THE CHANGING POLICY ON KNIVES:
AN APFA POSITION PAPER
The attacks of 11 September 2001 changed the commercial aviation industry, and the flight attendant profession in particular, dramatically and forever. The protocols and security measures that were instituted after those tragic events had one single intention: to keep us all safe. On 5 March 2013, Administrator John Pistole of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) announced a policy change that would once again allow knives of a certain size on board aircraft departing from US airports. The policy is ostensibly justified by ‘risk-based analysis’ conducted by the TSA in conjunction with other federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies. The Association of Professional Flight Attendants (APFA) rejects Administrator Pistole’s reasoning and explains its opposition to the easing of restrictions on pocketknives in this paper.
ndustry personnel, including flight attendants, pilots, TSA officers, Federal Air Marshals, and airline management, as well as a large bipartisan contingent of lawmakers, have voiced huge concern at the change in policy with regards to certain products currently on the Prohibited Items List and have demanded that this new policy not go into effect. The Association of Professional Flight Attendants (APFA) represents 16,000 employees at American Airlines, many of whom lost close friends and all of whom lost colleagues on 9/11, and has been among the leading voices against this dangerous decision.
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The 9/11 Commission Report The official report of the events leading up to the attacks of 11 September 2001, details, to the extent possible, the tactics employed by the terrorists who perpetrated the attacks. According to the report, which references the heroic efforts of American Airlines Flight Attendants Betty Ong and Amy Sweeney to relay information to the
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ground throughout the hijacking, the terrorists used knives to stab passengers and flight attendants, and gain entry to the flight deck.
“Reports from two flight attendants in the coach cabin, Betty Ong and Madeline 'Amy' Sweeney, tell us most of what we know about how the hijack happened…We do not know how the hijackers gained access to the cockpit; FAA rules required that the doors remain closed and locked during the flight. Ong speculated that they had “jammed their way” in. Perhaps the terrorists stabbed the flight attendants to get a cockpit key, to force one of them to open the cockpit door, or to lure the captain or first officer out of the cockpit. Or the flight attendants may just have been in their way.” (The 9/11 Commission Report, page 5)
Among the passengers stabbed on Flight 11 was Daniel Lewin who had served four years as an officer in the Israeli military. Despite his training,
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he was stabbed and incapacitated while attempting to stop two of the hijackers who had been seated in front of him in first class. Small knives and pepper spray irritants
were the weapons employed by the hijackers. APFA remains convinced that such weapons, in the hands of highly motivated, coordinated, and trained criminals, pose a significant threat to the security of an entire airplane. There is no justifiable reason to allow small knives into airplane cabins.
Department of Homeland Security On 25 November 2002, the US Congress passed the Homeland Security Act of 2002, which formally established the Department of Homeland Security. The act was intended to consolidate various federal agencies with missions relating to ‘homeland security’ into a single Cabinet department. Among these agencies was the TSA, which had previously been formed by the Aviation
April 2013 Aviationsecurityinternational
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