ADMINISTRACIÓN DE EMPRESAS
CIENCIAS ECONÓMICAS Y ADMINISTRATIVAS: SUSTENTO EPISTEMOLÓGICO PARA UNA ALTERNATIVA PEDAGÓGICA.
3.3.4. Estilos de enseñanza en la educación superior.
On November 18 and 19, 2001, the United States Congress passed the Airport Security Federalization Act and the Aviation and Transportation Security Act. The laws sought to standardize pre-flight passenger and cargo screening by federalizing security service and screening personnel in the nation’s airports. The Aviation and Transportation Security Act created the Federal Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to supervise security operations for sea and air transportation. The TSA hires and trains Fed- eral airport screeners, who under the new law must all be American citizens. Though the acts govern only United States airports, many of the new initiatives and proce- dures outlined in the legislation have been routine in many foreign airports for several years.
The Aviation and Transportation Security Act also prescribed several fundamental changes in screening and flight protocol beyond the federalization of personnel. As of December 31, 2002, bomb detection devices, which can detect explosive residue, must screen checked baggage. CT Scanning devices and increased hand searching of luggage were among other encouraged reforms.
Passenger screening also increased in scope and effectiveness. Access to airport departure and arrival gates and concourses is now restricted to ticketed passengers.
Airline Security
The renovated American Airlines security checkpoint, part of a $300 million improvement project, is seen in the American Airlines Terminal 4 of the Los Angeles International Airport. AP/WIDE WORLD PHOTOS.
In addition to the metal detectors already in place in many airports, more careful checks of electronic devices, such as laptop computers and cellular phones, and carry-on lug- gage, became standard. The Computer Assisted Passen- ger Prescreening System, a data base system used in conjunction with the Advance Passenger Information Sys- tem (APIS), provides searchable biographical and security information on air travelers.
New security measures included modifications to aircraft. Fortified cockpit doors, required to remain closed during flight, prevent easy access from the cabin to the cockpit. Pilots and flight crew can now monitor the aircraft cabin with video monitors and recording devices. The Department of Transportation further requires all planes and passenger trains to be equipped with emergency notification systems that are capable of communicating with airport, national, and local “911” emergency services. Airports themselves are now required to be secured areas. Fences prevent unauthorized entry onto runways and staging areas. Automobiles cannot be left unattended within 300 yards of the airport terminal. Since the Septem- ber 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, the number of security personnel and law enforcement offi- cers on duty in the nation’s airports has increased. Some
special security details employ K-9 units with chemical and bomb sniffing dogs.
The new screening process.
Airport security reform man- dated several procedural changes that are evident to trav- elers. Items that were once commonly allowed in carry-on luggage, such as razors and scissors, are now banned in luggage that will be stored in the cabin of a plane. Airports and airlines in the United States now employ a more stringent pre-flight screening process for passengers, as well as luggage.The first step in the new screening process is to establish, and positively confirm, the identity of the trav- eler. Travelers must furnish identification that matches itineraries or tickets. If a passenger is traveling to a foreign destination, airlines and security personnel conduct an unseen screening of passengers via the Advance Passen- ger Information System (APIS), a database that stores biographical information on airline travelers.
After checking-in with the airline, the passenger, and any carry-on luggage, is required to go through a detailed, physical screening. Identification is checked and confirmed for a second time. Travelers must pass successfully through
Airline Security
pulse induction standing or wand metal detectors, while x-ray machines screen baggage. Electronic devices, such as cellular phones, laptop computers, and personal digital assistants (PDAs), are all required to be turned on and shown to security personnel for inspection, or taken out of luggage and screened separately by x-ray. Advanced x- ray machines that transmit images in three colors permit federal screeners to identify organic, inorganic, and metal, items inside of a traveler’s baggage. If security personnel are unable to clearly define the contents of a piece of luggage, or suspect prohibited items, then they open the luggage and conduct a hand search. Only passengers and luggage that successfully pass inspection are permitted to proceed to airline departure gates.
Once at the departure gate, airline personnel are required to conduct random security searches as passen- gers board the plane. These searches are usually brief, but thorough, and involve a hand search of the contents of carry-on luggage. Some passengers are also asked to answer questions regarding their travel plans. These pre- flight searches have received criticism from some who claim that racial and ethnic profiling is the predominant factor in choosing which passengers to search. Others have claimed that the pre-flight screening violates privacy and causes fear with other passengers because the searches are performed in plain sight of fellow travelers. Propo- nents of the random pre-flight searches assert that they are indeed, random, unless a traveler is flagged by APIS. As a passenger boards the plane, machines scan boarding cards in order to compile a final passenger manifest. Airline cabin or ground crew then transmits the passenger list to federal aviation and individual airline officials. During the boarding process, passenger identifi- cation is sometimes checked for a third and final time.
Baggage that the passenger surrenders to the airline for storage in the cargo hold during flight, or checked baggage, undergoes a different screening process, sepa- rate of the passenger. First, baggage is matched to its owning traveler. If the passenger does not board the flight, then the baggage is not loaded onto the plane. This is more easily accomplished with the use of printed, individ- ual, barcode tags affixed to luggage.
Checked baggage screening is geared around the detection of explosive or incendiary devices. X ray ma- chines or computer tomography (CT) scanners screen the content of baggage. CT scanners permit a bag to be x- rayed individually, yet efficiently, and from all sides. The screener also calculates the density and mass of objects within the luggage, checking the data with a database of known mass/densities of dangerous or explosive sub- stances. CT scanners are slower than standard palate x- ray systems that survey several bags at a time, however their screening is more thorough.