Legislative Acts

Legislation is a set of rules and laws that regulate relations between people in a country or in a particular sector such as the aviation industry. Aerial crimes were taken into account later the first series of aircraft hijackings in the U.S. began when a passenger on a flight to Key West, FL, forced the pilot to fly to Cuba on May 1, 1961. This brought a lot of uncertainty because they realized that the lives of many people could be threatened again. Bill S. 2268 — Public Law 87-197, approved September 5, 1961, is designed to combat recent aircraft hijackings, by applying Federal criminal law to crimes committed on aircraft in air commerce. Some previous incidents made them look at the need to create additional laws to cover these crimes related to airplanes. There are Federal laws as well as State laws that are now applicable in many instances; however, few specifically meet the unique problems including the venue problem, which arises while aircraft are in flight. For a long time, the failure of states to extend their criminal laws to their aircraft while they were outside national territory posed a serious problem. As long as an aircraft is flying in the national airspace of some state, the law of that state is applicable. When a crime has been committed during an international flight, however, there may be difficulty in pinpointing when and where it occurred and hence in determining the state of the law which has been violated (Cheng, n.d). 

This bill supplements crimes of violence committed within the jurisdiction of the United States, whether maritime or terrestrial as defined by sections 113, 114, 111-13, 1363, or 2111 of title 18, United States Code. But in this case, air protection is added to air commerce. The subject of title 18 is crime and criminal procedures while the subject of title 49 is transportation. Both inform about the consequence of hijack or piracy. Aircraft piracy means seizing or exercising control of an aircraft in the special aircraft jurisdiction of the United States by force, violence, threat of force or violence, or any form of intimidation, and with wrongful intent. According to the bill, any person who obtains or attempts to obtain control of an aircraft by unlawful force or threat of force will be subject to a fine of not more than $10,000 or imprisoned for not more than 20 years, or both. If the act was committed with the use of a dangerous weapon, imprisonment may be for life but not less than 20 years, or by death if the jury so directs. One who assaults intimidates, or threatens to interfere with a flight crew member in a way to interfere with his duties to safely operate the aircraft will be subject to a fine of up to $10,000 or imprisonment for not more than 20 years, or both. If a deadly or dangerous weapon is used, the penalty may be imprisonment for life but not less than 20 years (John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum Articles, n.d).

These laws were made to prevent any tragedy in the air and punish people who act that way. I believe that with this it was possible to increase the security of the aeronautical operations and of the people involved. Unfortunately, another event occurred on September 11, 2001, when airplanes were hijacked and crashed. With this event, the government increased, even more, security so that these events do not happen again.

References

Cheng, B. (n.d). Acts and occurrences on board aircraft. Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/air-law/HijackingLinks to an external site. 

John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum Articles. (n.d). Legislative summary: Aviation. John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. https://www.jfklibrary.org/archives/other-resources/legislative-summary/aviationLinks to an external site. 

 

Team-Based Human Factors Challenges

Since the beginning of aviation, human error has been considered the main factor in accidents and incidents. Without a doubt, one of the greatest challenges for aviation has been and will continue to be avoiding human error and being able to control its incidence. I can define the human factor as the behavior of aeronautical personnel (pilots, mechanics, controllers, etc.) before, during, and after their duties. That same behavior depends on factors that can increase or decrease the safety of the operations. In this case, I will talk about the human factor in pilots.

It is estimated that roughly 80% of all aviation accidents are related to human factors. It must be remembered that when flying there will always be a risk, whether internal or external, but the objective is to reduce that risk to the lowest possible level. As a result of these human errors, the importance of learning and understanding effective Aeronautical Decision-Making skills cannot be overemphasized. ADM is a systematic approach to the mental process used by pilots to consistently determine the best course of action in response to a given set of circumstances (U.S. Department of Transportation, n.d). When the pilot wants to go flying, would be an example of using this mechanism. Decision passes over this person and puts into analysis his decision to go or not to fly.

Examining these four elements will provide greater situational awareness, thus improving your decision-making including the pilot, aircraft, environment, and external pressures. This is called the PAVE model (Pilot Institute, 2021). The pilot should be in good health condition before the flight, the aircraft needs to maintain airworthy condition, the environment involves the weather conditions and airspace situation, and the pilots should not be influenced by someone else to make decisions on external pressures.

With these considerations, aviation safety will increase and most pilots will understand that human factors should be considered.

References

Pilot Institute Articles. (2021, September 19). Understanding aeronautical decision-making. Pilot Institute. https://pilotinstitute.com/aeronautical-decision-making/ Links to an external site. 

U.S Department of Transportation. (n.d.). Aeronautical decision-making. Pilot's Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge. Federal Aviation Administration. Oklahoma City.

Aviation Security

To me the largest threat that has been a consistent growing concern since the internet was invented is Cyber crimes. According to the 2021 Cyber Defense Report (CDR), there was an increase of 5.6% increase of successful cyber attacks that year. Since the start of the report in 2014, cyber attacks rose from 62% to 86% in such a short time frame. I contribute that to the increase in technology development. Everyone has a smart device they use to connect to the world. Furthermore, people can and will access applications that connect themselves to social media, bank accounts and travel itineraries. Cyber attacks aim for one thing and it's data. Our smart devices connect to open access points that are directly linked to the internet and become susceptible to attacks. Once they get access to data cyber criminals can use that data to access other networks as long as they can get to an access point. If you have been to an airport in recent years, the increase of technology is just as impressive as the technology that we hold in our hands every day. 

 The layers of security at the airports today definitely help with the cyber threats through background checks, behavior monitoring from security employees, biometric systems that use facial recognition, scanning handheld smart devices, baggage handling systems, intelligence agencies, and even down to personnel such as air marshals on each flight for extra physical protection while in the air. These layers assist with deterrence but like anything other mitigations, there are always gaps in coverage. The screening processes help detect devices that can be used to connect to networks to steal information for the attacker to use to gain further access to cause disruption in service for passengers or disrupt cargo from reaching other points of the globe, which in turn hurts the economy. So, how do we mitigate the threat in a rapidly growing world of technology?

The most significant way we can help mitigate is for companies that have open access points is to use a Virtual Private Network which can help hide actual Internet Protocol addresses. Another way is to increase the updates on malware and spyware software that can help cut off cyber attack attempts by recognizing the attackers before they get access to the access point. Lastly, It’s up to each user to have extra security on their smart device as well. Technology is all about being connected for data exchange and it’s more important these days to protect your data.

Reference

CyberEdge. 2021. Cyberedge Defense Report. Retrieved from https://cyber-edge.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/CyberEdge-2021-CDR-Report-v1.1-1.pdf on February 1, 2023.