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Lead Editorial
One Small Step For Man,
One Giant Leap For Mankind:
lessons from Apollo 11
by Philip Baum
s the world celebrates the being a way for terrorist groups to make their under surveillance? Probably not. Was he
A
40th anniversary of the Apollo point on an international stage. Whilst Neil an Islamic fundamentalist? No. He was an
11 mission and Neil Armstrong was making aviation history for unhappy loner; a misogynist with a history
Armstrong’s Star Trek-style all the right reasons, Leila Khaled and her ilk of failed relationships. A class filled with
achievement to “bravely go were making air travel within the Earth’s women aiming to look good seemed to be
where no man has gone atmosphere something to be feared. the perfect target. Sadly the world has
before”, even those of us who remember A decade later, lunar landings had many Sodoni-like characters and, in an age
witnessing those first lunar steps struggle become a thing of the past even if space where air travel is now open to the masses,
to comprehend the scale of technological travel had not. The Jumbo jet had become many of them take to the skies.
feat. How on earth (!) did we manage to the workhorse of long-haul air travel and
propel three men to the moon before the the general public could, if they could “...whilst Neil Armstrong
age of the internet and the mobile phone, afford it, travel faster than the speed of
when pocket calculators could not fit in sound. The scale of our aviation was making aviation
your pocket and when computers had achievements knew few bounds, save for
black and green screens and all inputs that little matter of developing an effective history for all the right
were made with 1s and 0s? way of screening passengers before they
I recall my parents calling me in to watch boarded. The checkpoint of 2009 bears a reasons, Leila Khaled
history-in-the-making on our black and very close resemblance to that of 1969.
white television with the number of The problem is that we have not really and her ilk were making
channels available being equal to the appreciated what our goal is. Far too many
number of places on an Olympic podium. people believe that it is simply the air travel within the
Even today, when everything seems to be prevention of terrorist acts against civil
computerised, it has hard to fathom out aviation, perpetrated by known terrorist Earth’s atmosphere
just how anybody could embark upon such groups and their sympathisers. At
a journey and live to tell the tale. As every international forums, the question (or something to be feared...”
anniversary documentary points out, the point) is still often raised that we could
solution was borne out of a desire to solve our aviation security woes if we In the last few weeks, we have witnessed
realise our dreams. Ultimately, where there started addressing the root causes of some pretty bizarre stories in the skies. On
is a will, there is a way. terrorism. The Arab-Israeli conflict, being 30th June, a passenger with a bipolar
Apollo 11 unified the world. Despite the the one most closely associated with the disorder stripped naked during a US
American-Soviet space race, it managed to hijacking and sabotage of aircraft, is Airways flight from Charlotte to Los Angeles
galvanise our planet’s population and portrayed as the reason we have a security and resisted a flight attendant's efforts to
break down barriers, if only for a fleeting discipline within the aviation industry. cover him with a blanket. The flight
moment, created by geopolitical borders This concept is fundamentally flawed for diverted to Albuquerque where Keith
and economic status. Neil Armstrong, Buzz two reasons. Firstly, aviation security is Wright was arrested. Like Sodoni, he was
Aldrin and Michael Collins represented about the prevention of any criminal acts no terrorist. Yet, unlike Sodoni, he did
each and every one of us, our dreams and against civil aviation, whether the become violent on board a passenger jet.
aspirations. perpetrator is a terrorist, asylum seeker, We may well have sympathy for Wright and
The aviation security industry is also criminal or psychologically disturbed. Today his mental health, but we cannot escape
around 40 years old. Albeit that there had (as I complete the final edit to this issue), from the fact that he posed a threat to our
been many previous hijackings, the crime George Sodoni walked into a branch of LA industry and that it is our duty to respond.
only became recognised as a scourge that Fitness in Pittsburgh, fired 52 shots during It’s not only a question of disruptive
needed to be tackled in the 1960s with an aerobic dance class, killing three passengers. It is widely appreciated that
flights to and from Cuba being subjected to women and injuring nine others. He then airports are the workplace for many
acts of aerial piracy. The decade drew to a turned his gun on himself and committed undesirable individuals. In what ought to
close with the emergence of hijacking suicide. Was he a terrorist? No. Was he be the most secure of working
2 Register now for FREE instant access to ASI online by visiting www.asi-mag.com August 2009 Aviationsecurityinternational
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