This type of post is of course an opinion post and as such should be
respected in that context.
My personal opinion on this is that you are either going to have airport
security or you're not..period!
You can parse the "my rights are being violated" thing to death, and you can
complain about the inconvenience till you're blue in the face, but the
bottom line is simply that you can't have it both ways.
9-11 happened. It just "ain't" the same world any more. You can bash
politicians. You can bash political parties. You can holler about the way
its all being done. But the bottom line remains the same. You either have
security or you don't.
Again, personally, if its my airplane that's sitting out there on the line,
or inside that hangar, or even your airplane out there, I damn well want the
FBO involved to take some interest in who's out there taking pictures of
everything.
Just my read on it. Don't mean it to be argumentative :-))
Dudley Henriques

"Kyle Boatright" wrote in message
. ..
After I landed from this morning's flight, a young guy (maybe 18 or 20
years old) came over, complimented my airplane and asked if he could take
some pictures. Of course, I was flattered and told him to shoot away. He
hung around and we talked for 20 minutes or more as I wiped down the
airplane for bugs, cleaned the canopy, etc.. Turns out, he has his
"ultralight pilot's license? (???) and is about ready to start training
for his PPSEL. Nice guy.

Once I took care of a few things (and the airplane cooled), I taxied over
to the wash stand and gave the RV a nice bath. - Can't go to Oshkosh with
a dirty airplane. The young guy from before happed to be over by the wash
stand with his camera, so we had another conversation as I was washing the
airplane.

In the middle of this, one of the employees from the FBO came over and
asked the guy to go to the FBO and present his photo ID so the FBO would
know who is making pictures at the airport. I steped in and asked where
this requirement came from, and the FBO guy hemmed and hawed, saying that
he thought it came from the airport authority. I asked if he could show
me the requirement in writing. He hemmed and hawed some more, and never
could answer the question. The FBO guy said that people didn't like
having others make pictures of their airplanes. (Huh??) Like, who? I
asked. Again, no good response.

I'll verify this with the FBO owner and the airport authority on Monday,
but no way, no how, is there a "must present an ID before taking pictures"
policy at my home field. Someone at the FBO didn't have anything to do and
decided to play "big man on campus" for fun.

So, what does this have to do with the slow death of GA? It has to do
with the attitudes around some airports. Today's 20 year old picture taker
will be tomorrow's private pilot who'll be paying for flying lessons,
gasoline, etc. and will eventually rent aircraft or own his own airplane.
That is, if he wasn't put-off by the FBO. In which case, that's one more
person who had his dream squashed, and will never become a pilot. Given
the sharp decline in the number of pilots in the US, it amazes me how
unfriendly FBO's can be. You'd think they would be out begging for
business. Naah. It must be far more productive to run off prospective
customers. No wonder there are so few new pilots.

FYI, my home field is just outside of Atlanta. Go one airport farther
away from Atlanta in any direction and you'll get great service by very
friendly people. Go to any of the airports closer to the city and they
will practically beg you to leave unless your aircraft is turbine powered.
I'd bet those unfriendly airports turn a lot of people from potential
pilots to boat or Harley owners.

By the way, the 20 year old guy did go inside the FBO and present his ID.
His choice, and a nice gesture. I thought a different gesture might have
been appropriate.

KB