The business of flying safely taken seriously at local airport

At 2:00 p.m. on Thursday August 31st, Historic City News was invited to attend a demonstration of newly installed state-of-the-art technology at Northeast Florida Regional Airport that is designed to keep commercial air travel safe.

VIA Air has regularly scheduled passenger flights from St Augustine, Frontier Airlines provides seasonal flights, and our local airport serves as home to government contractor Northrop Grumman as well as a number of general aviation carriers, flight school, and private charters. The safety of passengers and the flight crews responsible for operating the flights is of paramount importance to the Transportation Security Administration.

“When we began scheduling commercial passenger service from our terminal with Skybus, Homeland Security, US Customs Service and the TSA became part of our everyday lives,” the airport’s executive director, Ed Wuellner told local reporters. “The TSA works closely with our airport, law enforcement and intelligence community partners to set the standard for excellence in transportation security across the country and right here in St. Augustine.”

The new system activated this week is an advanced imaging technology unit equipped with automated target recognition software designed to ensure privacy while facilitating a streamlined checkpoint screening process.

Considered an improvement over previous body scanning technology, the new system generates the same generic image for all passengers. The only difference is, if a passenger has a possible threat on their person, a yellow box will appear on the screen and show the TSA officer where further screening will be necessary. If no threats are detected, a green screen with an “OK” is all that appears and the passenger can head straight to his or her flight.

During our behind-the-scenes look at the new millimeter wave advanced imaging technology, Transportation Security Administration Spokesperson, Sari Koshetz, told us that the scanner uses harmless electromagnetic waves to perform a single scan. In fact, these waves emit 10,000 less energy units than making a cell phone call.