Twa Nyc-mia Flight

[Garfield1966]

Hey all,

I was just watching a show about bomb sniffing dogs and I they mentioned something about a TWA flight a while back (sorry, do not have a date) that was enroute and turned back due to a bomb threat. The A/C landed and the dog found a active bomb in the cockpit with 12 min to spare before it would have gone off.

Does anyone have any info or recolection about this? I had never heard of it and I was currious. The show was on the Animal Planet station.

 

[WingNaPrayer]

Try This:

FULL STORY LINK

Tuesday, October 2, 2001

Bomb-Sniffing Dogs, in Demand, Don't Come Cheaply to Airports
By KELLY K. SPORS
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL


Since Sept. 11, Sgt. Herbert Engelmann's troops have been patrolling the
New York City area's three major airports on 12-hour shifts, seven days
a week. And their paws are getting sore.

Sgt. Engelmann, of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and
his 16-dog bomb-sniffing force have answered a flood of calls about
unattended bags, suspicious packages and cars parked where they
shouldn't be -- all since terrorists hijacked jetliners and slammed them
into the World Trade Center and Pentagon.

Bomb-sniffing dogs, widely regarded as the fastest and most accurate
means of detecting explosives, are suddenly in demand, particularly at
airports. But reinforcements certified by the Federal Aviation
Administration won't be available until next year. Last week, the FAA
allocated $6 million in emergency money to train 90 new dogs and set
them up at 25 airports that currently don't have FAA canine patrols.

About 180 teams -- one dog and its personal handler -- now work in 39
airports. The program is voluntary, and several big hubs --
Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport and Cleveland Hopkins Airport
among them -- have opted not to sign up, using local police K-9 units
when needed. Minneapolis airport had two FAA-certified dogs in the
1970s, but found it hard "keeping the handlers and quality dogs here
trained on a regular basis," says airport spokeswoman Amy von Walter.

Now, with air safety a top priority, that might change. FAA spokeswoman
Rebecca Trexler says the agency may explore requiring each airport to
have an FAA-certified bomb dog -- and that may take more money. "The
handlers come from the airports themselves -- we supply some funding,
but not all the money to take care of them," she says.

Currently, the FAA reimburses much of the initial cost, but airports are
responsible for the dog's care, food and upkeep, and the extra hours the
handler spends on training and getting the dog's annual FAA
recertification.

The FAA uses mostly sporting breeds, such as Labrador retrievers from
breeders and middlemen in Germany. They are shipped off to Lackland Air
Force Base in San Antonio when they are one to two years old. For 17
weeks, five to six hours a day, they practice sniffing through
warehouses, luggage, vehicles and six types of planes for a number of
explosives.

Each dog spends 11 of the 17 weeks practicing with its personal handler,
including a few nights at San Antonio International Airport so the dogs
get accustomed to an airport's noises and crowds.

The handlers are selected by the airports. For the human member of the
team, it is a big commitment. The dog typically lives with its handler
during its six-to-eight-year career and after retirement. The airport
picks up veterinary bills and other costs related to the dogs' care.

The quality of bomb dogs brought in from local law-enforcement agencies
is questionable, says Sgt. John Pearce, manager of the FAA
canine-training program at Lackland. Airport training, he says, is
critical. "If you bring it in from somewhere else, it is going to get
distracted."

The FAA started its canine program in 1972, after a near explosion on a
TWA flight leaving John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York.
Acting on an anonymous tip, authorities ordered the airliner to return
to the airport. After passengers were evacuated, a detection dog went to
work. It found a bomb only 12 minutes before it was set to explode.

That close call prompted President Nixon to order FAA-approved dogs to
be stationed at several airports across the nation, so that any plane
receiving a bomb threat could quickly be diverted to an airport with a
canine team. The program grew slowly until TWA Flight 800 exploded in
1996 -- a crash later linked to equipment failure. The FAA doubled the
number of canine teams on recommendations by a commission led by
then-Vice President Al Gore.

 

[Garfield1966]

Thanks Wing.

 

[mga707]

Thanks Wing.

Just as an aside, the 1972 flight in question could not have been en route to MIA, as TWA did not have NY-Fla route authority back in those CAB-regulated days.

 

[Senor Pelon]

Just as an aside, the 1972 flight in question could not have been en route to MIA, as TWA did not have NY-Fla route authority back in those CAB-regulated days.

That was TWA Flt 7, JFK-LAX

 

[NewHampshire Black Bears]

That was TWA Flt 7, JFK-LAX

Senor Pelon,
Que pasa amigo, what goin' on out there in LA.

Gives us all "the dirt"

NH/BB's