Passenger Transport Security Getting On Board Passenger Airplanes (Research Paper Sample)

Passenger Transport Security
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Passenger Transport Security
Abstract
In order to prevent acts of terror, security protocols should be tightened at airports to prevent terrorists from getting on board passenger airplanes. This is to protect lives and property of all the stakeholders involved. However, terrorism is not the only cause of accidents. Commercial aircrafts may be involved in accidents due to pilot error or due to mechanical failure. Additionally, cabs, Uber and Lyft also pose a major risk to its passengers. Trains, though there are few cases of their involvement in accidents, passengers still face insecurity issues in the trains. Studies are conducted to investigate the prevalence of these safety and security issues in all these modes of transport and eventually to recommend improvements.
Introduction
Passenger transportation in modern transportation models is faced with a large number of risks. These risks range from acts of terrorism to accidents. There are various forms of transportation that are preferred by clients and they range from cabs, Uber, Lyft, airlines and bus transportation. All these modes pose an underlying danger to the security and safety of these passengers. This study focuses on the types of risks that passengers are exposed to and the experiences that they have gone through. While boarding airliners, there is a strict screening process that is conducted on all passengers before they board the planes. All luggage too goes through the same procedure to ensure that no explosives are carried by the plane. This is to ensure that terrorist plans of massacre are not successfully executed. In the past, terrorists have been able to make their way through the screening process and made airplanes explode leading to the death of all passengers. Uber and Lyft are in addition the most preferable modes of transportation by most people due to their efficiency and quick delivery.
Passenger Security
In the past years, aviation accidents have dominated the media houses. Since aircrafts require a lot of resources to build, in the event of an accident, this incurs great loss to the stakeholders. However, the greatest losses are the deaths of the passengers. In most cases, there is at least one passenger that is killed. Such incidences scare away airline passengers from using airlines to travel and rather opt to use cars. Cars, however, are not safer due to the prevalence of road accidents. A country suffers a great hit on the economy when airline accidents occur due to the loss of billions of dollars. It may take a very long time for the aviation activities go back to normal.
This study is a secondary data analysis that utilizes data collected by other researchers for the same purpose. It applies the same principle as a primary research conducted in the field. The same procedures used in a normal report will be implemented. Data from various scholarly articles concerning aviation safety and security were collected and analyzed.
Methodology
No physical data collection was carried out in this study but rather it made use of data collected by other researchers concerning aviation safety and security. Safety and security of airline passenger transportation are an issue of major concern since it involves putting both lives and the economy in jeopardy. Aviation, Uber, cabs and lift safety and security measures for passengers should be improved to minimize cases of accidents and terrorist attacks.
Risk
Airline services are faced with major risks which could be assesses to come up with solid evidence about the cause of the accidents. Analyzing the passengers’ perception of safety and security during and before flight was a great move to determining the risks. After the accident of 9/11 which caused the death of a large number of passengers and had a great negative impact on the economy, airport and aircraft security was greatly enhanced to prevent terrorists from executing such plans again. However, terrorists still attempt to carry out their devious tasks despite the security measures implemented. It was possible to monitor them because of the already-built surveillance systems CITATION Hof07 \l 1033 (Hoffman, 2007). After improving the security protocols at the airport, there was the need to conduct an additional research on the cockpits to determine its vulnerabilities. The study revealed that despite having the fortified doors in the airplanes, there was still an underlying risk of breach and seizure in the event of opening the door. For the cockpits be fully secured, there was need to enhance the security measures applied to them. A program to arm pilots was founded, but it was a failure since most pilots did not attend due to job obligations (Baker).
A study conducted by (Oster, Strong, & Zorn, 2013) examined the reports from 629 commercial aviation accidents so as to determine the cause of these accidents. For this study, all the accidents were assigned specific causes that triggered their happening. The study was conducted across different continents so as to determine the similarities and differences in the causes of these airline accidents in the different continents. The study revealed that the main causes were pilot error and equipment failure. Pilot error seemed to be the greatest cause of the accidents since it had a 45-51% in comparison to other causes (Oster, Strong, & Zorn, 2013).
Africa’s aviation accidents were largely caused by equipment failure while those accidents in central America were largely caused by pilot error. Both causes were determined to equally cause accidents in Canada. Since there is a lot of technological advancement in the world, it is possible that many pilots are allowed to fly commercial aircraft without sufficient expertise and training. There is also a high demand for pilots since the number of airports and aircrafts are drastically increasing hence the number of passengers. This may be the primary cause of these accidents. Mechanical failure on the other hand may be because of the use of old aircrafts that are not fit to fly or improper handling of these equipment by the mechanics. If no proper actions are taken to maintain aircrafts’ mechanical parts, this can lead to fatal accidents (Oster, Strong, & Zorn, 2013).
Terrorism
Passenger airplanes are a target of more terrorist attacks due to the large number of casualties. Terrorists often purpose to relay a message to the government by doing these acts. However, in the 20th century, there were various cases of airplane hijacking where a plane is forced to land in a different airfield (Treichler, 2006). The purpose of such missions, however, is not to massacre, but a chance for terrorists to blackmail the government CITATION Bak \l 1033 (Baker). It however, causes trauma to the victims of the hijacking and this can be calculated as a major security breach. The aftermath of hijacking cannot be compared to those of bombing. While hijacking has a lower chance of having death, bombing can cause the death of the whole passenger crew. The effects of such events can be felt long after it has happened. The U.S. has had enemies from the middle East who have accused them of meddling with other countries businesses. Due to this, the Al Qaeda has targeted to punish the Unites States by bombing its embassies and planes. This caused great fear and discomfort during flight. A large number of people abandoned using commercial airplanes as a means of transport. As a result, commercial aviation companies incurred great loss in revenue.
Introduction of new Technology to curb Terrorism
Introduction of advanced imaging technology full body scanners (AIT) for airline passenger security screening by the Transport Security Administration (TSA) has greatly helped in reducing the incidents of terrorism in the aviation industry. The AITs scan a passenger’s body to detect hidden weapons or explosives. These AITs were deployed in all airports in the U.S. and the installation cost per year was around 1.2 billion dollars. Some passengers do not prefer being scanned by these AITs since they reveal genitals thus invading someone’s privacy. The introduction of AITs in the airport screening process was triggered by a plot by Umar Farouk to blow-up Northwest airlines using explosives hidden in his underwear. The use of AITs alongside other security measures has greatly reduced the chances of terrorist attacks (Stewart & Mueller, 2011).
Uber
Technology is growing rapidly globally. For this reason, some app developers like Travis Kalanick and Garret Camp developed an app called Uber in 2009. This app links passenger who wants to travel to their different places of interest to the nearest drivers. All that passengers require is to have Uber app installed on their smartphones, which is downloaded from the Play store. Using this app, passengers can estimate the period that the driver is going to take before the arrival. They then pay for the ride through the Transportation Network Company (TNC). Each driver takes care of their vehicles and has the freedom of driving to their places of interest. Many countries have implemented the use of Uber service. This service exists in some of United States cities which include Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York city, Chicago, Washington DC and Boston. The company wants to extend its services in the United States and also globally. Uber charges, commissions depending on the hours worked, which used not to happen there before. San Francisco is a good example of a state that operates under this change. Their drivers pay up to 30% on the first 20 rides in the first week, 25% follows for another 20 rides and from there henceforth a driver pays 20% commission. This service is fast and reliable and hence preferred by most of passengers which is the cause of its increasing growth rate....