Vandals
Breach
Airport
Defences
By Neale Maynard
Aviation Editor
Article
from the Courier Mail (1998)
GRAFFITI
vandals have attacked a Cathay Pacific jumbo jet parked at Brisbane
Airport in an alarming security breach that caused damage estimated
at thousands of dollars.The vandals - who left a large graffiti
tag name on the aircraft (VAS & AIKE) - cut through an isolated
section of the 27km-long perimeter fence off Lomandra Drive early
yesterday and approached the plane under the cover of darkness.
It is believed that those responsible then used a mobile gantry,
which had been left near the aircraft, to gain access to the
wing.The spray paint covered part of the fuselage and 11 windows,
which will need replacing because solvents can not be used to
clean them.The attack - believed to be the first of its kind
on a passenger jet at an Australian airport - was not detected
until first light, when a regular security patrol noticed the
graffiti.Brisbane Airport Corporation Limited spokeswoman Vanessa
Kennedy said yesterday the attack happened in between ''eight
or nine'' security patrols that passed the aircraft during the
night. Ms Kennedy denied the incident was embarrassing. ''Like
the rest of the community, anywhere out there is open to tagging
just like this- it's just disgusting,'' she said. Cathay Pacific
spokesman Ken Morton said: ''We are concerned about the security
there.'' The jumbo which Cathay Pacific has leased to English
millionaire Richard Branson's Virgin Atlantic had been parked
at the airport for about two months.Cathay Pacific has its headquarters
in Hong Kong but its airport lacked sufficient space, so the
aircraft had been parked in Brisbane's awaiting delivery to Virgin
later this year. Its understood the issue of liability is likely
to be the subject of some discussion between Cathay Pacific and
BACL.
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