CAA: GA News, "Enroute Navigation Aid Sabotaged in Michigan"

["Stephen Irwin" <stepheni@xxxxxxxxx>]

Wednesday, August 21, 2002

FAA flight tower sabotaged
Someone unplugs antenna in Oakland used to guide planes
By Mike Martindale
The Detroit (MI) News

  
   SPRINGFIELD TOWNSHIP -- Federal and local investigators are trying to
figure out not only who, but also why someone would disconnect a federal
antenna used to guide aircraft over Michigan skies. 

   White Lake Township police were dispatched Aug. 6 to Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA) property, near White Lake and McKeachie roads on a
property damage report. 

   FAA workers, who had been looking into signal problems at the
location, discovered a damaged fence. Inside, they determined someone
forced open a metal box on the property and unplugged an antenna
attached to the 15-foot tower. 

   The incident, coming in the wake of Sept. 11 attacks and now in an
age of homeland security concerns, has prompted additional security
measures in the rural township. 

   "It's definitely an act of sabotage," said Sgt. Frank Schipani of the
Oakland County Sheriff's Department township substation, now handling
the report. "Whoever did this not only broke down fences around it, but
went in looking to do internal damage there." 

   Schipani said sometime between Aug. 1 and Aug. 6, someone knocked
down 200 feet of wooden fence and 20 fence posts around a VOR
navigational tower. 

   VOR stands for very high frequency omni-directional radio range,
which sends out signals in a 360-degree radius that pilots use as a
guide to navigate their aircraft. When pilots deviate from their planned
course, panel instruments inform of the deviation so they can correct
the flight path. 

   The person apparently deliberately aimed their vehicle at fence
locations displaying "U.S. Government Property" and "Property of FAA."
signs, police reported. 

   The tower is one of hundreds strategically located across the country
by the FAA to help guide pilots -- from those in small one-person planes
to 300-passenger aircraft -- on the way to their eventual destinations.
 
   Hundreds of aircraft departed and landed safely at nearby Oakland
International Airport before the incident was discovered, Schipani said.


   "Fortunately, there were no problems due to this and the antenna was
reconnected," said Schipani. "But a pilot relying on navigational
signals could have strayed off course because of this. 

   "Who knows? It might have caused an accident," Schipani said. "Single
passenger planes and commercial airliners both use these signals. We
want to find the person responsible." 

   Schipani said a light blue Chevrolet pickup truck drove up to the
tower on Aug. 6, then quickly sped away when the driver saw workers
there. An FAA employee was able to snap a photo of the mystery truck and
investigators would like to talk to the driver. 

   The truck should have dents and possible wood and paint fragments on
it where it struck the fencing, he said.
 
   Agents at the FBI's office in Troy said Tuesday they suspected the
case was more vandalism than terrorism. 

   Kenneth Rex Waggoner, a local FAA spokesman, said while he doubts the
incident was an accident, it's quite possible the damage was nothing
more than "just vandalism done by some teen-agers." 

   But Waggoner also stressed the federal government takes such
incidents very seriously and the person or persons responsible had to be
looking for the tower. 

   "There's no way that this was just an accident, that someone happened
to lose control of a vehicle and run into the fence," he said. "The
tower is in a remote location, not the type of place you happen to just
come across."
 
   The fencing surrounding the perimeter of the tower is wooden by
design, he said, because a wire fence could interfere with tower
signals. 

   Waggoner said even in post-9-11 times, such remote areas are
sometimes vandalized. 

   "A few years ago, we had a similar incident at this same location,"
he said. "There is more than one antenna so this was never completely
non-functioning. There is always some backup." 

   Destruction of federal property is punishable by up to five years in
federal prison. 

   Anyone with information about the person responsible or the truck
seen in the area is asked to call deputies at (248) 625-8531.

Attached Photo:

Police are looking for the person driving this pickup that was seen
speeding from the flight tower.

sabotage.jpg