CAA: GA News, "Small Planes Are Not the Problem"

["Stephen Irwin" <stepheni@xxxxxxxxx>]

Saturday, September 29, 2001

Letters to the Editor
Small Planes Are Not the Problem 
The Washington (DC) Post


Joseph Kinney's Sept. 25 op-ed column, "Clamp Down on General Aviation,"
is riddled with errors. Two of the more glaring examples are:

(1) The call to require aircraft to be locked. Nearly all aircraft are
locked on the ground. A single communications radio costs several
thousand dollars -- up to $15,000 for the advanced versions. Most
airplanes have at least two. No one leaves that kind of investment
unprotected. 

(2) The statement, "Pilots simply file a flight plan with traffic
controllers, often in distant locations, and away they go." In fact,
about 90 percent of general aviation flying is done without a flight
plan but follows Visual Flight Rules (VFR). In much of the country's
airspace there is no requirement to even talk to air traffic controllers
at any point in the flight. Even if a flight plan is filed, VFR traffic
is not tracked by air traffic controllers against that flight plan; it
is used as an advisory should the airplane turn up missing.

The article's emphasis on securing light planes on the ground misses an
obvious point. For less than $100,000, a person could learn to fly such
an airplane, buy one and carry out those nefarious deeds. No need to
steal one at all.

-- Ken Ibold

The writer is editor in chief of Aviation Safety magazine.

.

Joseph A. Kinney is recommending a solution where no problem exists. A
great deal of attention has been focused on general aviation lately
because of the training received at American flight schools by the
terrorists who perpetrated the Sept. 11 attacks. It should be noted,
however, that they did not use general aviation aircraft in their
attacks; they defeated airline security and used airline aircraft. That
alone in my mind nullifies the point of Kinney's article. 

-- Larry Fransson

.

Joseph Kinney says that general aviation -- what he calls "small,
private aircraft" -- is "clog[ging] our skies," yet the airline gridlock
of which we so often hear is almost nonexistent among general aviation
fliers. General aviation opens up convenient and high-speed travel and
recreation to thousands of people who would otherwise be flying
commercial airlines and adding to the already overburdened system.

Kinney further depicts the general aviation pilot as a bumbling,
habitual intruder into restricted airspace. The fact is that general
aviation pilots face severe penalties, including mandatory refresher
training, fines and loss of flight privileges, for entering into
airspace without the proper contact with and clearance from air traffic
controllers. 

That non-airline airports are not subject to the same security
requirements as those serving airlines is only logical. Passengers of
general aviation flights are almost always known to the pilot, making
the risk of hijacking nonexistent. While it is true that a person could
break into a light aircraft with the intent to use it in a hostile
manner, airplane doors are equipped with locks, and their ignitions are
typically required to be started with a key, just like an automobile. 

Finally, Kinney advocates restricting landing rights of general aviation
aircraft at commercial airports. At the large hubs to which I assume
Kinney is referring, general aviation operations are already restricted
and in many cases not permitted. I am also not sure what purpose
preventing an aircraft from landing at a commercial airport would serve.
As Kinney might note, the terrorists who hijacked the flights on Sept.
11 did not intend to land anywhere. 

General aviation is already subject to greater regulation than any
automotive traffic. The bombing of the Murrah Federal Building and the
World Trade Center did not spawn nationwide calls for restrictions on
motor vehicle traffic; neither should the insane acts of terrorists in
large commercial jetliners lead to calls to restrict the freedom of
general aviation flight.

-- Jon Abel

.

Most of what Joseph Kinney wrote about general aviation can be boiled
down to one simple idea: Small planes loaded with explosives can be
dangerous. Most things filled with explosives can be dangerous -- like
rented trucks in Oklahoma.

We need to be watchful, not paranoid.

-- Wayne Adams

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