Vanquishing the V/PD

4th Quarter 2013

A quarterly publication from the

Safety Section

Federal Aviation Administration Airports Division

Western-Pacific Region

This publication is directed primarily towards airport management to be disseminated to

all levels of personnel working at your airfield. It does not matter how large or how small

your airfield or how tight your budget may be, this information must be made available to

your people by whatever means. Vanquishing the V/PD can be accomplished through a

solid partnership between the FAA and airport management. The responsibility of

making sure that the proper safeguards are in place; however, lies squarely on the

shoulders of the airport management. Please use this information and all that follows as a

guide by which to produce a safer environment at your airfield.

The act of piggybacking occurs when a gate is opened by an authorized person and an

unauthorized person passes through the gate with them. If the authorized person is aware

that the unauthorized person has entered with them but is either unwilling or unable to

stop unauthorized person, piggybacking has occurred. Tailgating, on the other hand, is

when an unauthorized person slips through the gate undetected.

I was a victim of piggybacking during a periodic inspection. I was buzzed through a

security gate by the aircraft rescue and firefighting (ARFF) station. As I waited for the

gate to shut behind me a large pick-up truck passed through the closing gate and

maneuvered around me. I noted the color, make and model truck and waited for the gate

to shut. As I made my way over to the air traffic control tower (ATCT) to meet with the

facility manager, I noticed that the truck was parked in the tower parking lot. You can

imagine what my first topic of discussion was with the tower manager.

Usually a piggybacker or tailgater is not aware of, nor does he care about the rules of

airport driving. Recently, at an airport in the Western-Pacific Region, a bicyclist

piggybacked through a closing gate as a tenant was exiting the airfield. The bicyclist then

rode across two active runways and numerous taxiways. When being interviewed by the
airport manager the bicyclist stated that he entered the airport because he wanted to “grab

a coke and watch the airplanes fly”. He then showed the airport manager his

identification bracelet. The bracelet identified the man as having Alzheimer’s disease.

The bicyclist’s wife was called to take him home.

At another airport in the Western-Pacific Region, a man piggybacked onto airport

property to pick up a propeller. When he realized he was on the wrong side of the airport

for his pick up, he drove across numerous taxiways and an active runway to get to his

destination.

How can we prevent piggybacking and tailgating?

 When entering and exiting stop your vehicle beyond the loop sensor and wait

until the gate closes behind you.

 Assure that no other persons, vehcles or bicycles enter the gate behind you.

 Adjust the closing time of the automatic gate to deter piggybacking and tailgating.

 Don’t leave enough space for a piggybacker or tailgater to enter.

 If a person piggybacks then both parties are to blame and both should be held

responsible.

 If tailgating occurs the tailgater should be held responsible.

 Explore the feasibility of installing a security system that has a facility lock down

feature. This allows administrators to remove access privileges for any (or all)

access groups in the system so intruders cannot leave.

 Explore the feasibility of installing CCTV at gates to identify piggybackers or

tailgaters.

 Report all details of piggybacking and tailgating to airport management when

they occur.

 Do not allow pedestrians or bicycle riders to piggyback through vehicle gates.

Column written by:

Steven Oetzell

Lead Airport Certification Safety Inspector, AWP-620.6

Reproductions of this, past and subsequent issues of Vanquishing the VPD are available

on FAAWebsite:

http://www.faa.gov/airports/western_pacific/airports_resources/newsletter/