CAA: GA News, "Private Pilots Enlisted for Security"

["Stephen Irwin" <stepheni@xxxxxxxxx>]

Thursday, October 10, 2002

Private Pilots Enlisted for Security 
TSA Seeks Reports of Suspicious Activity 
By Sara Kehaulani Goo
The Washington (DC) Post


The Transportation Security Administration said yesterday that it is
developing a program to encourage pilots who fly small private planes to
report suspicious activity at airports.

Organizers of the program, called "Airport Watch," likened it to a
neighborhood watch program. Pilots will be encouraged to take note of
suspicious people hanging around privately owned aircraft and report
them to the TSA using a toll-free number that will be set up in
December.

The government and the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, a group
of 385,000 pilots of small planes, developed the program because of
intelligence reports that terrorists might use small aircraft in an
attack.

Airport Watch is the latest effort by the government to encourage the
public to be vigilant and report suspicious behavior. Earlier, Attorney
General John D. Ashcroft urged neighborhood watch programs to report
possible terrorist activities.

The Justice Department also began a program, called Operation TIPS, that
encouraged mail carriers, utility employees and truckers to tell
authorities about suspicious activities. The program was scaled back in
August after some members of Congress and the American Civil Liberties
Union likened it to a national spy program.

Rachel King, ACLU's legislative counsel, said in a prepared statement
that Airport Watch "at first glance . . . does not appear to pose the
same threat to basic freedom as Operation TIPS."

Warren Morningstar, spokesman for the pilots group, said pilots have not
been sure whether to call local police, the FBI or the TSA to report
suspicious activity.

The pilots association is producing a video and brochures to tell pilots
what to look for -- for instance, people who seem to be loading unusual
items on a small plane, making unusual modifications to aircraft or "who
don't seem to fit in."

"We're . . . the folks who are the eyes and ears. We know the
neighborhood, we know the streets," Morningstar said. "That's why
neighborhood watch is so effective. That's why we think Airport Watch
will be effective."


   Post your opinion on this story in the CAA General Aviation Forum
http://www.californiaaviation.org/cgi-bin/dcforum/dcboard.cgi?conf=DCConfID2

*****************************************