8.16.06 - Airport Security? A child could get past it.

You might have heard, you might not have heard, but A 12-year old British boy was able to get pass heightened London airport security, managing to get all the way to the cabin of a jetliner, without a passport or boarding pass. I sure feel safe now.

To put into perspective how big of an accomplishment this feat is:

1 - The child left a children's home near Liverpool (245 miles from London)
2 - Boarded a train to London
3 - Made his way to Gatwick airport outside the city
4 - Passed baggage check
5 - Passed (supposedly) heightened security screenings without a passport or boarding pass.
6 - Boarded plane (to Lisbon, Portugual) without passport or boarding pass
7 - Was seated, staff noticed him and notified airport security before the plane took off.

This was a twelve-year old child. If I'm not mistaken, 12 year olds are fairly impressionable. Impressionable enough to be trained in terrorist activities even. This kid did all this without a boarding pass and the police already looking for him as a missing child from the children's home. If he had had a boarding pass and the police weren't looking for him he probably could have made it all the way to Portugual. Terrorist organizations could easily exploit this.

All it would take was for one twelve-year old to sneak some explosive material onto a plane and blow a hole in the side to effectively destroy the plane. The hole would create a pressure imbalance, compromising the flying ability of the aircraft. It would then crash. A simple plan.

Let's hope England steps up its airport security.

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