CAA: GA News, "General Aviation Flying Again With New Security Restrictions"

["Stephen Irwin" <stepheni@xxxxxxxxx>]

Wednesday, February 27, 2002

General Aviation Flying Again With New Security Restrictions
Airport Security Report


The federal government allowed the last three general aviation U.S. airports
closed by the events of Sept. 11, 2001 to reopen Feb. 13. But the government
has imposed restrictions on the use of airspace around the Washington, D.C.,
metropolitan area. The reopening of College Park Airport (CGS), Potomac
Airfield (VKX) and Washington Executive/Hyde Field (W32) highlights the
mammoth task of ensuring security for thousands of small airports against
possible terrorist threats.

The government approved the resumption of flights on the condition that
airport managers institute certain security procedures. Owners or operators
of aircraft at the three airports must undergo a security evaluation,
including fingerprinting and background checks, and receive a briefing in
new procedures. These procedures include requiring pilots to obtain an ID
code for filing a mandatory flight plan and a specific transponder code
before each flight and to remain in radio contact with the air traffic
control (ATC) tower. These procedures apply only to aircraft based at the
three airports. They will remain in effect for 60 days after which time they
will be re-evaluated.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) estimates that the cost of
complying with the new requirements will be about $250,000 annually.

While not garnering as much attention as the commercial airline industry,
the impact of Sept. 11 on general aviation was significant. Most general
aviation operations were grounded until Dec. 19, 2001, when the FAA restored
visual flight rules (VFR) operations for airspace in 30 metropolitan
locations. The suspension of operations grounded 41,000 airplanes and
120,000 pilots for more than two months. Airports under the most scrutiny
were operations within 25 nautical miles of Washington, D.C., Boston and New
York City.

Government and industry officials publicly were concerned that general
aviation aircraft could be used in another terrorist plot because of lax
security around those airports. They were worried that a would-be terrorist
could use crop-dusters to spread deadly diseases, plunge a small aircraft
into a nuclear reactor or ram a plane full of explosives into a large
building or national monument.

The task of securing buildings, perimeters and aircraft at general aviation
airports has been monumental. There are around 18,000 small airports in the
United States, with more than 200,000 private aircraft and 500,000 licensed
pilots operating those aircraft. The general aviation sector serves more
than 5,400 communities and transports an estimated 145 million passengers
annually, according to the Department of Transportation (DOT).

In a Dec. 19 report to Congress on improving security measures in general
aviation, DOT warned that general aviation aircraft could be used to strike
ground-based targets, such as buildings. While small aircraft are less
suited to be used as a "guided missile" than the larger Boeing 757 and 767
planes used to attack the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, these smaller
planes could be used to transport explosives or chemical or biological
agents, the report said.

Security measures considered for general aviation security focus on four
areas, the report said:

   * Airspace and operational restrictions. The most effective, but most
disruptive, measure would be to ground all aircraft, the DOT said. Other
methods centered on imposing restrictions on classes of aircraft, limiting
access to metropolitan areas, imposing restrictions on specific areas of the
country or for specific threats. Besides grounding aircraft, which occurred
after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, another method would be to restrict
planes from flying over certain airspace, as was done during the Winter
Olympic Games in Salt Lake City and the Super Bowl in New Orleans.

   * Aircraft interceptions. The FAA has notified pilots about additional
military air patrols and flight monitoring designed to intercept suspect
aircraft.

   * Increased scrutiny of pilots, crews, passengers and aircraft on the
ground. Greater attention could focus on parking lots and perimeter security
at airports, the DOT said. Additional law enforcement or security personnel
could be used for that purpose and to expand passenger screening. Crews and
passengers could be subject to voluntary and/or mandatory credential
checking.

   * Communication and education. The federal government and industry could
communicate directly with airport operators, pilots and local law
enforcement officials about possible threats and countermeasures, the DOT
suggested.

The DOT indicated sophisticated biometric devices for identifying pilots and
passengers may be developed in the future. An automated law enforcement
"watch list" for use by airport operators and security training for pilots,
aircraft owners and airport operators are also being explored, the DOT said.

A 15-year-old pilot's suicide mission Jan. 6 into a Tampa, Fla., office
building almost brought the industry's worst fears to reality. The young
pilot, Charles Bishop, was reportedly performing a pre-flight check without
supervision and had the keys to a single-engine Cessna. Bishop entered the
cockpit and took off from the airport without authorization. He briefly flew
over the U.S. Central Command that directs military operations in
Afghanistan, but left the military airspace and crashed into a downtown
building.

In response to the incident, the FAA released 11 voluntary security measures
for the industry to adopt. The agency recommended limiting unsupervised
access to aircraft by apprentice pilots and closer scrutiny of teenage
student- pilots.

The FAA also endorsed using different keys for aircraft ignition and door
locks and limiting student pilots' access to the keys until they are
qualified for solo flights. Student applicants should also pass a medical
examination - including psychiatric screening - before starting flight
lessons, the FAA recommended.

General aviation companies provide flight training for pilots in many
sectors of the industry, said John Olcott, president of the National
Business Aviation Association (NBAA) in a written statement. Those pilots
are not limited to the general aviation sector, however. Many pilots
continue their training and become commercial airline pilots and military
pilots, he noted.

The NBAA, Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) and several other
general aviation industry groups made security recommendations in January to
the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). The groups endorsed
identifying all individuals flying an aircraft by checking a
government-issued photo ID and suggested the government should develop and
distribute profiles of individuals requiring more scrutiny. The Aviation and
Transportation Security Act signed Nov. 19, 2001 by President Bush already
requires flight schools to provide the Department of Justice (DOJ) with
information on foreign students.

Under a Feb. 21 proposal by the AOPA to the FAA, a driver's license,
passport, state ID card, or government agency photo ID would be required for
a pilot to present along with the pilot's license. "Our driver's license
proposal could be put in place almost immediately, it addresses the security
need to positively identify pilots, and it will cost next to nothing," said
Phil Boyer, AOPA president. "This may be too simple for the government, but
it sure makes good sense."

Boyer said that relying on documents already carried by most pilots would be
much less expensive and much easier to implement than the FAA's plan to mint
new photo IDs and issue them to all pilots, mechanics, and other FAA
certificate holders.

The industry recommendations for smaller aircraft would include
identification of all passengers by the pilot before take off as well as
baggage and cargo matching.

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