I watched the webcast of the TSA chief's meeting with AOPA. I found myself
going back and forth over his responses to the questions. Why you have to
prove your citizenship to get a glider rating but not to rent a 14 ton
truck? Why can't foreign pilots who fly 747's into and over Alaska do
seaplane training during their layovers?

I'm a writer so have above average understanding of the language that
divides us but I couldn't figure out what his responses had to do with the
questions or even what he was getting at.

I got the general drift of some sort of theory of overall security. Today I
had an experience that suddenly made it crystal clear. He really was making
perfect sense. I just wasn't getting it.

Here is how the comprehensive security he was talking about works:

I was buzzed out onto the ramp and checked to make sure my badge was
visible. Oops! It was still tucked inside my jacket and out of sight. Then,
I got into my lethal 172 and flew around above unwitting citizens heads for
an hour.

I landed and turned the plane over to a new member going for his checkout
and decided to stop along the runway to watch him do touch and gos. There's
a nice parking area that the pre 911 design included for the benefit of
people who like to watch planes.

Within 30 seconds, there was a cop behind me asking what I was doing there.
I showed him my ramp pass and told him that was my plane up there and I was
watching a new co-owner fly it. "Well, you can watch from the terminal.", he
snarled. As I pulled away, he moved back into his cooping spot and I realize
he was irritated because I had interrupted his plane watching with my threat
to public safety.

I drove down to the terminal and turned right onto the old access road that
now deadends along the runway. There are some storage containers along the
fence and a number of people were parked and sitting on their hoods watching
planes.

I went over behind the container and watched my plane fly. I was out of
sight of anyone except pilots on the runway, screened by bushes and the
container. If you were going to take a pot shot at a plane with a rifle or a
stinger, this would be the place. Did I see any cops? Hell no. There weren't
even any tire tracks from vehicles turning around to check this area. The
plane watchers up the road, who could easily be seen from the tower were
clearly settled in for a long session of basking in the sun and watching
planes.

Why is plane watching "dangerous" at the most public and intended place and
not at the one where you could set up a mortar, a fox hole, and a Stinger
battery and probably be there for hours before anyone caught on? If a
policeman is needed full time to chase away plane watchers so they don't
provide coverage for terrorists, which spot should receive priority?

Somewhere in Stone's rambling, I think I got the message. The priority spot
is out by the main road where everyone has to pass by because this will
provide the maximum public reassurance. There aren't the resources to have
cops everywhere. Having one out of sight in the bushes at the end of the
road doesn't meet the true objectives of comprehensive security.


--

Roger Long