Posted on 02/19/2010 7:38:33 PM PST by LouAvul
After 9/11, cockpit doors were sealed, air marshals were added and airport searches became more aggressive, all to make sure an airliner could never again be used as a weapon. Yet little has been done to guard against attacks with smaller planes. That point was driven home with chilling force on Thursday when a Texas man with a grudge against the IRS crashed his single-engine plane into an office building in a fiery suicide attack. One person inside the building was also killed.
"It's a big gap," said R. William Johnstone, an aviation security consultant and former staff member of the commission that investigated the Sept. 11 attacks. "It wouldn't take much, even a minor incident involving two simultaneously attacking planes, to inflict enough damage to set off alarm bells and do some serious harm to the economy and national psyche."
The suburban Georgetown Municipal Airport that pilot Joe Stack entered hours before his airborne attack in nearby Austin had the casual atmosphere of a sleepy parking garage. Pilots were not subject to baggage checks, metal detector scans or pat-downs. And they are usually not required to file flight plans.
"How are they going to stop it? This guy had a hangar, and he had access to the airport," said Beth Ann Jenkins, president of Pilot's Choice, a flight school near where Stack kept his Piper.
Travis McLain, manager of the airport, said: "I don't know of a rule or regulation or safety precaution that could have prevented what happened yesterday."
The easy access and lack of security are the result of years of debate - and stalemate - over how much of a threat small aircraft pose as terror weapons and how they could be regulated without stifling commerce and pilot freedom.
While the airlines quickly accepted tougher security after Sept. 11, the general aviation industry, which includes everything from privately owned propeller-driven planes to large corporate jets, have aggressively fought new measures.
The proposed rules would require that operators of medium and large general-aviation aircraft demonstrate that flight crews have undergone a criminal background check. They would also be required to verify passengers are not on the no-fly lists already used by large airlines.
Private pilots fly approximately 200,000 small and medium-size planes in the U.S., using 19,000 airports, most of them small. The planes' owners insist the aircraft have nothing in common with airliners but the sky.
"I don't see a gaping security hole here," said Tom Walsh, an aviation security consultant. "In terms of aviation security, there are much bigger fish to fry than worrying about small aircraft."
He said most would-be terrorists would draw the same conclusion - that tiny aircraft don't pack a big enough punch.
Planes like Stack's weigh just a few thousands pounds and carry no more than 100 gallons of fuel, he noted. A Boeing 767 weighs 400,000 pounds and carries up to 25,000 gallons of fuel.
Walsh and other general aviation advocates argue that stringent security and bureaucracy would deter recreational fliers and slow down a vibrant, multibillion-dollar general aviation industry, causing economic damage.
"What it comes down to is that the cure could be worse than the disease," he said.
Jeffrey Price, a Denver-based aviation expert, said: "If I own my plane, I can drive to the airport, get in and just take off. Pilots want that sense of freedom. ... Like motorcycle riders."
Every pilot, from the beginner student to the commercial airline pilot, is checked against the government's terror watchlist. Also, under federal rules imposed after Sept. 11, people enrolling in flight schools must show proof of U.S. citizenship or, if they are foreigners, must undergo a background check.
All pilots of every stripe must have with them every time they fly a medical certificate attesting to their health. The certificate is based on a physical exam, but the application form also includes questions about the pilot's mental health. Stack's medical certificate was current, dated May 2009. He was an instrument rated pilot, able to fly single-engine and multiengine airplanes, and no enforcement action had ever been taken against him.
Beyond that, however, most security measures at general aviation airports are voluntary.
The Transportation Department's inspector general, Richard L. Skinner, reviewed security at several general aviation airports last year, including three in the Houston area, and concluded that general aviation "presents only limited and mostly hypothetical threats to security."
Skinner did endorse efforts to lock or disable parked planes to prevent people bent on mayhem from stealing them.
Tougher restrictions were debated after Sept. 11 and after a few incidents in which pilots deliberately crashed small planes into buildings.
In 1994, a Maryland truck driver with a history of instability crashed a plane on the south lawn of the White House. In 2002, a 15-year-old boy stole a plane and crashed it into a downtown skyscraper in Tampa, Fla. Pilots of small planes have also frequently flown into the secure airspace over the key government buildings in Washington.
The general aviation lobby has exerted its considerable clout to fend off new measures. The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, or AOPA, National Business Aviation Association, National Air Transportation Association and General Aviation Manufacturers Association spent $6 million lobbying in Washington last year.
"There was no way to impose one overall security structure that would fit every general aviation airport's needs," said AOPA spokesman Chris Dancy. The association has about 400,000 members.
At the Georgetown airport, where 240 small aircraft are based, manager McLain said she hopes Stack's suicidal attack doesn't lead to an overreaction.
"I would hope that common sense and cooler heads would prevail," McLain said.
TSA has screwed the pooch for everybody. They are already sticking their noses in GA, most people don’t realize to what extent.
If you want to put the final nail in the coffin of capitalism, just shut down corporate aviation.
Ban trucks, somebody might drive one through a lobby loaded with gasoline. Ban cars, somebody might drive one into a parking lot full of cars and ignite it. How about bass boats, somebody might run one into a dock of people or a beach.
What else can we ban that might hurt us? How about banning muslims and illegal immigrants...no, no they might have their feelings hurt. Can’t do that.
For all of you that think general aviation planes are only owned by “rich folks” think again, “common folks” enjoy them and have a right to continue to do so just as much as anyone who hunts, fishes or anything else.
Frankly, you can kiss my Mooney lovin’, instrument rated, fast flyin’, balls to the wall, ass.
Let me stimulate your economy. This “bored wealthy” MF busts his ass every day. 10 - 12 hours. How ‘bout your slackin’ ass?
Mods, I don’t mean to flame, but if some asshat is implying that I should give up my freedom, TOLSTI2 NEEDS TO BE BANNED FROM OUR FREE REPUBLIC!!!!
All I can say is that I do, and to me it’s like ham radio but with potential to cause immense damage. A hobby.
I can barely tolerate the threat of commercial flying to the general public that doesn’t fly, much less this hobby level stuff. It’s certainly far from a necessary risk. I’ve known a lot of pilots, they use it as a lark, and as a method of travel that’s frankly not very efficient or safe. My opinion, that’s all. Don’t freak out and get all insulting people.
I agree with Las Vegas you are a bonehead about General Aviation
Like I said.
Your digging a bigger and bigger hole buddy now its past your bed time have some bosco and say good night
Thank God and our founders that the First Amendment LIVES!
You think the first amendment gives you right to GA?
Did Joe Stack get the person he was after in the building? My bet is that he did. Authorities won’t admit it. It doesn’t matter because someone as bad or worse will replace that person. Stupid action on Stack’s part.
“I can barely tolerate the threat of commercial flying to the general public that doesn’t fly, much less this hobby level stuff. It’s certainly far from a necessary risk”
We’ll have to appoint a “Necessary Risk” Tsar.
What part of "Free" Republic do you not understand? Why don't you go home to DU...
I’m the type that supports legalized machine guns heh.. The government limits things based on risks all the time. The TSA does, the no-fly list does. Would you take out gitmo, ban profiling, ban any security checks at airports? Probably not.
GA is, frankly, a big WMD delivery system with minimal security involved.
“The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, or AOPA, National Business Aviation Association, National Air Transportation Association and General Aviation Manufacturers Association spent $6 million lobbying in Washington last year. “
Part of that money was my donations!!!
Now, obviously it couldn't be, but still. It's a privilege, not a right. I'm not a libertarian so the ‘anything goes’ to be ‘free’ thing doesn't really impact me.
No. I think the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States gives you the opportunity to open your mouth, and insert your friggin’ foot.
I’ve spent a mortgage on a 1971 Mooney. 50 thousand is big bucks for this backwood hack. I’ll be damned if some snarky little sh*t gives me crap about bustin’ my ass so I can live my AMERICAN DREAM!!!
The First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America also gives me the right to say to you, FO!!!!!
You don’t know what you are talking about!
Very few private aircraft owners are rich or even close to it!
Calm down, it also gives me the right to criticize GA. Wow, people are as sensitive to this as pot use it seems for its users. Weird!
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