CAA: GA News, "How Secure Are America's Small Planes?"

["Stephen Irwin" <stepheni@xxxxxxxxx>]

Monday, January 7, 2002

How Secure Are America's Small Planes?
When Charles Bishop flew a single-engine plane into the side of a building,
the Florida teenager prompted a stream of questions - and fears
BY JESSICA REAVES
Time Magazine


When Charles Bishop flew a single-engine Cessna into a 42-story skyscraper
on Saturday afternoon, he sparked myriad questions. When investigators found
a note expressing sympathy for Osama bin Laden and the September 11th terror
attacks, questions turned to demands. How could this have happened?

Bishop's flight instructor says he asked the teen to conduct a routine
equipment check before the lesson began. He left Bishop alone with the
plane, and the next thing he knew, the plane and the student were gone.
Isn't anyone keeping an eye on our airspace, especially after what happened
in September? Theoretically, yes. In practical terms, however, the answer is
far more equivocal: New rules have been established in the past few months,
but they are notoriously difficult to enforce. Small planes represent a
largely unregulated sector of air travel. Technically, a general aviation
(small plane) pilot doesn?t need any formal training to fly a plane; some
informal tutorials will do the trick. It also doesn't help that small plane
pilots are a fiercely independent population, generally reluctant to adopt
rules that hinder their freedom.

Meanwhile, in Florida, Bishop's crash left local authorities haunted by
what-ifs: What if Bishop had taken his plane down in a crowded area? What if
he had wanted to kill scores of people? The grim fact is that he probably
could have done both. Although a Coast Guard helicopter was dispatched and
its pilots told Bishop to land, the teenager ignored the commands and
crashed the plane. Scrambled F-15 fighter jets reached the scene only after
the plane hit the building.

Bishop violated the rules, but as has become painfully obvious in the post
9/11 world, any threat of punishment is useless to someone intent on
committing suicide. Bishop flew over restricted airspace, and prompted a
military response, but attempts to stop him were futile.

Can anything be done to keep small planes - smaller weapons than commercial
aircraft, but weapons nonetheless - out of the hands of those bent on harm
or suicide? Sure, says Warren Morningstar, vice president for communications
at the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, but there's a limit to what
officials can change. Much of the responsibility for safety lies in the
hands of pilots themselves.

Warren Morningstar:First of all, let's be clear about one thing: The Bishop
incident was an abuse of trust - not a security breach. This young man was
at the flight school legitimately, taking flying lessons, and he was
well-known to people at the school. They knew him, liked him, and assumed he
was a young man serious about flying.

So there was nothing strange about Bishop being alone with the plane before
the flight?

Not at all. Before you fly a plane, you do a pre-flight inspection on the
interior and the exterior of aircraft to make sure airplane is ready to fly.
In the normal course of training, the instructor will take the student
through the pre-flight step by step. But by the time the student has been
through this inspection many times, an instructor will often send the
student out to do the pre-flight check on their own. So in this case the
student has legitimate access to the plane; he had the key. This kid abused
the trust that he had previously earned and essentially stole the aircraft
and then took it into the building.

So what kind of changes have we seen at general aviation airports after
9/11?

We've definitely seen a lot of airfields increase their security. There are
more checks on students enrolling at flight schools. Aircraft and keys to
aircraft are kept under tight control. Around smaller airports, there has
always been a very strong sense of community - and anything out of the
ordinary tends to stand out. Since 9/11 that sense has been enhanced and
people are not the least bit shy about asking people what they're up to.

Are there i.d. checks at smaller airports? Before you get into a plane or
before coming onto the airfield?

The level of security depends on the airfield. If it's an airport that has
scheduled airline service, there's going to be some kind of controlled
access. Generally speaking, the larger the airport, the more security
there's going to be. At a small general aviation airport, there's less
security.

If you're getting onto a Lear jet, or another, larger general aviation
plane, will your bags be subject to screening?

Remember if you're talking about a personal or corporate aircraft,
passengers are going to be known to the pilot. I don't pick up hitchhikers -
in my car or in my airplane.

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