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CHICAGO -(Dow Jones)- Members of the Allied Pilots Association, the pilots' union at American Airlines, said Wednesday that the U.S. Transportation Security Administration didn't do enough to warn in-air flight crews of the Christmas Day terrorist threat on a Northwest Airlines flight.
In a letter to American Airlines pilots, the APA called for better communications at the time of potential security threats. "Some pilots were left out of the loop" when the TSA told management at American, a unit of AMR Corp. ( AMR), and other airlines, to contact only the pilots of inbound transatlantic flights. The Northwest flight came into Detroit from Amsterdam. To ensure overall safety, "The TSA should have mandated that information about this security event be passed on to all airborne flights," the APA Government Affairs Committee wrote.
The group said it has contacted the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Homeland Security to suggest policy changes. The pilots recommend that "airline managements immediately notify all airborne flights any time there is a Level 3 or Level 4 event."
The U.S. is reviewing security glitches at many levels following the Christmas Day incident. In a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, the International Air Transport Association said Wednesday that "effective security needs a system that is built on global harmonization, effective information exchange, industry/government cooperation, risk assessment and efficient technology." |