Devices to Increase Airport Security
Sept. 14 -- Investigators are still trying to piece together how terrorists managed to smuggle knives onto the four airplanes used in Tuesday's attacks. But security experts predict that detecting weapons and preventing future hijackings will require many changes — and new technologies.
Leo Boivin, a former manager with the Federal Aviation Administration, says the metal detectors and X-ray scanners in most airports are quite sophisticated.
"In the last few years, most carriers have upgraded to good machines," says Boivin, who used to conduct tests on airline security personnel at overseas airports for the FAA.
Still, "Trying to find knives at airport checkpoints is tough," he says. "The average carry-on [bag] has more stuff in it than ever before and it makes it harder to find."
And, he notes, several sportsmen's catalogs sell knives made of non-metallic material, making them impervious to metal detectors. "Even if you put it in your front pocket," says Boivin, "It wouldn't ring the detector."
New Detection Methods
That may all change as more companies begin to rapidly develop and introduce advanced detection systems.
One new X-ray machine developed by Rapiscan Security Products, for example, is designed for use on passengers rather than on carry-on baggage. The Hawthorne, Calif., company's Secure 1000 looks like a large gray wardrobe closet and uses a narrow beam of low-powered X-rays to scan a passenger. The X-rays penetrate a few millimeters into the body and reflected back to sensitive detectors.
Soft objects such as flesh and clothing reflect weak signals while harder objects — guns, knives, coins, or even plastic explosives — will return stronger signals. Advanced software and computers can process these signals and convert them to images in which the hard objects are clearly outlined.
The company claims that the three-second exposure to the machine's X-rays aren't any more harmful than the natural exposure to radiation that most travelers experience in 20 seconds of flight on a conventional airplane.
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