CAA: GA News, "US Sets Terms to Reopen Airports Shut After Sept 11"

["Stephen Irwin" <stepheni@xxxxxxxxx>]

Wednesday, February 13, 2002

US Sets Terms to Reopen Airports Shut After Sept 11


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Federal Aviation Administration said on Wednesday
it would permit the last three U.S. airports still shut down after the Sept.
11 hijackings to reopen as long as the Washington-area facilities and pilots
met new security conditions.

The FAA issued an emergency rule that will enable general aviation
operations to resume at the airports in suburban Maryland. They are College
Park, Potomac and Washington Executive/Hyde.

The resumption of flying depends on airport managers meeting new security
requirements as well as owners and pilots of small planes undergoing
background checks and fingerprinting.

Pilots also must obtain a confidential identification code to file a flight
plan and another code to enable air traffic controllers to identify
important data about those planes when they are airborne.

Only aircraft based at the three airports before Sept. 11 will be allowed to
fly, and it could be the end of the month before all security conditions are
met and the first planes take off. More than 300 pilots have already been
fingerprinted.

The conditions will remain in effect for 60 days during which they will be
evaluated.

``During this time frame we will be able to demonstrate that the aircraft
can operate safely and at some point down the road expand operations a
little bit more,'' said Warren Morningstar, a spokesman for the Aircraft
Owners and Pilots Association.

All three airports are within a 15-mile (24-km) radius of the White House, a
convenient proximity for fliers but a serious concern for security officials
assessing the potential threat to the nation's capital.

The Secret Service and other U.S. security agencies are concerned that
Washington-area airports pose a unique security threat to key federal sites,
including the White House, Pentagon and Capitol.

Washington Ronald Reagan National Airport, which is across the Potomac River
from Washington, remains the only major U.S. airport not yet allowed to
resume full operations since the hijack attacks. Some jet service and all
flights by small airplanes remain banned at the airport.

On Sept. 11, one of the four hijacked planes involved in the attacks flew
from Dulles International Airport in suburban Virginia into the Pentagon.

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