said the
findings highlighted the panel's concern about cargo shipments.
``It is a great source of concern when any of these procedures are not
being followed,'' Jenkins said in an interview. ``One is always going to
find a violation here or there, but an indication that ignoring the
rules is widespread practice is shocking and deplorable.''
The Justice Department is investigating the Miami incident involving
American Airlines, according to FAA officials. American Airlines
officials did not return a call Wednesday seeking comment.
The pesticide in question, Dowacide A Antimicrobial, when exposed to air
releases fumes that can cause eye damage and burning in the lungs. It is
considered highly dangerous and corrosive. Trying to check the pesticide
as excess baggage would save the company money over shipping it as
hazardous cargo.
Cargo shipments already have proven deadly. In May 1996, a ValuJet plane
crashed in the Florida Everglades, killing all 110 people on board.
Investigators believe poorly packaged oxygen canisters ignited or fueled
a fire that caused the crash. A year later, seven oxygen generators were
shipped aboard a Continental Airlines flight in violation of rules
imposed after the ValuJet crash. The canisters had not been listed as
part of the shipment.
FAA rules that have been in effect for years require air cargo companies
and courier services, which deliver packages to the commercial airlines
for shipment, to certify that bags or packages don't contain any
explosives or hazardous materials. Airlines also are required to demand
to see the documentation before loading the cargo.
More stringent security procedures, including inspections, are required
for first-time customers of the cargo companies.
But when the inspector general tested courier services and airlines at
airports in New York and Miami, it found:
--Ten of the 17 courier services tested in Miami the last week of
October were willing to accept packages from shippers they had not dealt
with previously, but none of the 10 followed the security procedures.
None of the 13 airlines that agreed to carry the packages followed the
procedures, the report said.
--Two of the 11 courier services and five of the 21 air carriers tested
during the first week of November at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York
failed to follow the FAA rules.
``It was obvious air carrier personnel were accepting packages even
though they were unfamiliar with required procedures,'' the inspector
general reported.
Another round of inspections are to be held this month ``due to the
unacceptable level of compliance,'' the inspector general said.
Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater was expected to make the
announcement today.
The FAA said it was considering additional procedures that would require
couriers who carry luggage or cargo onto planes to identify themselves
as such and prohibit such couriers from trying to declare cargo as
checked baggage.
The problem of unscreened cargo attracted the attention of the
President's Commission on Aviation Security and Terrorism, formed after
a terrorist bomb destroyed Pan Am Flight 103 over Scotland in December
1988.
In February 1997, the panel, which is headed by Vice President Al Gore,
again urged more stringent rules for cargo shipments, including the use
of bomb detection systems to inspect packages.
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