Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 6

ciiOJ in ElaraoM 6A earheads fight against hijackers bookings. Pan Am's tr; in overseas bookings. Pan Am's nan Am sp trans- New program said to have improved security plaints and manv kudos." At an ic lightTopemed at about 45 percent capacity in Apri third decline from the previous year but were up to two-thirds capacity in August, virtually identical to 'Richard Livingston, an International Airline Passengers Association official, said the Pan Am program also involved greater scrutiny of personnel entering tarmac and baggage-handling areas, which he said are prime targets for potential terSvinMton said the Pan Am program, which is financed by a $5-per-ticket surcharge on overseas flights was designed as a model for the rest of the industry. But an official with Trans World Airlines, the other major U.S. trans-Atlantic carrier, denied that Pan Am was ahead of others.

"We don't think that's true, but we wouldn argue about it said Dan Devlin, TWA's director of legislative affairs. "It's not something you want to get into a public dispute about. Everybody should have good security. Martin Merzer of Knight-Ridder Newspapers contributed to this report. "Is FIREMAN P'ess Washington Sla'l WASHINGTON The target of Friday's airliner k-Pan American World Airways, has been among the i ost Tussive air carriers in developing and promoting in-.

3ed security measures aimed at forestalling hijackers. fan Am developed a new security program in May, with 1 help of Israeli security consultants, after a spate of incidents in Europe and the Middle East sent fSeas airline bookings into a deep tailspin. I'fce airline heavily promoted the program with full-page vfspaper ads that raised eyebrows elsewhere in the airline i Jaitry, where public discussions of safety and security are v'Aje'd upon. Respite the events Friday in Pakistan, a Pan Am kesman defended the airline's program, saying it had ijTbved security on flights and was highly popular among 'This is the first incident of this type that has occurred put the program in effect," said Mike Clark. "That r'ainly is one measure of its effectiveness.

Another is sCnger feedback. There have been virtually no com- Pan Am Vice- Chairman Martin Shugrue Jr. said all Pan Am passengers, crew members, mechanics and anyone else approaching a jetliner must clear "exacting security screening." Luggage is X-rayed and inspected by bomb-sniffing dogs. Any luggage checked by a passenger who misses the plane is left behind, he said. Pan Am crews are required to carry their bags with them between airports and hotels, rather than allow access to luggage by hotel service personnel, he said.

THE PROGRAM is enforced in U.S. airports by blue-uniformed members of Pan Am's alert force. Federal officials have told airlines that they are primarily responsible for their own security, though airports often control preliminary screening of passengers. The program is coordinated by Pan Am World Services, a subsidiary that has handled security at military bases and elsewhere. Clark said the new procedures are partially responsible CLARK said the program is in effect in all U.S.

airports where Pan Am operates, including Detroit. It is not in effect in foreign airports, such as the one in Karachi, because individual governments have responsibility for security arrangements, he said. However, Pan Am security personnel consult with foreign governments and sometimes provide back-up help, he said. Clark declined to discuss the new security procedures in detail on the ground that such information might prove useful to potential terrorists. But he said the system included more frequent checks and re-checks of passengers, their documentation and the contents of their carry-on luggage.

"There are some things we're doing that are highly visible to passengers," he said. "There are other things they will not see that re there, and we're not going to talk about those." In a letter published Friday in the Wall Street Journal, Getaway hatch standard feature in 747 cockpit rw Crews are not specifically instructed to use the hatch in case of terrorist attack. la UPI, AP and Reuters SEATTLE The escape hatch used by the Pan Am cockpit crew to escape from the hijacked jumbo jet in Pakistan is a standard feature designed for quick getaways in emergencies on the ground, Boeing Co. spokesmen said Friday. The hatch is built into the flight deck ceiling of the cockpit of all Boeing 747s to provide the three-member crews a way to escape when the regular exit is blocked, Boeing spokesman Tom Cole said.

"It's designed for a crash, in the event of a fire, or, of course, it can be used in an event such as this," Cole said. The pilot, co-pilot and engineer of Pan Am Flight 73 all Americans used the escape hatch to flee four armed hijackers who stormed the Boeing 747 at the Karachi Airport in Pakistan Friday. Alan Loflin, a Pan Am spokesman, said the crew members were alerted to the hijacking by a cabin attendant who telephoned from a passenger section, and that the captain made the decision to escape. Cole said inside the hatch are three "inertial reels," one for each member The Pan Am jumbo jet sits on a runway at Karachi airport after being seized by armed hijackers. of the cockpit crew.

A crew member holds onto a reel handle, which is attached to a cable, and then drops at a controlled rate of descent from the roof of the plane to the ground, which is 30 to 35 feet, said Dick Schleh, a Boeing spokesman. Merle Richman, another Pan Am spokesman, said the airline's crews are not specifically instructed to use the hatch in the case of terrorist attack. "There is no standard operating procedure," Richman said. "Each situation has to be weighed at the time." The Air Line Pilots Assoclatipn said in Washington that it makes sense for the flight crew to escape the plane In case of a hijacking. "It takes away the mobility of the hijackers," an ALPA spokesman said.

Cole could not cite any cases when a crew used the hatch for escapes from crash landings or plane fires. iirport passed U.S. security checl Their conclusion was that the Karachi airport had "pretty high-level security," Farrar said. The most recent inspection was about three weeks ago, he said. Asked how four armed men were able to seize the New York-bound Pan American jumbo jet after its arrival from Bombay, India, Farrar replied, "Until we know exactly what happened we are not going to make any judgment." U.S.

inspections at Karachi, Pakistan's busiest airport, were carried out under a 1985 U.S. law that requires the government to issue public warnings to the travel industry about airports that fail to correct lax security within three months of an inspection. The law was enacted in response to the 1985 hijacking by Palestinian terrorists of a Trans World Airlines jetliner after takeoff from Athens, Greece. WASHINGTON (AP) Karachi International rport passed recent U.S. government security spections with high marks, a spokesman said.

Federal Aviation Administration officers have the airport several times since last year, vifig it both comprehensive and spot checks, said A spokesman Fred Farrar. yiinmen wanted Ralestinians freed i 'om Cyprus jail Ik- it" I v. '1 I i or It te 3 JUAN 0. TAMAYO Foreion Staff JERUSALEM The hijackers of a American World Airways jetliner" Pakistan were demanding the re-of several Palestinians jailed in Cyprus, a Mediterranean island that kept friendly relations with both Arabs and Israelis, and often has i ome a stage for their bloody strug- "Like many other governments, Cy-us has been trying to maneuver to ard its safety between the good guys r. the bad guys," said Ariel Merari, an expert on terrorist activity.

The Connecticut-sized island 100 TM'f'S west of Lebanon has diplomatic t-lnions with Israel as well as Syria ir.fi Libya. Cyprus Air has three flights week to Tel Aviv, and the island's and blue waters are a favorite Vernation for vacationing Israelis. But Merari said that Cyprus also is a Sig base" for Chairman Yasser Fatah faction of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), includ-' 'g mostly public firms, such as the i iiipany that publishes Fatah's week-' news magazine, "but also under-i und stuff." "They (Cyprus) are no worse than other governments that give asylum and let them operate '')T their countries," said Merari, a iior researcher at Tel Aviv Universi- AP Photo From left, Khaled Abdel Kader Khatib, Abdel Halim Saador Khalifa and Ian Davison are serving life terms for the murder of two Israeli men and an Israeli woman aboard their sailboat last September in the Cypriot port of Larnaca. It is believed that the gunmen in Karachi wanted these people released along with Amin Suleiman Zaarour, who was arrested last month. Ian Davison, 27, Khaled Abdel Kader Khatib, a Palestinian carrying a Syrian passport, or Abdel Halim Saador Khalifa, a Palestinian traveling on a Jordanian passport.

Also held in a Cypriot jail is Amin Suleiman Zaarour, 25, a Lebanese arrested last month at the Larnaca airport with a suitcase containing hand grenades and a loaded pistol. If the Pan Am hijackers were trying to win release of the three Force 17 members, it would only be the latest violent act unleashed by the deaths of the three Israelis in Larnaca. In retaliation for the slayings, Israel bombed PLO headquarters in Tunisia Oct. 1, killing scores. Shortly afterward, Shiite extremists in Beirut announced that they had retaliated for the Tunisian raid by executing one of the American hostages they hold in Lebanon, diplomat William Buckley, 57.

However, his body never has been found. A WEEK AFTER the Israeli air strike, four Palestinians seized the Achille Lauro cruise ship and killed a wheelchair-using New Yorker, Leon Klinghoffer. Merari said that Cyprus has a spotty record on bowing to demands for the release of jailed terrorists. "They don't release them unless they are really extorted," he said. "They don't cut deals under the table with terror groups, except with Fatah." Last July, the Cypriot government freed Sami Anis Nasser, a Lebanese Shiite Muslim sentenced to seven years in prison after he was stopped at the Larnaca airport carrying a magnum wine bottle that had been cut open, filled with grenades and resealed.

The government said Anis was freed because of poor health, but his departure for Lebanon coincided with the release of two young Cypriot students at the American University of Beirut kidnapped a month before by pro-Iranian Shiites. Cyprus also released two convicted Shiite hijackers in April 1985, after a Cyprus Air jetliner was seized in I 1 I J-'' AT A.l?iV'w;.Wi 4 IS BELIEVED that the gunmen in k' pchi wanted four people released. vo Palestinians and one British sublet, identified by Israeli intelligence vi irces as members Of Force 17, a itah commando unit that doubles as fit's bodyguard, are serving life terms for the murder of two Israeli and an Israeli woman aboard their wilboat last September in the Cypriot -t- of Larnaca. Another man is being (fid in a separate case on weapons charges. i Arafat has denied any connection wth whose release the grnmen re believed tove sought: I AP pnoio Rajesh Kumar, 29, is carried by police guard to a Karachi hosytal after he was shot in the hijacking..