Security Culture in India......

Every AVSEC professorial would agree that threat to the civil aviation comes from the assumption that there is no room for improvement and every thing is right and hunky dory. If a loophole exists ,then someone, some where will find it and try and exploit it to its fullest, are we looking at the future threats? the most dangerous threat to the aviation sector is the new and emerging threat posed by the "Internet".The more connected we are the more venerable we become.

There is a culture in airlines and that is catching like fire "sending a flight on time is more IMPORTANT than ,sending a SECURE flight".

AVIATION SECURITY is a forgotten sector here in India, we confuse it with SAFETY if a flight is safe for most in the airline it means that the flight is also "SECURE",after IC-814 we have not faced any major disaster that does not mean that we put our guard down.

The best defense against any terrorist does not come in the form of new technology or developments in EVDs or x-ray scanners or the latest CCTV "it comes in the form of the human brain and investment in sharpening human brain to its best possible capacity and that is an investment worth taking". It is always the man behind the machine.

I am not saying that technology is not good but i believe the more you take in technology the more venerable you become,lets not keep our flanks unprotected. A human asset will always be more important than the technology.Technology will always be an helping hand to the human brain.

While saying that, the investment in technology is below the desired level here and need a boost immediately, the investment in human brain is at a ok level when it comes to Aviation security we have not been able to create a much desired security culture among the passengers which is most important.

Aviation Security department in every airline is considered to be a nuisance as it asks WHERE ,WHEN and HOW, as of today we don't have a generation of AVSEC officers (apart from the officers who retire from the AVSEC regulatory body)who can later be the bed rock of airlines of the future,people want to leave this trade as salaries are low there are no promotions,frustration among the staff.....

lets hope we are able to develop a security culture in India.