Readiness note. This is a private training programme. It builds knowledge and readiness. It does not grant any official certificate, licence, or government recognition, and it does not create any affiliation with a regulator or an agency. On passing, learners receive a Record of Completion.
What this course is not. This is a knowledge course. It is not AVSEC training, not screener training and not an airport pass course. Your airport, your employer and the aviation security authority decide what training you must hold.
This unit builds on lesson 1 (Introduction to Physical Security: Foundations).
Mission briefing
It is 05:30 at Lakeside Airport. The first flights leave in one hour. Cars stop at the front of the terminal. Long queues form at check-in. Behind a glass wall, cleaned and fuelled aircraft wait. You stand at a staff door. The door looks like any door. It is not.
Focus: an airport protects many lives at once. It does this with many layers of checks. You are one layer. You work under the airport's security plan, and you help by checking, watching and reporting.
Learning objectives
By the end of this unit, you will be able to:
- Say why airports and aircraft need strict security rules.
- Tell two lessons from past attacks on aircraft.
- Explain what "layers of security" means.
- Say who does what at an airport, and where a guard fits.
- Say what this course is, and what it is not.
1. Why aviation is different
Aviation means flying: aircraft, airlines and airports. An airport is different from a mall or a factory in four ways.
- Many lives in one place. One aircraft can carry hundreds of people. In the air, they cannot leave and help cannot reach them.
- A small thing can do great harm. One wrong item or one wrong person on an aircraft can put every life on board at risk.
- The whole world watches. An attack on a flight is news in every country. People with bad aims know this.
- It links countries. A flight that leaves your airport lands in another city or another country. A weak check here is a danger there.
So the rules at an airport are strict, and they are the same for every person.
2. Two lessons from the past
Airport rules were written after real events. Here are two. Each one teaches a lesson.
Air India flight 182, 1985. On 23 June 1985 a bomb destroyed this aircraft over the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Ireland. All 329 people on board died. Canada later held a public inquiry. The inquiry found that a bag was loaded with no passenger travelling with it. It also found that warnings did not reach the staff at the front line.
The lesson: a bag in the hold (the cargo space under the floor of the aircraft) must belong to a passenger who is on board. And a report is only useful if it is passed on. What you see and report can matter.
The attacks of 11 September 2001. Nineteen men took control of four aircraft in the United States. Almost 3,000 people died. The official inquiry said that security was meant to work in layers. Each layer had a weakness, so together they did not stop the attack. It said that no single security check is perfect, so there must be many layers.
The lesson: every layer must do its own work fully. Never think, "Someone after me will catch it."
3. The world rules in simple words
The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) is the United Nations body for civil flying. Countries agreed the main rules for flying in a treaty called the Chicago Convention. One part of it, named Annex 17, is about security.
Each country then makes its own law. It writes a national plan for aviation security. Each airport and each airline must have its own security plan too.
These plans are kept secret. You will be told only your own part, through your post orders and your supervisor. Do not share what you know.
4. Layers of security
No single check stops every threat. So an airport uses many checks, one after another. Each one is called a layer.
- A fence and gates around the airport.
- Passes for staff, and checks on the passes.
- Screening of passengers, bags and staff. Screening means checking a person or a thing for items that are not allowed.
- Checks on cargo, food and supplies that go on aircraft.
- Guards and cameras that watch.
- Locked doors and guarded aircraft.
- Staff who notice and report.
Think of several nets, one behind the other. This works only if every net is whole. Your post is one net.
5. Who does what
Many people and organisations work in one airport.
| Who | What they do |
|---|---|
| The government authority | Makes the rules. Approves the security plans. Inspects. |
| Airport operator | Runs the airport and its security plan. |
| Airlines | Look after their aircraft, passengers and bags. |
| Government security force and police | Deal with crime and armed threats. In many countries they do the main security tasks. |
| Screeners | Screen people and bags. They are trained and approved for this. |
| Customs and immigration | Control goods and people that cross the border. |
| Cargo, catering and ground companies | Secure what they load onto aircraft. |
| You, the guard | Work your post under the plan. Check, watch, record and report. |
Your line of report is: you, then your supervisor or the control room. One exception: if life is in danger and you cannot reach the control room at once, call the public emergency number yourself. Then tell the control room as soon as you can.
6. What guards do, and what guards do not do
Some airport tasks are kept for people with special training and approval. In many countries the law names who may do them. Examples are:
- Screening passengers and their bags.
- Searching an aircraft.
- Carrying a weapon.
- Stopping, searching or holding a person by force.
Private guards are often given supporting tasks. Examples are helping with queues of people, watching a door or a building, and patrols in public areas.
The list is different in each country and at each airport. Your post orders tell you your tasks. If a task is not in your orders, do not do it. Ask your supervisor.
7. Security culture
Security culture means that every person at the airport helps to keep it secure: cleaners, drivers, shop staff, engineers and guards.
Where the culture is good, people:
- Wear their pass where it can be seen.
- Politely ask a person with no pass to show one.
- Report what looks wrong, even when they are not sure.
- Follow the rule when no one is watching.
You help to set this tone. Be polite, be fair, and check everyone in the same way.
8. Safety and security together
Security stops people who want to do harm. Safety stops accidents. An airport has danger from both.
On every post, ask two questions. Is it secure against crime? Is it safe from accidents? Unit A6 (Airside Safety: Aprons, Aircraft and FOD) covers safety near aircraft.
9. What this course is, and what it is not
This course gives you knowledge about airport work.
It is not the official aviation security training. In each country, the aviation security authority decides what that training is and who may give it. People often call it AVSEC training. Your employer will arrange it.
It is also not:
- Screener training. That is a separate course with its own test.
- An airport pass. Only the airport's pass office can give you a pass.
- An airside safety course. Your airport gives that before you work near aircraft.
What you do / What you never do
| You do | You never do |
|---|---|
| Follow your post orders and the plan | Never make up your own rules for your post |
| Report through your supervisor or control room | Never talk about security plans with outsiders |
| Check every person in the same way | Never skip a check for a friend or a senior person |
| Do your own layer fully | Never think the next check will catch it |
Worked example
The people, aircraft and places in this example are invented.
Asha is new at Lakeside Airport. She guards a staff door. At a bus stop after work, a friendly man asks, "You work at the airport? Which doors have guards at night?"
Asha smiles and says, "I cannot talk about work. Sorry." She gets on her bus. At the start of her next shift she tells her supervisor, Imran. She gives the time, the place and what the man looked like. Imran logs it and reports it upwards.
Asha gave nothing away, stayed polite, and reported it.
Activity — know your airport
Answer these for your own site. Ask your supervisor if you are not sure.
- Who is in charge of security at your airport?
- Which tasks are in your post orders? Which tasks are kept for others?
- What official training has your employer arranged for you?
Key points
- An airport protects many lives at once, so the rules are strict.
- The rules came from real attacks.
- No single check is perfect. Security works in layers, and you are one layer.
- Some tasks are kept for trained and approved people. Do only what your post orders give you.
- Report through your supervisor or control room.
- This course is knowledge. It is not AVSEC training.
Where to go next
- Lesson 1 (Introduction to Physical Security: Foundations): the base for this unit. Unit 2A (Your Post: Orders, Handover and the Logbook) covers post orders.
- Unit A2 (The Airport Map: Landside, Airside and Restricted Areas): the zones of an airport.
- Unit A6 (Airside Safety: Aprons, Aircraft and FOD): safety near aircraft.
- Unit W1 (Why Ports and Ships Need Security): the same ideas at a port.
Conclusion
You have completed this unit. You can now say why airports need strict security, what layers are, who does what, and where you fit.
The next unit is A2 (The Airport Map: Landside, Airside and Restricted Areas).
Complete the Learning Check for this unit before you move on.