Air Security And My World
By Dr. A.K. Enamul Haque Ph.D

With Philip Shaw M.Sc

Happy New Year!  We have just finished 2009.  At the beginning of the year President Obama came into power after a massive electoral victory and all of us in the world thought that we have been able to wipe out the ghost of the 9/11.  Good-bye terrorism and good-bye a deceitful America!  The Delta Air flight Airbus 253 from Amsterdam to Detroit, which was approaching Detroit on the 25th of December 2009 led us to think that it is not true yet.  A Nigerian named Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab who was trying to ignite an explosive was tackled by some brave passengers and was later arrested and charged for terrorism.  The year thus ended in a big zero with a fear around the world, once again, that air travel is not yet safe.

As I was talking to Phil over skype last week, he was telling me that the flight path was right above Dresden as the plane was approaching the Detroit airport.  The event was a chilling reminder to air travelers around the world that traveling is far from safe despite the number of security measures that were adopted to make it safe for us.

I myself travel a lot around the globe.  My experience of seeing the various kinds of security measures being followed in different airports often confused me and I like many others also thought many a times that some of the security measures are simply too much.  They are counter-productive as terrorists might be able to sneak into an airplane no matter how smart we are and how many different measures we take to secure our flights.

India, our neighbor, has been under terrorist threats from various quarters.  Unlike global terrorism, it has threats from within who are not definitely religious groups. Almost all Indian airlines take special measures while on board and it includes hand checking all your hand baggage while entering the plane.  This is after two rounds of scanning and two rounds of body scanning.  Often it creates unnecessary delays while boarding but Indian travelers have adopted it quite nicely.  Rarely, have I seen them complaining about it.

Sri Lanka, has been under terrorist threats from the Tamils for many years.  They also adopted a very similar checking while boarding except that they do not hand-check the body and luggage while entering the plane but they hand check all of your baggage at the entry of the airport premises and later while entering into the security zone.  In fact, security threats are still so great in Sri Lanka that in my last visit, our vehicle was stopped nearly half a kilometer outside the terminal and we were asked to board in an exclusive airport bus to get inside the terminal.

Nepal was under terrorist threat for many years as the Maoists were threatening the political stability of the country at that time.  Security measures were also up in Katmandu.  In my last visit with my family, we checked in on time for a flight to Dhaka from Katmandu and decided to enter into the security clearing area to board.  Unfortunately, our flight was delayed for 5 hours and to my surprise I realized that I couldn’t even go back to the food zone to fetch food for my son.  What was the reason?  The security clearance zone is the last stop for boarding and you cannot come back.  I realized that I made a mistake of going into the zone before seeing the plane landed.  I learned my lesson for that day!

Bangkok Thailand, a relatively peaceful country but they have threats of terrorism from their southern zone.  The security system in Bangkok is mostly machine-dependent but you will find that traveling will be quite confusing if you wear suits or overcoats or even have belts on your waist.  Of course, shoes must be without any metal parts.  If not, you have to take your shoes off while crossing the security clearance and pass the shoes through the scanner.  At the same time, they are particularly careful when you carry liquid stuff like water bottle, gels etc.  In most cases, you have to leave them in a box forever.  I’ve seen many people leaving these items behind while boarding in planes.

The Dubai airport has a funny system, which I still do not understand.  You will be screened while boarding in and also screened again while going out of the plane.  My confusion is that we have been out of a plane and still have to go through security clearance to travel from one gate to other gate?  Yes, that’s Dubai.  Of course, you have to do – walk slowly in a queue with shoes, belts and coats in your hand too!

Traveling to Europe is OK but if you are catching a flight to USA, the gates are different in most of the airports I have traveled so far.  This is also true within South Asia if you are boarding in a flight to India.  And yet, Umar was able to take explosives inside and was able to ignite it while on board!  Unbelievable to me!  Shall I trust it?  I am not yet sure about it.   Was it done to start a new “war on terrorism”?  Was it done to ensure that “America’s war against the Muslims continue or to change Obama’s mindset?”  Was it done to make Israel a good trusted friend of the USA again!  I genuinely hope that it is not.  Why am I questioning these?  The reason is that I know that all passengers traveling to the USA go through special gates from Europe.  The scanning process, the security clearance, etc., all are different.  Yet we have to believe that he possessed his explosives from Yemen and was able to pass through all security gates around the world!  I have a hard time to swallow it.  Let us hope that we get a clear picture about it this time.  I don’t want to see a smoking gun pointed towards Yemen like what happened only few years ago in Iraq.

Being On a Watch List: My Travels Through Air Security
By Philip Shaw M.Sc.

I like to tell everybody that I have traveled around the world.  In 2003, I managed to fly around the world by mistake.  I had planned on visiting Bangladesh by going east through Amsterdam and Singapore and back the same way.  On arrival at the Sarnia airport, I found out that my flight was canceled to New York City.  So the airline attendant somehow found a way for me to go west around the world to Bangladesh and I came back on my original flight going west again, completely encircling the globe.  My brother told me it would be much more impressive if I had done it in a leaky old boat like Magellan.

I agree.  I cannot imagine how Magellan floated around the world in a leaky old boat.  If memory serves me correct he didn’t.  Something tells me he was killed on the other side of the world and his men made it back to Spain.  I don’t know, but it was an impressive feat.

Just think if  Magellan could imagine air travel and air security.  It’s a nonstarter.  What was different about my trip in 2003 was it was my first trip to Asia after 9/11.  As I traveled around the world I was asked to take off my shoes and security was obviously so much stricter than it was before 9/11.

The one airport I remember very clearly from 2003 was getting on a 747 in Singapore.  I was boarding a flight from Singapore to Newark New Jersey.  So I was thinking that security would be very tight.  It was.  A very tough lady who was standing in front of the passport control interviewed everybody who was getting on that plane.  She was tough as nails, sending people down and bringing people back up and asking very direct questions.  I went through no problem.  However I remember getting on that plane thinking there’s nobody getting past her.

Fast-forward to 2009.  Your loyal scribe found himself back on a plane going to the other side of the world to visit my friend Enamel.  This time I did not fly through the United States, completely bypassing them flying from Toronto to Dubai and then on to Bangladesh.  Security was tight again and in fact this time after I went through passport control and was about to board the plane I was met by four security officers from Canada customs with a guard dog asking me questions about how much money I had.  It was one of the most bizarre things I’ve ever seen at a Canadian airport.  Needless to say they passed this poor farmer off and into the plane.

Of course it is all about traveling in 2010.  The air traveling public has become used to it and flying is no longer seen as some type of exotic thing.  In fact in North America if you have any flight less than two hours, I think a lot of people think about driving.  Flying has just become too much of a hassle.

The last time I flew in the United States I was asked for extra security identification and had to answer some questions before I got on the plane.  This happened twice to me.  The second time I calmly asked why.  The employee of the airline told me that I was on a “watch list”.  I must’ve looked horrified because without flinching she told me don’t worry about it, a lot of people are!

That is something I don’t wear as a badge of honor.  In fact as a Canadian how do I get off the US watch list?  I don’t know, write Barack Obama?  It just goes to show that in 2010, “ridiculous” has come into vogue with regard to air security.  I’m on a watch list and so was Umar, except he gets on a plane without luggage on a one-way ticket paid in cash and tries to blow it up.  None of this is making sense anymore.

I can remember the day when there was no airport security.  People asked to ride in the cockpit and many got their wish.  People walked through airports like they were supermarkets.  Even I have boarded a plane from Launceston Tasmania to Melbourne Australia without a security check.  Back in 1984 they had none.

Of course we are not going back to those days.  However, we are surely going into something different in North America with increased security and maybe even racial profiling.  Enamul didn’t mention that.  He has in fact been profiled in a Canadian airport in the past.

What’s the challenge?  I think we all know, keeping those terrorists off the planes and maintaining some type of normalcy regarding air security.  Yes, it is a challenge and if the events over Dresden on Christmas Day mean anything, it’s that we still have a long way to go.