Global Threats Against Flight Departments and Executives — Who Is Responsible for Detection?

Every day, Fortune companies put their CEOs and leadership teams on corporate aircraft to conduct business worldwide. These leaders trust their flight crews implicitly to transport them safely, every time, with a zero-failure tolerance.

While these highly trained professionals accomplish their primary job of safely navigating an aircraft globally, many companies place an additional, unfair burden on their flight crews which they are not equipped to handle. Flight crews are expected to know ALL the risks associated with traveling, and few have the resources to evaluate those risks. That has led to a critical gap in corporate aviation security that continues to widen as threats evolve within an ever-changing geo-political, global, and social landscape.

Because we enjoy a mature and sophisticated aviation industry in America, along with robust security practices developed by our military and law enforcement, many American companies have developed a complacent attitude toward security.

As discussed in our last article, many corporate boards, executive decision-makers, and budget overseers have the attitude that catastrophe will not impact their organization. Flight departments tell us they consistently hear the message, “Why are we paying for security? Nothing ever happens.”

That statement reveals a dangerous mindset towards risk, and is not factual. Consider the relatively recent events:

• In November of 2023, a flight crew was conducting pre-flight procedures when their aircraft was boarded by a man with a knife who was high on drugs and held the crew hostage. Thankfully, due to the outstanding work of the law enforcement on scene, no one was hurt physically. This occurred in La Cross, Wisconsin, which is not some far-off country.
• In July of 2021, a business jet was taxiing onto the active runway when, suddenly, the main cabin door was opened from the outside by a criminal demanding the crew fly him to Hawaii. According to the police report, no one was hurt due to the quick response of the Police Air Unit at the airfield. This occurred in Denver, Colorado.
• Since 2022, several coordinated attacks on business aircraft, along with environmental protests at airports worldwide, have prevented numerous business and commercial aircraft from operating as scheduled. These attacks also caused millions of dollars in damage from protestors spray painting the aircraft, gluing themselves to the aircraft, and chaining themselves to the landing gear. And, of course, lost productivity with grounded aircraft.

These stories generate many of the same thoughts, reactions, and questions from the professional flight crews and aviation department leaders reading this publication:

• Did the executives have alternate aircraft ready as part of their contingency plans?
• Were other malicious actions taken on the aircraft that would have caused a catastrophe, intentionally or unintentionally?
• What measures are in place to enhance the security of my aircraft, flight crew, and executive team? Do we even have any?
• What other gaps do we have in our security plans that we are not aware of?

These are heavy burdens for flight crews whose primary mission is flying the aircraft. Fortunately, our military and law enforcement community have tremendous resources pertaining to intelligence about threats, threat detection and mitigation, and developing protocols to mitigate these threats.

But how do you tap into those resources for the purposes of threat analysis and planning for your flight department?

• Step 1— Educate your leadership about the real-world threats. Many are aware of the two commercial airline mishaps that occurred in December and the assassination of the healthcare CEO in New York. Few are aware of the less publicized threats against corporate aircraft.
• Step 2 — Take proactive measures to assess and plan for potential threats to your operation. Many business aviation operators are partnering with companies that specialize in security and threat detection for this very reason. Simply performing an audit of your operation is a smart step towards identifying gaps in training, operations, and physical security. The results of these audits are powerful sources of support to take to your leaders when requesting additional resources.

We encourage you to seek out partners who understand corporate aviation, specifically. The burden of assessing security risks and threats is best shouldered by professionals who share the same background, understand your mission, and have the depth of experience, resources, and intelligence to help you close those gaps.

Corporate Aviation Security International, LLC (CASI) provides assessment, training, and consulting services to support flight departments and enhance the safety of their executives, flight crews, and aircraft, at home and at their global destinations.