Philadelphia Incident Highlights Airport Security

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Two local pilots are being called heroes in the air after a security breach at the airport in Philadelphia.

At about 11 a.m. Thursday, there was a rouge vehicle on the runway.

A Pittsburgh-based U.S. Airways crew had only seconds to go around and avoid touching down on a runway occupied by a drunk driver who crashed through a chain link gate.

Peter Goelz, a former member of the National Transportation Safety Board, says terrorists are fixated on aviation and Thursday's accident is a concern.

"It does highlight a potential vulnerability which is why I think it needs to be reviewed and reviewed quickly," he said.

A similar incident happened during a police chase at Dallas Fort-Worth International.

Pittsburgh International Airport covers about 9,000 acres.

"We have a lot of fence area and we have many gates and many of them are staffed and many of them are in the situation that the one was in similar to Philadelphia," JoAnne Jenny, a spokeswoman for the Pittsburgh Airport Authority, said.

"You're never going to build a fortress around an airport," she added.

Security is constantly evaluated at the nation's airports by the Department of Homeland Security and if they find any vulnerabilities based on the Philadelphia incident, they will be addressed.

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