Right, so we're moving into the security side of air law now — Page 39, Lesson 72

Right, so we're moving into the security side of air law now. Let's pick this up from where the State's obligations are laid out. We've just covered how a State must set up its security programme and designate an authority to run it. Now, that authority isn't working in a vacuum. The State is required to coordinate its security activities with other relevant national agencies — think police, customs, immigration — and it must also liaise with the corresponding authority in other States. So there's a domestic coordination duty and an international one. Then we get to paragraph 2.68, which is about making those activities workable. The State is required to do three concrete things. First, set up training programmes for the people involved in security. Second, establish airport security committees — that's the forum where the agencies actually coordinate. And third, have contingency plans drawn up, so there's a prepared response for a security incident. Paragraph 2.69 is the ongoing commitment. Each State must co-operate with other States in research and development of security systems and equipment. The purpose is stated clearly: to better satisfy civil aviation security objectives. So this isn't a one-off; it's a continuous international effort to improve the technology and methods. Now, paragraph 2.70 shifts from the State to the individual — specifically, the authority of the commander. This is a critical legal point, so listen carefully to the exact wording. The aircraft commander may order or authorize the assistance of other crew members. Note the verb: order. With crew, he can order them to help. But with passengers, the wording changes. He may request and authorize, but not order, the assistance of passengers. So the commander can ask a passenger to help, and he can give that passenger the legal authority to act, but he cannot compel a passenger to assist. The note at the end reinforces this: the PIC may request — but not require — the assistance of passengers in the restraint of an unruly passenger. Now, when can he do this? The trigger is when he has reasonable ground to believe that a person has committed, or is about to commit, an act which may or does jeopardize the safety of the aircraft, or of persons or property on board, or which jeopardizes good order and discipline on board. So there are two categories of threat: safety of the aircraft, persons, or property, and good order and discipline. When that trigger is met, he may impose reasonable measures, which may include restraint. And the measures must be necessary for one of three purposes. First, to protect the safety of the aircraft, or of persons or property on board. Second, to maintain good order and discipline on board. Third, to enable him to deliver such a person to competent authorities or to disembark him in accordance with the provisions of the Convention — that's the Chicago Convention. So the restraint isn't punishment; it's a lawful measure with a defined purpose, and it must be reasonable and necessary. That's the legal boundary of the commander's authority in the air. That figure shows the ground-to-air signals from survivors — you'll need those for the search and rescue part of the syllabus, but keep it in mind as we go.