CAA: GA News, "Private Planes Remain Grounded"

["Stephen Irwin" <stepheni@xxxxxxxxx>]

Wednesday, October 17, 2001

Private Planes Remain Grounded
Associated Press


Only half of the 92 airplanes usually based at Freeway Airport near
Bowie, Md., remain on the ground there. Four employees report to work,
rather than 31. No one trains at the flight school, and owner Stanley
Rodenhauser says he is losing $7,500 a day and wonders how he's going to
pay $300,000 in loans due next month. 

Closed signs still hang on 17 small airports, and private planes at an
additional 115 airports must keep in contact with air traffic
controllers when they fly by, which is not the way most pilots of small
planes operate. The restrictions have been in place since last month's
terrorist hijackings of four commercial airlines. 

``The blood supply has been cut. That's our air space,'' said
Rodenhauser, whose father established the airport 54 years ago. 

Freeway, located next to the expressway connecting Annapolis, Md., with
Washington, has lost more than half its planes, which have been
relocated to airports open to private planes. 

Even many of those opened airports, however, have severe limits on their
traffic. In 15 metropolitan areas, 115 airports have restrictions that
have grounded up to 90 percent of their flights. 

Pilots flying private planes in those areas now must file flight plans
with the Federal Aviation Administration. Air traffic controllers are
responsible for keeping pilots away from other planes. 

But 90 percent of private planes normally are flown under visual fight
rules, where a pilot is low enough in the sky in good weather to
navigate by landmarks on the ground and is not required to file a flight
plan, according to the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association. Away from
the major airports, pilots usually don't talk to controllers. 

Those flights are banned in the 15 metropolitan areas, except for flight
training in small planes. The restrictions also have grounded news
helicopters and blimps. All private plane flights are banned within 20
miles of Kennedy Airport in New York and National Airport near
Washington. 

Foreign-owned private planes, unless they are registered in Canada or
Mexico, can't come into the United States at all. That means their
owners can't fly here to conduct business, can't get them serviced where
they bought them, and can't bring them to a dealer to trade in for newer
models. 

``Our air transportation system is not open completely,'' said Gary Hay,
chief executive officer of the Cessna Aircraft Co., which manufacturers
private planes. ``We want to get back to business.'' 

The loss to the private plane industry since Sept. 11: An estimated $400
million. 

The industry has pushed for an end to restrictions in meetings with
lawmakers and FAA officials, including Administrator Jane Garvey.
Rodenhauser and representatives of five other Maryland airports met for
90 minutes with agency officials last week. 

``These restrictions, as before, have been imposed for national security
reasons,'' FAA spokesman William Shumann said. ``The FAA is mindful of
the effects on private pilots. The FAA advocates easing restrictions on
flying, in keeping with national security.'' 

In discussions with FAA officials, the private plane groups have
proposed reopening the air space to only planes weighing less than 6,000
pounds, requiring pilots to take direct routes in and out of airports in
the urban areas, issuing new full-color pilots' licenses, and requiring
all pilots to monitor a specific frequency so that air traffic
controllers can talk to them if necessary. 

In addition, Rep. Bill Shuster, R-Pa., has introduced legislation to
allow them to seek $500 million in Small Business Administration grants
and loans. 

With no word on when -- or if -- private planes will be allowed to fly
again in the urban areas, the companies that depend on them wonder if
they can continue to survive. 

``We had a business worth $10 million at 8:30 a.m. on Sept. 11. At
10:30, it was worth zero,'' said Rodenhauer, the airport owner. ``It's
still worth zero.'' 

The Shuster bill is H.R. 3007. 

On the Net: 

Freeway Aviation: http://www.freewayaviation.com 

Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association: http://www.aopa.org 

General Aviation Manufacturers Association:
http://www.generalaviation.org

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