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WASHINGTON—When a single-engine Cessna plane was stolen from a county airport in Bloomington, Ind., last week and discovered crashed in shallow waters off of the Bahamas, authorities questioned how the thief managed to gain access to the aircraft.
The Monroe County Airport has a 10-foot security fence with barbed wire and coded access gates, reported the Associated Press, which is more security than many small airports.
However, this theft, allegedly by a 19-year-old man dubbed the ‘Barefoot Bandit’ due to his habit of committing crimes sans footware, brings to light the security measures at small, general aviation airports and whether these facilities need stronger government regulation. Craig Spence, vice president of operations and international affairs with the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, said that the 650,000 general aviation pilots have already taken initiatives to improve the security at such airports and that government regulation is not necessary.
“The general aviation community overall has realized that in order for security to be effective, they have to be part of the team and that was lacking in the early years,” Spence said. “There have been dramatic improvements in the past 18 months to two years where engaged stakeholders have been able to get input into best practices and come up to speed with what has been done by GA in order to police ourselves.”
One of those initiatives has been the development of an Airport Watch program, which was modeled after Neighborhood Watch. “General aviation airports are like neighborhoods and it’s a very tight-knit community,” he said. “You know who’s in the hangar next to you and know when things don’t look right and [AOPA] is raising the level of awareness about locking hangars and reporting suspicious activities to authorities and that’s been key in anchoring our security posture in the GA community.”
Since the 9/11 attacks, federal aviation authorities and airports have struggled with how general aviation airports should be regulated when it comes to security. In October 2008, a notice published in the federal register suggested rules that would “ultimately require private aircraft in excess of 12,500 pounds” to vet all passengers against the terrorist watch list, and conduct background checks for pilots and crew members.
However, Spence said such regulations are burdensome and unnecessary. Pilots and mechanics are continuously vetted against such watch lists, he said, but expanding that to passengers “would be the equivalent of having a minivan and going to pick up kids from soccer and having to go to the federal government to receive approval,” he said. “The whole idea of vetting people against watch lists doesn’t make much sense.”
As far as the strength of security measures at small airports, Spence said the TSA and aviation regulators need to constantly evaluate the threat level at that airport. “Of the 19,000 landing facilities about 5,000 are public. And out of that 5,000, 400 are regulated. Of the remaining 4,600 out there that are for public use, they require different levels of security based on the threat,” he said. These risk factors, along with the size of aircraft coming in and out, and the airports proximity to high-risk areas, contribute to the strength of security and its need for fences, video surveillance and/or access control systems.
Spence emphasized that John Pistole’s recent declaration that the TSA will be a risk-based, intelligence-driven agency must be directly applied to general aviation as well. He also hoped that Pistole will continue to engage the GA community. “We can be part of the team and not looked at as the enemy,” he said.
Chris Dancy, media relations director with the AOPA, also said that the new leadership at the TSA must continue to evaluate the best way to spend its limited funding. “There’s not an infinite amount of money and they have to put the money where they’ll see the greatest reduction of risk, and GA doesn’t pose that kind of risk,” he said.
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