Small Plane "Threat"; Been there, done that

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: "Brock N. Meeks" <bnmeeks () verizon net>
> Date: February 19, 2010 11:39:11 PM EST
> To: dave () farber net
> Subject: Small Plane "Threat"; Been there, done that

> Dave,
>
> Here’s an old MSNBC article I wrote on the lax security of  
> America’s general aviation airports.  I remembered it after seeing w 
> hat Joe Stack had done flying a plane into the IRS building in Austi 
> n.  And remember, my story is seven years old, circa 2003.
>
> Big Holes Seen in Aviation Security
> By Brock N. Meeks
> MSNBC
>
> 11-18-2003
>
> No screening for thousands of private flights, passengers
>
> WASHINGTON, Nov. 18 — Federal workers at the nation’s largest  
> commercial airports screen everything from toddlers to tennis shoes, 
>  but there are few such requirements in place for the more than 200, 
> 000 privately owned planes located at more than 19,000 airports in t 
> he U.S. that make up the country’s general aviation sector. That fac 
> t was noted in recent congressional testimony by a General Accountin 
> g Office official to underscore findings that general aviation is “f 
> ar more open and potentially vulnerable than commercial aviation.”
>
> THE Transportation Security Administration has “taken limited action 
>  to improve general aviation security,” since Sept. 11, 2001,  
> GAO’s Cathleen Berrick, director of Homeland Security and Justice Is 
> sues, told the Senate Commerce Committee during a Nov. 5 hearing on  
> aviation security.
> The vulnerability of general aviation stems, in large part, Berrick  
> said, from the fact that “pilots and passengers are not screened bef 
> ore takeoff and the contents of general aviation planes are not scre 
> ened at any point.”
>
> That’s true for the vast majority of flights in the general aviation 
> , which is broadly defined as “all aviation other than commercial ai 
> rlines and military aviation” that includes “small, single-engine  
> pistons to mid-size turboprops to large turbofans capable of flying  
> non-stop from New York to Tokyo,” according to the General Aviation  
> Manufacturers Association.
>
> About four percent of all general aviation flights, those planes  
> weighing 12,500 pounds or more, must adhere to the security  
> regulations laid out in a federal law known as the “twelve-five”  
> rule. Crews on these aircraft must undergo criminal history checks.  
> Operators of “twelve-five” aircraft “must adopt and carry out a  
> security program approved by TSA to ensure that passengers and their 
>  accessible property are screened prior to boarding,” says an entry  
> in the Federal Register noting the implementation of the rule.
>
> But implementation of those rules is spotty; there’s no routine fede 
> ral inspection to ensure adherence with them, though a TSA spokesman 
>  said the agency does conduct regular inspections to “to ensure that 
>  the rules are being implemented.”
>
> According to the GAO, which is the investigative arm of Congress,  
> about 70 percent of all general aviation planes are four- to six- 
> seat, single-engine, piston-driven propeller planes. These types of  
> planes, like a Cessna 172, cruise about 145 mph and fully loaded  
> weigh less than a Honda Civic.
>
> May 2003 advisory note In May, the Department of Homeland Security  
> issued a warning to the general aviation community that terrorists  
> were interested in using small planes packed with explosives to  
> attack U.S. targets. The basis of the warning came on the heels of a  
> foiled plot to fly “obtain a small fixed-wing aircraft or helicopter 
>  [loaded with] with explosives” and crash it into the U.S. Consulate 
>  in Karachi, Pakistan, the warning said. The warning noted that such 
>  a plot demonstrated “al-Qaida’s continued fixation with using  
> explosives-laden small aircraft in attacks.”
> The warning noted that the impact from such an explosion would be  
> akin to “a medium-sized truck bomb.”
>
> Because of lax security measures, such planes could easily be rented  
> with just a credit card or simply stolen, the warning suggests. In  
> Berrick’s testimony, she notes that 70 general aviation aircraft hav 
> e been stolen in the last five years, “indicating a potential weakne 
> ss that could be exploited by terrorists.”
>
> Such vulnerability “was demonstrated” in January of 2002, Berrick  
> said, “when a teenage flight student stole and crashed a single-engi 
> ne airplane into a Tampa, Fla., skyscraper.”
>
> But such statements and examples are viewed with skepticism by those  
> with vested interests in general aviation.
> “We basically feel that the whole premise that the typical [general  
> aviation] aircraft can be used as a terrorist weapon is flawed,” sai 
> d Chris Dancy, a spokesman for the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Associ 
> ation. “These small planes just don’t have the kinetic energy,  
> don’t have the carrying capacity to be an effective weapon,”  
> Dancy said. In addition, there’s never been a verified episode of a  
> small plane actually being used in a terrorist incident, the associa 
> tion says.
>
> RISK MANAGEMENT
> There are no overarching federal guidelines for security at general  
> aviation airports despite the fact that some of these airports rank  
> among the nation’s Top 20 in terms of overall traffic.
>
> Part of the problem is that general aviation airports cover a wide- 
> range of facilities, from rural to urban. “The 2,000-foot, grass str 
> ip, public use airport that’s privately owned, does not have the sam 
> e needs as a large general aviation airport like Manassas in Washing 
> ton, and TSA has sort of set up the machinery to let those airports  
> assess their needs and act accordingly,” Dancy said.
>
> Of the 19,000 general aviation airports in the U.S., 5,400 are  
> publicly owned, the GAO says, and “TSA is currently focusing its eff 
> orts on these publicly owned airports. ... TSA is still unclear abou 
> t its role in inspecting privately owned general aviation airports.”
>
> To help set up some kind of standard, TSA is leaning heavily on the  
> industry itself. The agency “set up the aviation security advisory c 
> ommittee, which is helping to develop check lists for individual air 
> ports to assess their security needs and then take appropriate actio 
> n,” Dancy said. That committee will later this month deliver a range 
>  of security recommendations to TSA that will then be used to set up 
>  a tiered system of security practices. “Unlike the air carrier airp 
> orts, one size cannot fit all for general aviation,” Dancy said.
>
> Working with groups like AOPA, TSA has instituted a number of  
> measures to help increase the level the security surrounding general  
> aviation, said Brian Turmail, an agency spokesman.
>
> One of the major programs is “airport watch,” which functions  
> much like a “neighborhood watch” program that encourages pilots  
> to keep an eye out for suspicious behavior, Turmail said. The progra 
> m includes a government-sponsored hotline for pilots to call and rep 
> ort any concerns.
> Other steps TSA has taken include putting flight restrictions in  
> place for national sporting events and working with local law  
> enforcement to visually identify pilots of banner towing airplanes.
>
> TSA, in conjunction with the Federal Aviation Administration cross- 
> referenced “every single airman’s certificate with our list of  
> known foreign terrorists and known threats to civil aviation,” Turma 
> il said. As a result of those efforts, the FAA revoked the certifica 
> tes of some 20 pilots over the last 18 months, Turmail said.
>
> Turmail acknowledged the difficulties of crafting a security program  
> to deal with the challenges created by general aviation.
> “Our approach can be summed up as threat-based, risk-managed,”  
> Turmail said. “What is the threat posed by certain types of aircraft 
>  and how do we allocate limited resources to put in place the best p 
> ossible security?”
>
> ‘LOW-HANGING FRUIT’
> Sometimes that means just reaching for the “low-hanging fruit,”  
> like implementing “airport watch” type programs, working with  
> local police to verify banner towing aircraft or placing flight rest 
> rictions over “clearly visible targets like Washington, D.C., and at 
>  times, New York City,” Turmail said.
>
> And TSA also is beefing up the paper-trail security by working with  
> Treasury Department to implement new guidelines on aircraft  
> purchases to flag things like all-cash transactions and third-party  
> payments, Turmail said. TSA also is working with the Justice  
> Department to implement a flight-training candidate check program  
> that highlights foreigners seeking U.S.-certified training in the  
> operation of larger aircraft.
>
> Despite general aviation’s best efforts, small planes continue to be 
>  seen as a major risk. Just last week, a single-engine plane “punctu 
> red the bubble” of the flight-restricted zone surrounding the White  
> House; an errant pilot had simply wandered off course.
>
> Far from being a “non-event,” the incident caused NORAD to  
> scramble a couple of F-16 fighters to intercept the perceived threat 
> . Although the president and first lady weren’t in the White House a 
> t the time, the vice president and other senior members of the White 
>  House staff were immediately moved to a secure location by the Secr 
> et Service until the threat was gone.



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