Flight Safety Information May 14, 2013 - No. 097 In This Issue TSA dog bites passenger at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson Airport Airplane Handgun Smuggle Bid Is Foiled By Feds Talkeetna Gets a Flight Simulator Annual SMS Audit Results Released TSA dog bites passenger at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson Airport Sue Dubitsky shows the bite marks she says were left by a TSA bomb-sniffing dog on May 2. A Georgia woman is hoping for a negative rabies test after being bitten by a TSA bomb- sniffing dog at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. "It was something that no one would ever expect to happen to them at the airport," said Susan Dubitsky of Rome, Ga., who was waiting to meet her sister near the baggage area on May 2. "The officer walked by me and the dog reared up and bit my stomach." Upon heading to her car, Dubitsky realized her pants were torn and that what she thought was a minor nip had broken the skin and was starting to bleed. She went back into the terminal, where paramedics examined the punctures and covered them with a Band-Aid. "I just wanted to make sure they knew this had happened," she told NBC News. While Dubitsky is cautiously optimistic that she won't need rabies shots, she's concerned that others may face the same situation. "The dog was there and gone in a second; that's how quickly he bit me," she said. "That could happen to a child." She's also bothered by the fact that no one from TSA or the Atlanta Police Department has contacted her with a status report on the incident. Under TSA's National Canine Program (NCP), the former provides the dogs, training, and a yearly stipend, while local law enforcement agencies provide the handlers. "TSA is working with Atlanta P.D. to investigate the alleged incident with the canine," TSA spokesman David Castelveter told NBC News in a statement. The Atlanta Police Department did not immediately return requests for comment. The incident comes on the heels of a government report citing the NCP program for a variety of deficiencies. In January, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) cited TSA for inadequate compliance with canine training requirements and using canine units to screen cargo rather than passengers as the program was intended. "TSA has not deployed passenger screening canines (PSC) - trained to identify and track explosives odor on a person - consistent with its risk-based approach, and did not determine PSC teams' effectiveness prior to deployment," said the report. The report also noted that, during training exercises, PSC teams demonstrated mixed results, detecting some explosive odors on "passengers" but missing others and falsely detecting them where no explosives existed (false positives). TSA currently has funding for 120 PSC teams - out of a total of 921 canine units operating at airports, maritime facilities, etc. - at an annual cost of $164,000 per team. The budget for the entire NCP program has almost doubled from $52 million in 2010 to $101 million last year. If the GAO report is any indication, a bit more of that money should go toward better training of PSC teams. In the meantime, Susan Dubitsky is healing but nervous about returning to the airport: "I'd like to know why the dog that bit me is still on duty," she told NBC News. "If nothing else, why wouldn't they reassign that dog to a patrol car temporarily rather than have it in the airport before they know if it will hurt anybody else?" http://www.nbcnews.com/travel/tsa-dog-bites-passenger-atlantas-hartsfield-jackson- airport-1C9904739 Back to Top Airplane Handgun Smuggle Bid Is Foiled By Feds Suspect, 53, encased loaded firearm in aluminum wrap MAY 13--A man who apparently thought that a pistol wrapped in aluminum foil would be undetectable to airport X-ray machines is facing a federal criminal charge for allegedly trying to smuggle the loaded weapon on a flight from San Francisco to Europe. Kerry Lee Bobo, 53, was planning to fly last Thursday afternoon to Amsterdam when Transportation Safety Administration screeners "noticed what appeared to be a handgun" in a checked suitcase, according to a U.S. District Court complaint. When federal agents opened Bobo's luggage they found a loaded Sig Sauer .45-caliber handgun "wrapped in aluminum foil" and a taser. They then boarded Bobo's KLM flight and escorted the Atwater, California resident from the aircraft. During questioning, Bobo said that he was continuing on to Nairobi from Amsterdam and had packed the gun "to protect himself from animals while in Kenya." Bobo, who was traveling alone, claimed that he had encased the weapon in aluminum foil to "thwart airport baggage personnel from stealing it." Investigators were not buying that explanation. In a sworn affidavit, a Homeland Security agent reported that, "I know that some people believe--incorrectly--that aluminum foil can somehow block x-ray and other security screening devices." Investigators concluded that Bobo wrapped the firearm in foil "to conceal the handgun and prevent its discovery." Charged with a felony carrying a maximum of ten years in prison, Bobo was released from custody last Friday on a $50,000 unsecured bond. He is scheduled for a May 31 preliminary hearing. http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/flier-wraps-gun-in-aluminum-foil-784521 Back to Top Talkeetna Gets a Flight Simulator ANCHORAGE, ALASKA-Two Alaska non-profit organizations recently joined to support aviation safety and education in the upper Susitna Valley at the peak of the climbing and tourism season. "The Medallion Foundation is pleased that the Northern Susitna Institute has agreed at no cost to sponsor the location of one of our simulators," said Jerry Rock, Executive Director of the Medallion Foundation, Inc. "We are excited that the Talkeetna aviation community is interested in flight safety, and add additional support for the Build-A-Plane program there." "We're happy to strengthen our connection to the Talkeetna aviation community," commented Joe Page, Executive Director of Northern Susitna Institute. "We see this as another opportunity to introduce young people to the world of aviation as well as give veteran pilots a convenient place to hone their skills and log flight time." The Northern Susitna Institute in Talkeetna is housing a Medallion Foundation flight simulator (ATD) for use by aviators in the Susitna Valley and the Talkeetna Build-A-Plane Project. The simulator is located in the Northern Susitna Institute's building on the Talkeetna Spur Road and is available for use by licensed pilots, student pilots,or students who are accompanied by a pilot or with a Certified Flight Instructor. The Medallion Foundation is an aviation safety organization founded in 2001 that operates 16 ATDs statewide for use by commercial and general aviation pilots. Medallion has simulators in Anchorage, Bethel, Fairbanks, Homer, Juneau, Ketchikan, Palmer, Soldotna and now Talkeetna. Northern Susitna Institute is a non-profit educational organization based in Talkeetna. One of their programs, Talkeetna Build-A-Plane, is a hands-on program designed for students to work with professional pilots and Talkeetna airport mechanics in rebuilding a donated airplane. The Talkeetna Build-A-Plane program is made possible by support from the Matanuska Electric Association, The Jessica Stevens Community Foundation, Talkeetna Community Council, Wolf Aviation Fund, the Rasmuson Foundation, Alaska Airlines and many private individuals. The Medallion Foundation has over 50 members and is known for its successful voluntary Star and Shield aviation safety program that has 27 Star and 8 Shield carriers. For more information: www.northernsusitnainstitute.org and www.medallionfoundation.org or call: 907-743-8050. Curt Lewis