Senators urge upgrades to air-safety Jim Bronskill The Ottawa Citizen The government should order airlines to install double-door systems on cockpits to protect pilots and their passengers from terrorists, says a Senate committee report that also calls for better screening of baggage and parcels, stricter air terminal security and improved training for employees. The report of the upper chamber's defence and security committee, released yesterday, also warns that travellers may not be receiving value for the $12 security fee tacked on to each flight following the terrorist hijackings of Sept. 11, 2001. The new levy, expected to raise almost $500 million a year, has resulted in a handful of improvements, largely aimed at screening airline passengers, says the report, titled The Myth of Security at Canada's Airports. "The problem is that there has been little or no improvement to huge security gaps that persist behind the scenes." The senators urged Canada to bolster security at "a much faster pace." Transport Minister David Collenette said while he hadn't read the report, there was no need to "burden" people with the notion that Canada's skies are unsafe. "I don't believe the Canadian public need to be alarmed." Among the major problems identified by the senators: - A lack of scanning of potentially dangerous cargo on passenger flights, such as baggage, packages and mail. - Intolerable delay in introducing training for flight crews to deal with threats to safety and no plan to train maintenance workers in the recognition of possibly dangerous people and substances. - Inadequate background security checks and physical searches of airport workers with access to aircraft. - Outmoded and insecure pass systems for workers entering restricted areas at airports. - A lack of almost any kind of security requirements for private aircraft and their passengers. The senators also rejected the idea of arming pilots. "Frankly, we'd rather see them flying than shooting it out," said committee chairman Colin Kenny. *************************************************** The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site/TnTisland.com Roj (Roger James) escape email mailto:ejames@escape.ca Trinbago site: www.tntisland.com Carib Brass Ctn site www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ Steel Expressions www.mts.net/~ejames/se/ Site of the Week: http://www.atlanticlng.com TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************