Since commercial airlines began transporting fare-paying passengers across international borders, there have been individuals willing to risk their lives to covertly exploit these flights, often to escape corruption, warfare and famine. Illustrating the problem, this February, two Ecuadorian teenagers fell to their deaths from the wheel well of a Latam Airlines flight departing Guayaquil for New York and, in Nairobi, the frozen corpse of a Congolese man was found in the wheel bay of Kenya Airways flight that had just arrived from Kinshasa. Alexandra James discusses the issues of stowaways, and the measures that must be taken to prevent more live from being lost - and to stop the same vulnerabilities from being exploited by those with more sinister intentions.

When introducing a new uniform, it might be tempting to opt for the cheapest or most convenient choice without really considering all the issues. Alexandra James discusses the psychological and practical impacts a well-designed uniform can have, both on the performance of security personnel and on the mindset of the passengers they are tasked with protecting.

On Tuesday 30th January 2018, at the headquarters of the US Transportation Security Administration in Arlington, TSA Administrator David Pekoske met with Aviation Security International’s editor, Philip Baum, to discuss some of the current challenges facing US and global aviation security, the achievements of the TSA since its inception and the work that still has to be done to ensure that the skies become even safer and more secure than they are today. ASI is delighted to be able to share with its readership their conversation.

The practice of hostage-taking and kidnapping has a long and established history, both in aviation related incidents and other situations. Hostages have been known to react to captivity in a variety of ways, sometimes using their behaviour to manipulate their captors’ actions, and ultimately affecting the outcome of the situation. Lucy Rawlings examines this behaviour and describes three of the main syndromes experienced by those involved in hostage-taking situations.

With increasingly sophisticated technology available to those in the aviation security industry, individuals wishing to carry dangerous or illegal substances and weapons onto flights have been forced into using ever more intimate methods of concealment. Alexandra James discusses body cavity bombs, questions whether they are as imminent a threat as we once thought, and highlights lessons that can be learned from previous incidents.

If you have ever had a job interview, given an important speech or been talked into doing a bungee jump, the chances are you will have experienced the physiological reactions to acute stress. You may have noticed your heart racing, your breathing increase, your palms become sweaty and, in severe and prolonged cases, you may have found yourself rushing to the bathroom. You will also have noticed that these physical symptoms are involuntary, instinctive, and, most crucially for those in the security industry, almost impossible to supress. But what exactly causes these responses, and why is it important to be able to recognise them? Alexandra James explains.

We are all too familiar with the daily challenges involved in keeping flights and passengers secure, while ensuring throughput rates remain high and providing good quality customer service. But what can we do when the measures designed to keep flights and passengers safe are perceived to be offensive, inappropriate or are prohibited by certain cultures and belief systems? Alexandra James will address a number of culturally sensitive issues that often pose challenges for screeners, and present some helpful advice from religious authorities, community representatives and aviation security professionals to help ensure that the dignity of every individual is respected as they pass through our security systems.

One year ago, on 2nd February 2016, Daallo Airlines flight 159 departed Mogadishu bound for Djibouti. In the cockpit’s left hand seat was an experienced Serbian captain, Vladimir (Vlatko) Vodopivec, who had no idea that this was to be his final flight. Shortly after departure, a passenger, seated in a window seat in the sixteenth row, detonated, either knowingly or unwittingly, the improvised explosive device concealed within the laptop computer he had brought on board – one given to him, after the screening checkpoint, by airport-based employees. The blast ripped a hole in the Airbus’ fuselage and sucked Abdullahi Abdisalam Borleh out of the aircraft. But the explosion had taken place at relatively low altitude and Captain Vodopivec was able to maintain control of the aircraft and return to, and safely land in, the Somali capital. On the anniversary of the attack, Philip Baum travelled to Belgrade to meet with the heroic commander to hear his account of the Daallo Airlines bombing.