Content area
Full Text
The attempted hijacking of El Al Israel Airlines Flight 581 on Nov. 16 by a single passenger is proof positive that a multiple layered aviation security system is the only way to prevent serious terrorist incidents. But even the best airport security procedures are not flawless, according to a top Israeli aviation security expert.
Israeli security guards on the El Al flight from Tel Aviv, Israel, to Istanbul, Turkey, overpowered an Israeli Arab man, Tawfik Fukara, who allegedly threatened a flight attendant with a Swiss Army knife and tried to break into the cockpit.
Two factors thwarted the attempted hijacking. First, the reinforced and bulletproof cockpit door used by El Al is required to be locked for the entire flight, as it was on this flight, thereby making it impenetrable. Second, two security guards, one dressed in disguise as a flight attendant and the other as a traveler, were able to subdue the hijacker.
Fukara later told Turkish...