Airlines Face Bomb Threats

Extortion threats, many involving live explosives, were plaguing civil aviation in the early 1970s. This crisis was crystallized on March 9, 1972, as a jetliner took off from JFK bound for Los Angeles. Moments into the flight, an anonymous caller stated that there was a bomb on board that flight. The plane immediately returned to JFK and passengers were evacuated. A bomb-sniffing German Shepherd was brought on board, and detected an explosives device just 12 minutes before it was set to detonate. That same day, President Richard M. Nixon directed the Secretary of the Department of Transportation to develop an innovative way to combat this problem. In October 1972, the FAA K-9 Explosives Detection Team Program was created.

The original objective was to place trained, certified explosives detection teams at strategic locations throughout the nation, so any aircraft receiving an inflight threat could quickly be diverted to an airport with that capability. What started with 40 teams (two-team minimum requirement) at 20 locations, has now grown to over 130 teams and 35 locations. Through the years, the role of the teams has grown to include utilization in every aspect of the airport environment.