Critical air traffic transmitter left unsecured (by FAA)

[rainbow4321]

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/011206dnmetairport.683f0a44.html

An air traffic control transmitter that is critical to pilots, air traffic controllers and passengers at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport has been left open and unguarded, according to an investigation by WFAA-TV.

The large radio tower on International Parkway inside airport grounds is a critical piece of navigation equipment, but for the past month the transmitter was left unprotected.

"We're still hassling 90-year-old grandmothers as if they are terrorists, and we're leaving gates open on navigation equipment for the FAA," said ABC News aviation consultant John Nance. "Something is wrong with this picture."

Even more disturbing to some, a Federal Aviation Administration sign at the gate reads, "loss of human life may result from service interruption." The FAA, not D/FW, is responsible for the transmitter's security.

[htuttle]

1. BushCo doesn't make money from guarding the transmitter...

...though I believe they get a vig from the screener recruiters.

If it don't make them money, they don't do it.

[Earth_First]

2. Not that Rochester, New York is a major terrorist location

But there are SEVERAL runway access points that are cordoned off by nothing but a chain and padlock across a gravel road that leads directly to runway access. There are several 'gated' areas surrounding the terminal and baggage loading docks where the gates do not meet properly when locked, allowing someone to slip in between them and acess the tarmac.

All this, meanwhile the last flight I took out of Rochester was a nightmare with TSA compliance that I didn't have anything in my shoes...

I'd take pictures and post them or send them to a local media affiliate for investigative journalists to have a field day with, but I am afraid of the repercussions involved.

[havocmom]

3. Buy a disposable camera, pay with cash, wear gloves - it's winter.

Take the pics and drop the camera in an envelope. :shrug:

[reprobate]

6. "afraid of the repercussions" That certainly says something about....

....what our nation has become. Fascism never happens all at once. It always sneaks up on you.

[Earth_First]

9. Wouldn't you agree?

I have a family and a business to worry about. I'd love to play investigative reporter and expose the hypocrisy in homeland security, but yes, fear the repercussions behind being picked up for taking pictures of airport security risks...

[reprobate]

14. Yes, of course I agree. My comment was meant to emphasize the....

.....depths our nation has sunk to under the fascist regime that has taken over. And most of the sheeple don't even notice. The just hide on their couches and tremble in fear at the word 'terrorist'.

IMO the constitution was shredded after the 2000 election when the Extreme Court decided that the people weren't smart enough to elect the 'right' person. As far as I'm concerned, five of them committed treason when they made that decision. But they'll not pay for it, unless and until, as I believe is now inevitable, there begins a Second American Revolution.

Whenever a society reaches the point that the masses of people become desperate, and the leaders are so wealthy and isolated that they have no idea or concern for what the people are experiencing, it becomes almost a given that the masses will revolt against the inequities they see. Consider the fact that the company sponsored retirement plan is a thing of the past, workers now work more hours for less pay than in the '60s, our economy is on the long slide to oblivion, and we are the most hated nation in the world now. I say that there is little chance that the nation will return to government of the people, by the people and for the people in a peaceful way in the near future

I think the republicans will be responsible for the bloodshed. They have put a corporatist in the seat of the chief justice and are about to put a man who has never found a government decision he didn't support in the place of middle of the road Sandra. Add the two of them up and what do you get? My calculator says FASCISM. And that's what will be the match that lights the fuse that will blow up in their faces. My advice is to keep your head down and not be noticed until it's all over and we can breath freely once more.

[Benhurst]

13. Yeah, I bet you'd be on the No Fly List before you could turn around. NT

[Ready4Change]

4. It's a VOR tower. Airliners not dependant on them.

This would have far more effect on smaller, most likely private, aircraft.

Most airliners main navigation systems are inertial devices (sets of very precise gyros) completely inside the aircraft themselves. They most often use multiple other navigation aids, such as the hundreds of VOR towers across the country, GPS, and simple compass headings to double check the inertial system for accuracy. If this VOR tower failed it would likely cause confusion and delays, but 747's wont drop out of the skies.

Smaller planes, like the obiquitous Cessnas, are more dependant on VORs. But those are switching over to GPS in droves now, and pilots are drilled from their early weeks of flight training to cross check available navigation information. A VOR failing will only screw up an inattentive pilot.

More insidious would be a VOR whose indications are shifted, rather than just shut down. In other words, it could send out signals that would indicate planes are flying East instead of North. I'm not sure about the innards of VORs or how easy that would be to do, vs just disabling it. Doing this would be far less obvious and result in longer delays due to the time it would take to figure out exactly what is wrong.

However, it's far from instantly deadly. For example, back when I was flying regular there was one local VOR that was often as much as 10 degrees wrong. It caused some headscratching in some cockpits, but no accidents I'm aware of.

So don't freak.

[flyarm]

5. ahhh but the smaller aircraft fly into dfw along with major airline

aircraft..and this is so damn dangerous...

as it is, i have had to do an aborted landing 2 times at dfw...in a 757 & a S80....and i will tell you..it ain't pretty..and it was caused by small aircraft crossing over the active landing runway!

2 TIMES IN LESS THAN 2 YRS..AT DFW...

it is stressful on the aircraft, the pilots, the crew , and especially the passengers.,..

there is no excuse for this..none..zero...but who am i to criticize *..see if i were to do that it would make our country less safe wouldn't it?????????

Dfw is the headquarters for American Airlines...my airline...and i assure you that airport is a very busy airport...with jumbo jets moving constantly ...

this is not a small airport, with small aircraft...

and this < is > extremely dangerous!

fly

[rainbow4321]

7. DFW history makes the whole scenario even scarier

...add the current story to this article on DFW safety history and I'd just as soon walk down the middle of the highway to get where I need to go.


http://www.mysanantonio.com/sharedcontent/APStories/stories/D8ATQ7900.html


Air traffic controllers for the Dallas-Fort Worth area routinely covered up errors and their supervisors failed to investigate some cases, including airplanes that were allowed to fly too close, federal investigators said.

The incidents date back seven years at D-FW Terminal Radar Approach Control, which oversees air traffic at all area airports, including Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, Meacham and Alliance Airports, and Dallas Love Field.

The investigation was prompted by whistle-blower Anne Whiteman, an air traffic controller at D-FW, according to the Office of Special Counsel, an independent government agency.

"It was to the point that I was fearful that two airplanes would collide. I can say that without hesitation," Whiteman said in Friday's editions of The Dallas Morning News

[karlrschneider]

11. Traffic conflicts within the local airport pattern have nothing to do with

a VOR, though. The local controllers are responsible for keeping planes from plonking into each other. The only connection a VOR has to the airport itself is in the case of a (essentially obsolete nowadays) VOR instrument approach and even in that rare case the local controllers are still responsible (and of course pilots are also legally obligated to watch for traffic as well)

[Kelvin Mace]

8. It seems to me

that if I have access to the VOR system (complete, unobserved access would seem to have been available based on this article) I could tamper with the system and direct aircraft into the flight paths of larger airliners. Does it require technical expertise? Yep. Beyond that held by most terrorists? Possibly, but our home-grown terrorists (i.e. white) tend to be pretty sophisticated.

[flyarm]

10. do remember this when you take your shoes off next time you fly..

and also remember that less than 1% of whats going in the belly of yourplane is being checked!!

yeah..ole *hy boy is really protecting you!!

ps..its why i took early retirement...

fly

[tblue37]

17. You know how they do that random searching of individual

checked suitcases and then leave a note inside saying they did so? Well, when they examined mine on my trip home from Chicago last month, they ended up putting some other (and much thinner) woman's black padded bra and panties in my suitcase. I wonder what she found in hers.

[truthisfreedom]

12. i recently from Vegas, and had to pass through a machine with air nozzles

that blasted me and took samples. i asked the security person what the machine was testing for, and she said "explosives and drugs."

since when can they test people for drugs without probable cause? carrying or using drugs is not a threat to national security... it may be against the law, but it's not part of terror protection. any lawyers out there who care to comment?

[Blackthorn]

15. I'll bet they weren't "testing" for either...

as much as "collecting".

[HuffleClaw]

16. "loss of human life may result from service interruption."

?? what loon created that sign ??

ever heard of that magazine ad that boasted of some piece of lab equipment that could 'liquify a mouse in thirty seconds'?

<=--- this one

i seem to recall a spate of 'airport safety' type stories a while back, during the days of all those 'orange' alerts.