x
Breaking News
More () »

Video of man trespassing at Sky Harbor Airport raises security questions

An expert on aviation security tells 12 News breaches are more common than people might think, including more than two dozen over the past 15 years at Sky Harbor.

PHOENIX — Most people know the right way to get on a plane: Check your bags, go through TSA and wait to board.

But back in August, one Valley man was accused of skipping all that, breaking onto a plane at Phoenix Sky Harbor in the middle of the night and even deploying an emergency slide – all before getting caught.

New surveillance video released by Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport shows suspect Zackaria Mohamud Mudasir walking around the airport and getting off the Sky Rail. It's not clear if there's footage of the suspect getting on the plane or deploying the slide.

PREVIOUSLY: Man got past fence at Sky Harbor Airport and onto a plane, police say

The time stamps show the suspect walking to the lobby at 1:18 a.m., going up the escalator a minute later and getting off the Sky Rail around 1:30 a.m.

Police say a passenger saw Mudasir entering the secure area of Terminal 2 from the closed jetway on the airfield at Gate 3 around 2:15 a.m. and alerted security.  Court documents list his time of arrest at 3 a.m.  

Credit: Maricopa County Sheriff's Office
Zackaria Mohamud Mudasir

Dr. Richard Bloom, a professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, said it might sound unsettling, but Phoenix is no exception to the security violations seen at airports nationwide.

RELATED: Video shows man stealing car with 5-year-old inside at Sky Harbor

"In any 24-hour period, there are security violations at commercial airports all over the country," explained Bloom. "So it's business as usual."

The Associated Press studied data from 2004 to the winter of 2016 and found 21 different breaches at Sky Harbor Airport. They ranged from a man who jumped the fence knowing he would get arrested to a woman with a two-year-old ramming her car into an airport gate until she was able to drive onto one of the runways.

Credit: 12 News
Number of known perimeter security breaches at airports from Jan. 2004 to Feb. 2016. San Francisco has seen 41, Las Vegas, 30; Philadelphia, 30; LA, 26 and San Jose and Phoenix each saw 21, according to AP data.

That data didn't include other incidents past winter 2016, including the latest breach just last week, when Phoenix police say two men pretending to be DPS workers tried to get through the gate and onto the airfield.  They found one was even carrying two airsoft guns. They were eventually confronted by security and arrested.

RELATED: Men tried breaking into Sky Harbor to take jet to Flagstaff, Disneyland, police say

In all of these cases, the perpetrator was always caught and arrested, and all had different motivations.

An airport spokesperson said there are multiple layers of security at Sky Harbor, from police patrol to airport staff to other elements they can't reveal to the public for safety purposes.

"I think the general public needs to understand it's not about doing more airport or aviation security," Bloom explained. "It's constantly changing and modifying the securities that you have."

RELATED: Surveillance video: 19-year-old attacked TSA screeners at Sky Harbor

Before You Leave, Check This Out