CAA: GA News, "Experts doubt crop dusters could launch bio attack"

["Stephen Irwin" <stepheni@xxxxxxxxx>]

Thursday, October 25, 2001

Experts doubt crop dusters could launch bio attack 
By DANIEL SFORZA
The Bergen (NJ) Record


In the past week, two incidents involving crop dusters again raised the
specter that those planes could be used to launch a biological attack.

But experts, citing numerous factors, say an assault from the sky would
be extremely difficult to accomplish, and the Federal Aviation
Administration has allowed crop dusters to continue flying.

"If there was any overriding security concern for the general
population, that has been satisfied," FAA spokesman Jim Peters said. 

Still, when small planes released chemicals that hit a Mississippi Coast
Guard station Monday and a towing vessel on the Mississippi River in
Tennessee last week, people were put on edge.

Both incidents were found to be benign accidents, but authorities
initially put a Coast Guard member standing outside the station Monday
on antibiotics.

In New Jersey, most crop dusting is finished for the year, so it would
be somewhat unusual to see the planes flying. However, some spraying is
done over the winter for crops such as lettuce and spinach.

Most of the agricultural spraying is done in the southern and western
parts of the state. Although primarily residential, North Jersey's
wooded areas will be sprayed with pesticide in the spring to ward off
gypsy moths, officials said.

For now, small planes in North Jersey will be subject to higher
scrutiny.

The FAA has enforced a no-fly zone for small aircraft in an 18-square
mile area around New York's Kennedy International Airport following the
Sept. 11 attacks. The area is also patrolled by fighter planes that
would be sent to intercept any small plane approaching the city without
permission, Peters said.

Officials from the state police and state Attorney General's Office say
they are not requiring crop dusters to file flight plans. The FAA has no
requirement for small, low-flying planes, although Peters said such a
rule "makes sense." Following reports that hijacker Mohammed Atta was
seeking information about crop dusters in Florida, authorities there
have requested that crop dusters file flight plans with local officials.

Mickey Sims, deputy director of the Agriculture Aviation Board in
Mississippi, said the media has panicked the public -- even in an area
of the country where crop dusting planes are commonplace.

"All this stupidity about anthrax that has been all over CNN and Fox and
ABC and everywhere else has gotten people bugged," he said. "They think
that any agriculture-looking airplane is full of anthrax, which is
absurd."

Biological weapons expert Amy Smithson said recently that public
paranoia can serve to feed misinformation.

"Facts often get overlooked in such an atmosphere, but I will resort to
them nonetheless," she told the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
"There are meaningful technical hurdles that stand between this nation's
citizens and the ability of terrorist groups to engage in mass casualty
attacks with chemical and biological agents."

Crop dusters are designed to fly low, 10 to 15 feet above fields, and
disperse a wet solution of fertilizer, pesticide, or other agent in
fairly large droplets. The nozzles are built to dispense liquid between
250 and 400 microns. A micron is equal to 0.000039 of an inch.

"In order for an aerosol spray of biological agent to infect a person,
the agent must arrive in the human lung alive, in a 1 to 10 micron
particle size," said Smithson, a senior associate with the The Henry L.
Stimson Center, a community of analysts devoted to offering practical
solutions to problems of national and international security.

"The sheer mechanical stresses involved in putting a wet slurry of
biowarfare agent through a sprayer can kill 95 percent or more of the
microorganisms," she said.

Nonetheless, the crop dusting community remains on alert. The National
Agricultural Aviation Association has issued guidelines to all its
members on how to safeguard their equipment.

It recommends that planes be stored in a locked hangar. If that is not
possible, it has asked owners to chain propellers and park heavy
equipment in front of the plane to block its movement. The association
has also asked its members to work with authorities by reporting any
suspicious activity.

"Fortunately, we have not heard of any problems," said Executive
Director James Callan. "We think there are certain built-in protections.
The folks operate in very rural areas and suspicious activity seems to
stand out a lot more."

Crop dusters are also large investments for pilots, sometimes costing
$500,000. Owners guard their planes religiously, Sims said.

"The man who owns this plane is not going to put that airplane in
jeopardy," Sims said. "He's not going to leave it parked on the side of
the roadway where some Afghanistani or other fellow comes along and
takes it.

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