Tests begin on in-flight CCTV
Aircraft could be installed with CCTVs, hidden microphones and ‘sniffers’ in the toilets to try to catch terrorists who manage to slip through airport security to get onboard planes.
According to reports in the Daily Telegraph, European-Union funded research at Reading University has already led to trials of the sophisticated system on non-commercial aircraft.
The idea is that pilots would be warned if passengers are seen to be behaving suspiciously on CCTV, or of conversations picked up by the hidden microphones.
Explosive detectors, known as ‘sniffers’ installed in toilets would alert pilots, via the computer, to the possibility of someone trying to assemble a bomb.
The cost of installing and monitoring the system would be passed on to passengers in the form of higher airfares, but the UK Department of Transport says it has no plans to tell airlines to go ahead with the system at the moment.
By Linsey McNeill
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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