Before We Start…
The Pilot Shortage – The Real Story
Enough hype and smoke regarding the effects of the “pilot shortage.” It’s real, but it’s totally different in foundation and effects than is being discussed in the media. So, clear and mark your calendar for 12 Noon Mountain Time on Thursday October 2oth.
And log on to our Aviation Unscripted video site for a special Vox Deorum session with Captain Dennis Tajer, Communications Chair of the Allied Pilots Association, representing cockpit crews at American Airlines.
This will be a clear, concise discussion of the technical and operational issues facing airlines today in regard to staffing flights. We won’t be talking about union issues, or about the bargaining table. Just the issues surrounding the facts regarding what airlines are facing in this tough environment.
Clear 30 minutes – it will be worth the time to get facts that aren’t being covered in the media. Knowing how this came about and how airlines are working to address it is the subject of this Vox Deorum session.
The Aviation Unscripted Channel is reached by clicking here.
See you then!
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The Aviation System Was Attacked.
Not Just A Couple Websites
We just had a security attack on USA airports.
To read the news, it was no big deal, just the hacking of the eye-candy websites of 14 airports, reportedly by some Russian-located cyber-vandals.
The attackers went after all sizes of airports, from Colorado Springs to Atlanta Hartsfield International. The message – missed by most of the supposed experts at the top of Homeland Security (if there are any left) – was that the vulnerability is completely across the aviation spectrum. No place is out of reach. LaGuardia or Kirksville are easy targets.
Also missed is that this represented an attack on the USA aviation system, not just a couple of websites. Sure, maybe half a dozen consumers who wanted to contact the lost and found at Des Moines were inconvenienced, but the message was that next time, it could be a lot more damaging.
Warnings Were Received Before 9/11, Too. For months before the attack on 9/11/2001, there were clear warnings about the failures of AVSEC – including the possibility of multiple hijackings at Boston. The Bush Administration ignored them. Worse, it took no remedial action after 9/11 in regard to the political creatures who allowed this to happen.
We just were made clear that there are threats right now, today. The open question for every airport in the nation is now whether the facility is sufficiently hardened against future attacks and mayhem, both cyber and physical.
Everything is in play – and probably the least vulnerable are passenger screening points. Air cargo, construction, catering, maintenance, HVAC systems, supply provision, etc. – could a terrorist get things through? Thinking like a terrorist is the key. DHS is thinking like reactive politicians.
The situation at the Department of Homeland Security does not lend much comfort to this situation. The DHS itself has been politically hijacked. Wake up and smell the rot – the recent attempts to have a special “disinformation” thought police within the department should have caused massive outrage for anyone familiar with history at fun places like, say Communist China or Nazi Germany. Think differently from the regime and there will be a price to pay. It is what they were planning to establish. Chilling.
Then the performance of the person in charge of the DHS in reporting on events on the southern border (read: outright lying) is another indicator. This is not the security A-Team by a long shot.
Point: anybody who writes this cyber attack off as just a minor event is sadly and dangerously mistaken.
Unfortunately, that includes the seat warmers at the top of the DHS.
Airports and aviation entities: the warning has been given. The security ball is in your court.
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