FAA keeps most airplanes grounded

By JONATHAN D. SALANT
Associated Press

WASHINGTON - Airline flights diverted after Tuesday's attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon were authorized to finish their journeys Wednesday afternoon but all other planes remained grounded overnight.

Federal transportation officials said they won't allow the planes to take off until they can ensure the safety of the passengers.

Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta said he could give neither a time nor a date for full resumption of air service, stopped by unprecedented government order after Tuesday's terror attacks in New York and at the Pentagon. He said it was decided to indefinitely postpone full restoration of service after aviation officials discussed security problems with the FBI and intelligence agencies.

"Safety is always of paramount importance," Mineta said.

Other planes could leave when the airports they were flying to had completed their security improvements, FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown said.

At the same time, the Federal Aviation Administration was hurrying to put into effect new, more stringent security procedures.

The Justice Department said one option when service resumes is to put law enforcement personnel on planes, a practice that has been used in the past. Regardless of whether that step is taken, U.S. marshals, the U.S. Customs Service and the Border Patrol definitely will be part of increased security on the ground at airports, said Justice Department spokeswoman Mindy Tucker.

Mineta, whose department includes the FAA, said passengers stranded on flights diverted Tuesday because of four hijackings and intentional crashes would be allowed to fly to their original destinations. Only passengers originally on the flights could reboard, and only after airports had imposed new security procedures. Some passengers slept in the planes Tuesday night.

FAA officials said they did not know how many flights were affected by the shutdown of the nation's air transportation services. On a normal afternoon, about 5,500 flights are in the air, including small private planes, the agency said.

Mineta said that in addition to permitting stranded passengers to get to their original destinations, the government would allow airlines to move empty planes from airport to airport to get ready for normal operations.

When asked when normalcy would return to the air, Mineta replied: "I can't give you a date or time as to when we will be back in operation. We're trying to make that determination based on the safety and the security of the airline passengers and the airline operation, given the intelligence reports that we are getting."

Mineta noted that officials had hoped to accomplish that by midday Wednesday. After hearing misgivings about safety from FBI and intelligence officials, however, "The determination was made to put off operations until we are sufficiently secure in our own information about when to resume operations," he said.

Rep. John Sweeney, R-N.Y., a member of the House Transportation appropriations subcommittee, said federal law enforcement officials indicated that terrorist threats remain. "They said it was too soon to relax our guard," Sweeney said.

When passengers arrive at airports, they will find security at its highest level since the Persian Gulf War in 1991. For example, according to transportation, airline and airport officials:

–Passengers must go to the ticket counter to check their baggage. There will no longer be curbside or off-airport check-ins.

–Passengers will have to be met at the security screening stations rather than at airport gates. Only passengers will be allowed through the checkpoints.

–Passengers will no longer be able to bring knives or cutting tools aboard planes, even plastic utensils. Hijackers in at least three of the attacks reportedly used knives.

–Passengers should expect more identification checks, more screening with hand-held detectors, and more physical searches of carryon baggage.

–Uniformed security officers will be assigned to airports.

The FAA also increased airport security after the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 in 1988 and the crash of TWA Flight 800 in 1996.

But a series of reports by Congress' General Accounting Office and the Transportation Department's inspector general found that plenty of holes remained in the aviation security net.

The GAO and inspector general found problems with low-paid airport security screeners, who must check passengers and carryon baggage, and with equipment designed to detect bombs in luggage.

"Serious vulnerabilities in our aviation security system exist and must be adequately addressed," the GAO warned in April 2000.

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On the Net: Transportation Department: http://www.dot.gov

FAA: www.faa.gov

Inspector general: www.oig.dot.gov