GA under attack by CBS everyone HELP!

[ShawnC]

I'm sympathetic to the airport manager who probably got ambushed or was in over his head. The ex-NTSB guy is another story. I can't believe his comment about loading explosives in a small plane.

As someone I heard say after 9-11 after he was grounded from flying his powerline patrol.

"I couldn't even tear up a double-wide in my Cessna"

I hate stories like these, I remember at Sun n Fun, watching a news crew interview a friend of mine, and the entire time she was trying to steer him into saying that flying into the show was unsafe.

 

[Jmmccutc]

folks, i too replied to the feed back on the broadcast...i agree the manager seemed overwhelmed...

here is the letter i sent to CBS i hope that they take it to hart...i know what it's like to have some one argue over closing down your training field and it's not a good thing...i'd hate to see training enviroment all over our nation be suffocated...


Letter starts here:
As a young person going to school to be a pilot I feel that the segment run about general aviation (GA) airports and their risk to allow terrorism into the United States needs to be re-evaluated. Many of the small GA airports are just that, small. This means that the number of people going in and out is also small, the numbers of which make it very easy to recognize the faces of people that frequent them. Suspicious activity is also easy to recognize. There are several defense systems at airports, the first of which is you an American citizen concerned for the safety of fellow Americans and our GA airports. When a suspicious activity is spotted there are steps that need to be taken, notify your authorities, or 1-800-GA-SECURE, operated by AOPA. They have systems that allow you to report suspicious activity so that it can be stopped before a catastrophic event ever happens. As a line service employee at several airports it has been my job (and one that I take great pride in) to make sure that my airport stays safe.

There were several things mentioned in your show that I disagree with. The first deals with Eagle’s Nest Air Park. "Every house has a paved taxiway to the runway," this is because the people that live here love to fly. Are you going to take away someone’s driveway if their passion is classic cars? “…Vulnerability will be the price for general aviations freedom,” and GA is just that free. If you have never experienced your wheels lifting off the runway then you do not know the length that GA pilots will go to ensuring that they can continue to fly unrestricted.

Granted there is always the “possibility” that a terrorist attack can be made from a GA facility. But I would like to point out that a Cessna 172R, a very popular light aircraft, has a maximum take of weight of approximately 2,450 lbs. This airplane also holds 53 gallons of total fuel at 6 lbs./gal. it equals 318 lbs. If you then throw a 200 lbs. pilot into the aircraft you are looking at 518 lbs. of cargo alone. The empty weight of the aircraft is 1760 lbs. allowing only an additional 690 lbs to be added to the aircraft in order for it to be under maximum gross weight. This means that with fuel, and only one pilot you have only an additional 172 lbs. of payload available. If a terrorist would like to damage the United States, I would think a one-ton pickup truck with a 2,000-pound payload would be slightly more desirable than a GA aircraft.

Tom Ridge is taking steps to improve safety across the board. He is doing what I feel is a good job but people need to understand that it will take time and money. With the American public concerned for our own well being as well as the efforts Secretary Ridge and his department is making to improve safety across the board America will continue to be a safe place. We call it terrorism for a reason, because we are scared of the consequences. Making an effort to improve safety while still allowing the thousands of aviation enthusiasts to enjoy their passion freely is the best solution. Criticism does nothing except to annoy many people such as myself.

Please do not attack GA and the pilots, for they are not the problem. The person who desires to harm innocent lives is the problem and must be stopped. As citizens it is our duty to look out for our country and interests, GA is a wonderful pastime, profession, and passion, lets not kill it with razor wire and guard dogs.

Lastly I leave you with a thought. You mentioned that “…terrorists are well aware of these small insecure airports. ‘That's where they learned to fly,’ says Goelz. ‘We know the terrorists trained at small aviation systems.’” This may be true but I would hate to think that the image of a few bad individuals would place a black mark on a wonderful educational opportunity. The next time you board an airline look at the person, male or female, piloting the aircraft, with out small flight schools and general aviation many of these excellent folks would not be in their current positions. I was the little boy standing on the soccer field watching the airplanes instead of the game, it was a dream then to fly, and I would hate to see the next generation of dreamers loose the opportunity to experience the magic of flight as a result of ever increasing GA concerns. Thank you.

 

[midlifeflyer]

My contribution to CBS and our local affiliate:

==============================
Gentlemen,

I want to thank you for one of more enjoyable, although brief, periods I have spent in front of the TV in a long, long time.

When I saw the trailer for your story on general aviation security earlier in the day, I was expecting another exercise in media sensationalism - taking a relatively benign activity and looking for some reason to turn it into a crisis, all the name of ratings. Instead I was treated to one of the best satires on media excess that I have ever seen! This was worth a spot on Saturday Night Live.

The threat to national security posed by those living at a residential airpark with a 2500' grass runway! (Okay, okay, for accurate reporting they also have a 2000' paved one!)

The danger posed by squeezing your Aunt Shirley into your 4-seat airplane (which is about the size of your car and holds far less luggage) to _visit her cousin in Dubuque, without forcing her to go through a metal detector!

I howled! I rolled on the floor! _I haven't laughed so hard in years!

But tell me. Aren't you just a little bit concerned that the network news team that was instrumental in turning the tide of the Vietnam war is now telling jokes instead of doing news stories?

==============================

 

[BobSmith_av8r]

Hey Avbug.. you still agree with CBS!

Anybody who agrees with the nonsense reported on CBS is a complete moron!

January 15, 2004

Andrew Heyward
President, CBS News
524 W 57th St.
New York, NY 10019

Dear Mr. Heyward:

On behalf of more than 400,000 members of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA), the world's largest aviation organization, I am writing you to express our utter shock and dismay regarding the story about general aviation that ran on your evening news on January 14, 2004. It is disgraceful that "the news organization of Edward R. Murrow" would produce — and aggressively promote in a tabloid headline form — a segment on the prestigious CBS Evening News that was so obviously slanted, incomplete, factually erroneous and salaciously inflammatory.

Your irresponsible reporting techniques included:

Failure to mention a wide range of security initiatives — developed by AOPA and other organizations in concert with the FAA and Homeland Security — that are now in practice across the country. Completely contrary to your report, much has changed since 9/11.
Failure to use a credible "expert" for your interview. Peter Goetz has no credentials in GA security. He is currently a PR consultant with grief counseling experience at NTSB. Other on-camera "experts" were a Realtor and an airport manager for a highly unique airport.
The total absence of any evidence that general aviation should be considered a security threat. To suggest otherwise is to be blind to an enormous body of facts that could never produce the sensationalistic sham that you deign to call a news story.
On the basis of the voluminous emails and calls we have received today I can confirm that your reporter, Bob Orr, has badly tarnished his reputation in the aviation community. Had he — or anyone — from CBS simply called we could have provided the information that the story was completely lacking. For example:

The Eagle's Nest residential airpark, while not unique, is far from typical of most public-use airports. These exclusive communities are mostly privately owned, private-use airports where the community is even more closely knit than the general aviation community at large.
The lack of fencing at facilities like Eagle's Nest is more than offset by the fact that the residents lock their planes next to their cars in enclosed hangars that are attached to their homes.
The 5,400 public-use general aviation airports in this country have security measures appropriate to their situation. Many are fenced with controlled access; others rely less on physical security procedures than on pilot vigilance, using guidelines such as AOPA's Airport Watch program. The TSA has acknowledged that "one size does not fit all" when it comes to security at general aviation airports and will be releasing a "best practices" guide based on recommendations from the general aviation industry that will help airports adopt appropriate security measures based on their individual circumstances.
The typical general aviation aircraft, when fully loaded, weighs less than an empty Honda Civic and carries about the same amount of fuel as a large SUV. By comparison, an airliner like the ones used on September 11, 2001, can weigh as much as 180 Civics and carry nearly 24 thousand gallons of fuel. In stark contrast, a general aviation aircraft has limited ability to cause damage as evidenced by the unfortunate incident in Tampa. It was an extremely rare act by a lone individual that, while horrifying to imagine much less see, caused relatively minor damage.
Since 9/11 we are all living in a world marked by a heightened state of fear. Many organizations and members like ours have worked hard to address opportunities to keep those events from being repeated. By planting deep seeds of fear that are totally without merit, your report did a major disservice not only to our members, but to the general public as well. We are outraged and you should be ashamed.

At AOPA we will continue to work on behalf of our members. We hope at CBS you will work half as hard to inform your viewers of the facts and leave sensational journalism in the grocery store racks where it belongs. In the interim, we stand ready to provide you with the facts that your report completely ignored.

Sincerely,



Phil Boyer
President