"Airport Security: Need increases with growth"

["Stephen Irwin" <stepheni@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Wednesday, May 9, 2007

Airport Security: Need increases with growth 
By Tiffany Williams
The Montgomery County (TX) Courier


For the first time in its history, Lone Star Executive Airport had the
opportunity to implement the emergency security procedures it had waiting in
the wings April 28. 
 
The county-managed airport received a bomb threat April 28, said director
Jim Bilyeu.

The threat turned out to be a hoax, Bilyeu said, but it highlighted the
importance of security measures at the airport as it continues to grow.

"We will continue to add monitoring and fencing," Bilyeu said. "We will be
working with current and new tenants as we improve our emergency
procedures."

But some tenants at Lone Star Executive Airport have begun to take matters
into their own hands, adding fences, gates, cameras and step-by-step
response plans to their operations.

Last month, Brian Wing, co-owner of Wing Aviation, wrapped a six-foot fence
topped with barbed wire around his property. Two access gates prevent
unwanted visitors from entering the premises, and cameras monitor the
company. Wing Aviation paid about $250,000 for the security improvements, a
price well worth clients' peace of mind, Wing said.

"We are the securest facility at an unsecured airport," he said.

Wing said that peace was shattered one night two years ago when someone
broke into the company and stole a computer. No planes were touched, but the
incident highlighted the airport's vulnerabilities.

Since 2005, Wing said, he has intermittently asked administrators to up the
security at the airport.

"It's not a dire drama," he said. "Our facility got broken into. What are we
going to do about it?"

Bob Covington, owner of General Aviation, said he has asked the same
question and believes the responsibility to improve security is shared by
company owners and airport officials.

For his own business, Covington said he paid a consultant about $45,000 to
develop a comprehensive plan to react to "everything you can think of" from
"terrorists to punk kids with cans of spray paint."

"I feel very safe at the airport," he said. "I feel like the (Montgomery
County) Sheriff's Office and Conroe Police Department have a good presence
there. We've never had a breach of security that I'm aware of."

Still, he said he looks forward to fencing projects at the airport moving
forward.

Bilyeu said additional fences and gates inside the airport will help "steer
people who are not authorized to be in certain areas" in the right
direction.

He said he is waiting for the county to fund an $800,000 project that would
improve other security measures at the airport.

According to Bilyeu, no plans are currently in place to convert Lone Star
Executive Airport from a general airport to an air service airport used by
droves of travelers like Bush Intercontinental or William P. Hobby airports
in Houston, but "never say never," he said.

If that were to happen, Lone Star would need to adhere to a more stringent
set of security requirements outlined by the Federal Aviation Administration
and Transportation Security Administration.

"We would see significant changes," Bilyeu said, including screening
travelers who use the airport, which doesn't happen today.

"We don't want to restrict the airport from the public, and we don't want to
restrict our tenants."

   Post your opinion on this story in the CAA General Aviation Forum
http://www.californiaaviation.org/dcfp/dcboard.php

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