CAA: GA News, "Smaller airports beef up security"

["Stephen Irwin" <stepheni@xxxxxxxxx>]

Friday, January 11, 2002

Smaller airports beef up security
Higher fences, ID cards are new measures
By DAVE HIRSCHMAN 
The Atlanta (GA) Journal-Constitution


The grassy park with its wooden porch swings at DeKalb-Peachtree Airport
is a symbol of the current conflict over the future of the nation's more
than 5,000 general aviation airports.

Should such airports be open, accessible public spaces that invite and
inspire future generations of pilots and aerospace workers? Or should
they raise barriers and block access to all but those who have immediate
business there?

A four-foot chain link fence is all that separates the park at
DeKalb-Peachtree Airport from idle private planes. And after a Florida
teen stole an airplane and killed himself last week by intentionally
crashing into a Tampa office building, security concerns are prompting
officials here to consider raising the park fence and to take other
steps to prevent planes from being used as weapons. 

Lee Remmel, airport director at DeKalb-Peachtree, said the airport has
hired additional security guards, restricted ramp access, locked gates
and made sure flight instructors supervise students at all times. In
Tampa, 15-year-old Charles Bishop supposedly was performing a pre-flight
inspection alone when he climbed into the cockpit, started the engine,
took off without clearance and flew into the side of the 43-story
building.

"This was a depressed kid who saw a chance to be a copycat and draw
attention to himself," Remmel said. Before Sept. 11, he said "the idea
of flying into the side of a building never would have occurred to him.
Now, his actions have broader security implications."

Remmel said he "probably" will raise DeKalb-Peachtree's park fence, but
he hopes to preserve the location as a popular aircraft viewing and
picnic spot.

"I'm hoping we don't get to the point that we cut off our connections to
the community," he said. "We don't want to isolate ourselves."

At Marietta's McCollum Airport, Atlanta-Northside Aviation has begun
issuing picture IDs to student pilots and aircraft renters. Unlike
driver's licenses, pilot licenses issued by the Federal Aviation
Administration don't contain photos.

"Without one of our picture ID cards, you won't have access to our
airplanes," said Ann-Marie Polhemus, an Atlanta-Northside Aviation
employee. "They'll be required for students, renters and employees."

Security at Atlanta's outlying airports ranges from regular police
patrols, electronic gates and barbed wire at busy facilities like
DeKalb-Peachtree, McCollum, and those in Fulton and Gwinnett counties,
to almost none at some of the region's more remote strips. 

Some older airplanes don't require keys to start their engines, but
owners frequently use throttle locks or chains to prevent them from
being taken.

Still, aircraft theft and aerial suicides are extremely rare.

There were 15 aircraft thefts in the United States last year and 11 in
2000, according the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association. Most of the
stolen planes are believed to have been used by drug smugglers, then
abandoned. Prior to Sept. 11, there were 19 cases in the last 20 years
of pilots intentionally crashing to commit suicide. None of those events
claimed the life of anyone except the pilot.

"What we saw in Tampa last week was a breach of trust -- not a breach of
security," said Warren Morningstar, AOPA spokesman. 

The FAA earlier this week gave flight schools 11 "suggestions" on
tightening student supervision. 

But Steve Shaner, co-owner of American Air Flight Training at DeKalb
Peachtree, said additional security guards and higher airport fences are
unlikely to improve air safety.

"You can't be 100 percent certain a person won't use an airplane to do
harm, just as you can't be certain a person won't use a car to cause
harm," he said. "I haven't seen anything proposed so far that would have
prevented that kid in Florida from doing what he did."


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