Terrorism on Aviation - Coursework Example

According to Nikbay and Hancerli (2007, p. 259), this is an era that people live a fast-paced life and technological advances happen at a vigorous rate. They note that aviation forms one of the critical industries in the world. Aviation has changed the way people live globally. The industry transit millions of people and millions of tons of cargo to long distances in a relatively short amount of time. The significant symbolism apart from aviation offering rapid transportation is that the airlines have been used to showcase and represent nations whose flags they fly.

What lingers into people's minds when they remember the 11th September 2001 attacks on America or Lockerbie attacks of 1988 or the hijacking of Air France planes in 1976? The attack on numerous airplanes has grown phenomenally over years especially in the 20th and 21s t centuries. The attacks have taken geopolitical dimensions whereby most of the attackers target airlines which has a majority of people who they consider to be their enemies. Terrorism in aviation has significantly over years led to the death of numerous passengers and non-passengers in the target areas all over the world.

  Aracely (2005, p. 75) notes that terrorism is an independent and self-reproducing socio-political phenomenon of violence. Historically, he notes that terrorism has been part and parcel of human beings throughout the human civilization process. However, in the 21st century, the phenomenon has evolved and taken a new twist. It has taken a twist of geopolitical factor that is causing a crisis at the global level.   Aviation forms one of the important sectors of the global economy. Over the years, the sector has contributed to a faster transit of goods and services over long distances and short period.

The sector has greatly contributed to the reduction of trade barriers and the enhancement of globalization. Moreover, the airlines have been used as a symbol of pride by various nations. However, in the 50 years of commercial aviation existence, numerous attacks have been reported on the aircraft. In the initial years, the chief security concern in aviation was primarily linked to preventing aircraft hijacking and sabotage and apprehending the criminals. Thus, it was assumed that most of the risks would be on the crew members and the passengers.

However, two events marked the change in this belief. The first relates to July 1968 when a new precedent of hijacking planes for political motives was set. This scenario was highlighted when El Al Israel airline, Boeing 707 flight number LY426 which departed from Rome and destined to Tel Aviv was hijacked by three members of the popular front for the liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and flown to Algeria (Avihai, 2009).The second relates to the September 2001 New York attacks that demystified this myth.

The attack showed that hijackers can use the planes to harm even those on the ground and destroy properties in large magnitude this brought a realization that normal passenger or cargo planes can be used as weapons of mass destruction (Hancock, 2002). This study aims at conducting descriptive research in terrorism on aviation by evaluating the effects and consequences of terrorism in the aviation industry and the relationship between terrorism and aviation, examining the methods and techniques used by a terrorist in aviation, and finally, to appraise and evaluate the counter-terrorism strategies utilized in the aviation industry.

The final section offers conclusion and areas of improvements to address the problem of terrorism. Acknowledgments Terrorism on Aviation Chapter 1- Introduction 1.1 Introduction According to Nikbay and Hancerli (2007, p. 259), this is an era that people live fast-paced life and technological advances happens at a vigorous rate. They note that aviation forms one of the critical industries in the world. Aviation has changed the way people live globally. The industry transit millions of people and millions of tons of cargo to long distances in a relatively short amount of time.

The significant symbolism apart from aviation offering rapid transportation is that the airlines have been used to showcase and represent nations whose flags they fly. What lingers into peoples mind when they remember 11th September 2001 attacks on America or Lockerbie attacks of 1988 or the hijacking of air France plane in 1976? The attack on numerous airplanes has grown phenomenally over years especially in the 20th and 21s t centuries. The attacks have taken geopolitical dimensions whereby most of the attackers targets airlines which has a majority of people who they consider to be their enemies.

Terrorism on aviation has significantly over years led to death of numerous passengers and non passengers in the target areas all over the world. Arasly (2005, p. 75) notes that terrorism is an independent and self-reproducing socio-political phenomenon of violence. Historically, he notes that terrorism has been part and parcel of human beings through out human civilization process. However, in the 21st century the phenomenon has evolved and taken a new twist. It has taken a twist of geopolitical factor that is causing a crisis at the global level. 1.2 Purpose of the study Aviation forms one of the important sectors of the global economy.

Over the years, the sector has contributed to a faster transit of goods and services over long distances and short period. The sector has greatly contributed to reduction of trade barrier and enhancement of globalization. Moreover, the airlines have been used as a symbol of pride by various nations. However, in the 50 over years of commercial aviation existence, numerous attacks have been reported on the aircrafts. In the initial years, the chief security concern in aviation was primarily linked to preventing aircraft hijacking and sabotage, and apprehending the criminals.

Thus, it was assumed that most of the risks would be on the crew members and the passengers. However, two events marked the change on this belief. The first relates to July 1968 when a new precedent of hijacking plane for political motives was set. This scenario was highlighted when El Al Israel airline, Boeing 707 flight number LY426 which departed from Rome and destined to Tel Aviv was hijacked by three members of the popular front for liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and flown to Algeria (Avihai, 2009).

The second relates to the September 2001 New York attacks that demystified this myth. The attack showed that hijackers can use the planes to harm even those on the ground and destroy properties in large magnitude this brought a realization that normal passenger or cargo planes can be used as weapons of mass destruction (Hancock, 2002). This study aims at conducting descriptive research in terrorism on aviation by evaluating the effects and consequences of terrorism in the aviation industry and the relationship between terrorism and aviation, examining the methods and techniques used by terrorist in aviation and finally, to appraise and evaluate the counter terrorism strategies utilised in the aviation industry. 1.2 Background of the study Historical trends and timeline of terrorism on aviation can be analysed in to two periods.

The first is pre 2001 when most of acts were considered to be mere criminal act and the post 2001 scenario that showed how dangerous the criminal activity can be not only to the passenger, crew and the aviation company but also to the public and their properties plus other important installations in the country.