Headlines

Drunk Man Pumps Jet Fuel Into Car

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- It's probably not the best way to fill 'er up.

Police say an intoxicated man broke into the Reid-Hillview Airport in East San Jose around 8:30 p.m. Sunday and tried to fill up his car's gas tank with jet fuel.

Justin Rodebush, 20, was arrested for driving while intoxicated and attempted theft.

Investigators don't believe Rodebush was trying to save money since the aviation fuel goes for $5.97 a gallon, accessed by a credit card.

"We've had people try and steal gas here in the past," said Jim Meide, who works in operations at the small, county-run airport.

"Sometimes these people have the notion that since it's racing fuel it'll make their car go faster", Meide said. "It's really stupid." "Put aviation gas in your car and it's so heavily leaded that eventually your valves warp and you'll end up with some very expensive repairs", he added.

Investigators say Rodebush must have somehow gotten the combination from someone in order to break into the airport, which is surrounded by fencing and gates with security locks.

Source : http://ktla.trb.com/news/ktla-jet-fuel-thief,0,6218851.story

Cop Killing Hijacker Granted Parole After 30 Years.

Zvonko Busic has been granted parole - 30 years after hijacking a plane and planting a bomb that killed a policeman and blinding another in 1976. There are more details from the associated press on this page here

Test Paper Used For Extra Security Checks At Airports

BEIJING, July 18 -- Security staff at Shanghai's two airports will use a special test paper to detect whether people entering terminals have any explosives, flammable items or chemical substances in their bags starting on Sunday.

Security officials will put the US-imported test papers on people or their luggage, which can tell immediately whether they have recently touched any of these prohibited items, the Shanghai Airport Authority said at a meeting this morning.

All entrances to the terminal buildings at Shanghai airports will be subject to the new security checks from July 20, as ordered by the national civil aviation authority in a move to upgrade air security for the Beijing Olympics.

The Civil Aviation Administration of China said in a statement on July 7 that "passengers entering airports with explosives or flammable articles will be subject to severe punishment in accordance with current laws and regulations."

Airports in 18 cities and regions - Beijing, Shanghai, Qingdao, Tianjin, Shenyang, Qinhuangdao, Shijiazhuang, Taiyuan, Jinan, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Hefei, Changchun, Harbin, Hohhot, Dalian, Xinjiang and Tibet - are required to implement the new security measure.

But the new security check raised concerns that it will cause bottlenecks at airports as they already struggle to smooth passenger flows after stepping-up security measures.

Shanghai's aviation administration advised at Monday's meeting that passengers, especially those fly out of the city's smaller Hongqiao Airport, better arrive at least one hour earlier than before because of the new security checks.

People dropping off or picking up passengers were advised to cancel such plans if possible.

Liquids and gels were banned on domestic flights in March. In May, passengers were restricted to taking only one piece of carry-on luggage.

An official with the Shanghai Air Traffic Bureau, the regional civil aviation authority in East China, said in previous reports that the security checks at the entrances of airport buildings would focus on spotting explosives and flammable items and "would be different from the regular flight boarding checks."

(Source: Shanghai Daily)

Tsa Announces Launch Of Expedited Screening For Flight Deck Crew Members

WASHINGTON, DC, Jul 17, 2008 (MARKET WIRE via COMTEX) -- The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) today launched crewPASS, a test program designed to evaluate expedited access to secure areas of airports for properly credentialed commercial flight deck crew members. The program is a mandate of the 9/11 bill and will be evaluated at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, Pittsburgh International Airport and Columbia (S.C.) Metropolitan Airport.

Eligible flight deck crew members will enter the secure area of these checkpoints via the exit lane of the security checkpoint after presenting their airline-issued identification and another form of ID to transportation security officers (TSOs). TSOs will check these credentials via a secure, real-time flight deck crew member database that includes a picture and other information to verify the individual's identity. Flight deck crew members who utilize this program will be subject to random screening, observation by behavior detection officers and other layers of security.

"We are very interested in developing ways to increase security through enhanced identity verification," said John Sammon, assistant administrator, TSA. "We are also interested in evaluating this program's ability to increase security by decreasing the number of people being screened, which allows our behavior detection officers to focus on individuals that exhibit suspicious behavior."
This test, which is being conducted in cooperation with the Air Line Pilots Association, will be limited to flight deck crew members in uniform and is scheduled to conclude after 60 days, at which time a full evaluation will be made.

One Million Terrorists Living In The Us

Ok - so it's a bit of an extrapolation, but according to the associated press combined with a bit of mathematical magic and some graph drawing (here's a google news link here , the watch list should be hitting the million any day now. Exactly what defines a terrorist again ??!

Terminal 5 Still Losing 900+ Bags A Day..

Transfer passengers are suffering as is emerges from the transport union that things still aren't quite rosy at T5 as BA / BAA would like to have you believe. 8% of bags ( 80 out of 1000 ) never make it onto the connecting flight. For more details ( and probably a better write up ) - you can either view the guardian version here or the more sensationalist version from the daily mail here . My take on the story - read the guardian!

Lockheed Martin Get 1,200,000,000 Usd *From* The Tsa

for offering to run the human resources side of the TSA ?? So let me get this straight, the TSA can't run their own recruitment and HR department, so they give Lockheed Martin - the company known for their experience at looking after staff - 1.2 billion dollars for them to run the TSA's.

The only thing I want to know is how do I get a contract with the TSA? I'll do it for 900 million.

For those who think fact is stranger than fiction - there's more "detail" here

'Heathrow Is The Worst Performing Airport In Europe,' Claims The Daily Mail.

Or at least says the daily mail. I know it's bad.. but I'm sure it could be a whole lot worse. A few numbers like how the delays have gone up by 3 or 4 minutes or something like that. Voted worst out of 27 other airports. But enough of me - read their slant on it here

Tsa Approves New Laptop Bag Details Which Are "X-Ray Machine" Compatible.

In a nutshell, the TSA state that they are discussing with manufacturers (such as Targus and Pathfinder) that a new type of laptop bag manufacturing will grant travellers the option NOT to be forced to remove the laptop from their bag whilst putting it through the xray machine.

The NY times has more details here

Will it work ? What will happen if the TSA rep still insists on removing the laptop from the bag? Comment in the comment box if you have a view.

More Changes To The Site.

Now you can comment on any of the stories we publish. Anonymous comments need to be moderated but if you are a registered user, then your comments will appear immediately. Voting is also enabled for registered and logged in users but the vote results aren't available just yet.

Even The Spammers Know We're Here.

Yay ! Our first spam email :

Greetings from Dubai,
This letter must come to you as a big surprise, but I believe
it is only a day that people meet and become great friends
and business partners. I am Mr. Zafar Habib Khan,currently
Chief Investment Officer
....
[BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH Something involved 75 million dollars etc etc BLAH BLAH]
....
Thanking you in advance and may God bless you.
Please, treat with utmost confidentiality. I shall send
you copy of the deposit certificate issued to Al Nasser when the deposit
was made for your perusal. I wait your urgent response.
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Optimus Prime Not Allowed On Aircraft...

Well actually, a t-shirt of Optimus Prime. This kind of crazy nonsense is the reason I started this site in the first place - for the full story read it at the telegraph's website here

Site Live!

Yes the site finally went live today - against all odds and the fact that I should probably be doing some chores around the house. Oh well. Here it is anyway - let me know what you think !

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