COMMAND:
CONTROVERSY OVER ULTIMATE AUTHORITY DURING A CRISIS
Last September, two aircraft threat incidents took place in the United States, both of which highlighted concerns regarding the pilot-in-command’s authority during an aviation security crisis. American Airlines flight 24 in New York and US Airways flight 1267 in Philadelphia were resolved without dire consequences, yet possibly demonstrate the need for change in law enforcement procedures when aircraft are the subject of security threats. Andrew A. Downs describes how events unfolded during the US Airways incident, the lessons to be learned and the importance of communication between flight crews, airline corporate security and law enforcement.
T
he incident involving American Airlines 24 at JFK on 18th September 2012 was extensively
reported within the media. The plane landed and was directed to a remote area of JFK, where it was quickly surrounded by law enforcement and emergency vehicles based on a threat indicating that men with gas masks were hiding in the wheel wells with explosive devices. The tapes of the captain requesting information as to why his plane was surrounded by emergency vehicles show that, initially, his questions went unanswered by Air Traffic Control (ATC) and that the law enforcement organisations failed to communicate with him as well. It was only when the captain informed ATC that he would evacuate the plane if some information were not relayed to him as to why the plane
June 2013 Aviationsecurityinternational
was surrounded that information was forthcoming. The incident was resolved without injury and nobody was found in the wheel wells.
In the case of US Airways 1267 on 6th September 2012, not only was no information passed to the captain, with possible fatal consequences for all on board, but there appears to have been little communication between the police, FBI, the TSA, and US Airways Corporate Security. In other words, there were too many captains for the flight, only one of whom was in the cockpit—and he was in the dark. US1267 took off out of Philadelphia on 6 September 2012 en-route to Dallas Fort Worth. A call was placed to the Philadelphia police department about an alleged threat by a specific individual actually on board the aircraft. The police
“…it was quickly surrounded by law enforcement and emergency vehicles based on a threat indicating that men with gas masks were hiding in the wheel wells with explosive devices…”
notified US Airways Corporate Security as well as the FBI and TSA.
US Airways Corporate Security sent the
crew a brief and incomplete message telling the captain to return to Philadelphia for security reasons; no other information was passed on to the captain of the plane. When the captain notified ATC about
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PILOTS NOT IN
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