HEBRON — As the shock of Tuesday's events reverberated throughout the nation, so did the questions about how could it have happened in the first place.

        According to experts, it's easier than one would think.

        “We may never know exactly how they did it, but they figured a way around the system. And that's the scary thing about it,” said Darryl Jenkins, director of George Washington University's Aviation Institute.

        Airports normally must pass a security audit by the Federal Aviation Administration, usually conducted without the knowledge of local airport officials. In addition, the FAA is responsible for monitoring airline safety.

        But because of the large volume seen at airports such as Boston, Washington-Dulles and Newark, from which the four planes that crashed departed, there are bound to be holes, said airport consultant Mike Boyd.

        “There are all kinds of gaps and holes,” said Mr. Boyd, a Colorado-based consultant who advises airports and airlines on all issues, including security.

        Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport officials said they met all the FAA's requirements on security. An audit earlier this year found the facility to be in compliance, but cited the airport for a lack of proper fencing around the perimeter and for airport and airline employees allowing others to pass through security checkpoints on their badges. The defects were corrected.

        Airport director of aviation Bob Holscher would not discuss the current level of security at the airport, saying only “it's appropriate given the circumstances.”

        Mr. Boyd and Mr. Jenkins agreed the hijackers must have bought first-class tickets to get relatively easy access to the cockpit.

        Once there, it would not have been as difficult to fly the plane themselves as one would expect, said former Comair pilot Jeff Hicks.

        “There are all kinds of computer simulators out there that teach you everything from a Canadair Regional Jet to a Boeing 767,” he said. “We even had a 6-year-old on the flight deck one time who knew all the instrumentation from using his home computer.”

        Mr. Boyd said the events should be a wake-up call for the aviation industry. “We should have seen this coming, and it's pretty obvious now with thousands of people dead that our major airports are security sieves and the FAA is not a security firm but a commercial firm.”

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