Understanding aviation security and facilitation professions

Published: Wednesday, 30 December 2009 14:07

Aviation Security and Facilitation in Cameroon is one of the major preoccupations of the Cameroon Civil Aviation Authority. A combination of measures, human and material resources are involved to make it possible.

What is Aviation Security and Facilitation? More importantly, what are the different activities in this sector? Finally, who are those who work or can work in this sector? The objective of this article is to answer these questions as succinctly as possible.

Aviation security is safeguarding civil aviation against acts of unlawful interference which take the following forms: unlawful seizure of aircraft in flight or on the ground; hostage taking on board aircraft or at airports; forcible intrusion on board an aircraft or at an airport or on the premises of an aviation facility; introduction on board an aircraft or at an airport of a weapon or an hazardous device or material intended for criminal purposes; communication of false information such as to jeopardise the safety of an aircraft in flight or on the ground, of passengers, crew, ground personnel, or the general public, at an airport or on the premises of a civil aviation facility.

Aviation Facilitation on its part involves regulations and practical measures adopted by a state to facilitate and expedite navigation by aircraft between the territories of states party to the Chicago Convention on Civil Aviation and to prevent unnecessary delays at the airports of aircraft, crew, passengers and cargo, especially in the administration of the laws relating to immigration, customs and clearance. In other words, Aviation Facilitation is the safeguarding of the advantage of speed inherent in air transport.

Speed of transportation by air should not be limited to the speed of the aircraft alone. Speed in the air in the case of air freight, for example, must be matched by reasonable speed on the ground in getting the shipment quickly from the shipper, through ground handling and clearance controls, to the consignee otherwise the aircraft speed is negated.

On the face of it, the diligent application of aviation security measures may necessarily cause the delays which aviation facilitation is out to avoid. In the same vein, the enthusiasm to speed up the treatment of passengers, aircraft and cargo at the airports may jeopardise aviation security. In order to develop appropriate strategies to reconcile aviation security and aviation facilitation, the two aspects are often managed together under one Department within the International Civil Aviation Organisation and National Aviation Agencies.

The main activities in the Aviation Security and Facilitation Sector are regulation and organisation, application and enforcement of measures, supervision, training and management.

Regulation and organisation

As a party to the Chicago Convention on Civil Aviation, Cameroon is required to establish and implement laws, regulations, practices and procedures on Aviation Security and Facilitation. In addition, she is required to apply the provisions of the international conventions on international civil aviation that she has duly ratified. Some of these conventions have annexes such as Annex 17 to the Chicago Convention which treats aviation security and Annex 9 to the same Convention which treats aviation facilitation. Both annexes carry international standards and recommended practices. Our state is required to participate actively and meaningfully in the process of either the modification of the existing international legislation or the development of new legislation in the domain. Furthermore, she has to be constantly attentive to identify newly adopted standards in the annexes which she cannot comply with in order to notify the international community in time as required. In respect of organisation, Cameroon is required to establish both national Aviation Security and Facilitation Programmes. The Cameroon Civil Aviation Authority is the 'appropriate authority within the Cameroonian Administration' responsible for the development, implementation and maintenance of these Programmes. Furthermore, Cameroon is required, through the Cameroon Civil Aviation Authority, to establish national and airport Aviation Security and Facilitation Committees for the purpose of coordinating activities in these domains among the different state administrations, departments, agencies and organisations as well as airport, aircraft operators and other entities intervening in the sector.

Application and enforcement of measures

Aviation Security measures relate to access control, the aircraft , passengers and their cabin baggage, hold baggage, cargo, mail and other goods and special catégories of passengers. Facilitation measures in their turn relate to the arrivai and departure formalities for aircraft, arrival and departure formalities for passengers and their baggage, arrival and departure formalities for air freight and other articles, treatment of inadmissible and expelled passengers, international airport development and facilities and landing outside an international airport.

Supervision

The State, through the Cameroon Civil Aviation Authority and the State law enforcement agencies, ensure that persons responsible for aviation security measures are subject to background checks and appropriate sélection procédures. The Cameroon Civil Aviation Authority ensures that persons carrying out screening opérations possess the required qualifications and are certified according to the requirements of the National Aviation Security Programme with a view to achieve and maintain international performance standards. The Authority is also required to develop, implement and maintain a national civil aviation security quality control programme to determine compliance with and validate the effectiveness of the National Civil Aviation Security Programme. Finally, audits, tests, surveys and inspections are conducted on a regular basis to verify compliance with the National Security and Facilitation Programmes mentioned earlier and to provide for the rapid and effective rectification of any deficiencies.

Training

The Cameroon Civil Aviation Authority is required to ensure the development and implémentation of a national training programme for personnel of ail entities involved with or responsible for the implémentation of various aspects of the National Civil Aviation Programme. The CCAA also ensures that trainers and training programmes of the operators, regulated agents and aviation security agencies meet appropriate standards. Finally, the Authority ensures that personnel carrying out security audits, tests, surveys and inspections are trained to appropriate standards for these tasks.

Management

National Aviation Security and Facilitation Programmes as well as National Aviation Security and Facilitation Committees have been mentioned above. However, it is not enough to create these Programmes and Committees, they have to be well managed to be effective. It should also be remembered that no matter how effective these Programmes and Committees may be, incidents can and do occur once in a while. The sad case of September 11, in the US is a glaring example. Management of response to eventual incidents in the domains of aviation security and facilitation are one of the major activities of a national aviation agency such as the CCAA.

Aviation security and facilitation personnel

1. To initiate, draft and ensure the correct interprétation and application of the required régulations and also to conceive the appropriate organisation, the CCAA employs personnel with compétences in law and the aeronautical sciences. Aviation Law is a post graduate programme. Some institutions renowned in this area are McGill University in Montréal, Canada, University of London, Leiden University in the Netherlands and Institut de Formation Universitaire et de Recherche du Transport Aérien in France. Aeronautical Engineering programmes are offered in many institutions worldwide. A few are: EAMAC in Niger, The Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (Zaria), ENAC Toulouse (France) and Cranfield University in the UK. 2. For the regular and rigorous application of security and facilitation measures, the CCAA employs personnel with high level and specialised training in the police, customs, gendarmerie, air force, the intelligence services, law, aeronautics as well as highly skilled electronic and maintenance technicians.

For supervision and coordination, the CCAA selects among its highly qualified, experienced and conscientious staffs with demonstrated sense of objectivity and professionalism.

For training, the CCAA does not employ full time teachers. The skills required are not on teaching methods but on training techniques. Some CCAA staffs as well as personnel from the partner administrations and organisations who have successfully completed the standard ICAO homologated courses for trainers are certified as instructors. They, in addition to their principal attributions, organise and conduct short courses, as well as animate sensitisation seminars and workshops.

The CCAA does not recruit professional managers as such, or holders of degrees in management per se to manage aviation security and facilitation. Staffs from the CCAA and partner administrations and organisations who have done additional pertinent specialised training in aviation management are sought for différent management roles.

For example, to manage the various national committees and programmes personnel with specialised training and aptitude in aviation management are required. In the same vein, to manage an aviation incident, personnel with specialised training and aptitude in aviation crisis management are required. It can safely be stated that there is no particular establishment in the world that has the unique mission to graduate aviation security and facilitation professionals. The variety and nature of the activities in the aviation security and facilitation sector have made it necessary for the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and national aviation agencies, such as the Cameroon Civil Aviation Authority, to recruit persons from différent backgrounds to work in the Aviation Security and Facilitation Department.

Irrespective of the différences in backgrounds, competent, dedicated and experienced aviation security and facilitation personnel eventually become professionals in their own right and are highly solicited nationally and internationally. The experts who are sent to Cameroon by either the ICAO or donor nations on different aviation and security missions did not graduate from any particular institution or possess any special professional diplomas. They are just men and women from the backgrounds highlighted above but who accumulated years of experience and acquired compétences from their respective national aviation agencies or allied administrations and organisations through patience, drive, hard work, diligence and a clear sense of purpose. Above ail, they are men and women of moral rectitude! We too can produce aviation security and facilitation professionals and experts if we copy their examples.

NDUM Fidelis NKOM

Director, Aviation Security and Facilitation (CCAA)