But It Requires GA Security Review
The US Senate passed the Department of Homeland Security
appropriations bill late Thursday night -- without an amendment
that would have imposed severe fines, extended loss of flying
privileges, and aircraft confiscation for violating the flight
restricted zone (FRZ) inside the Washington, DC, Air Defense
Identification Zone (ADIZ).
"We worked very hard with Sen. Pete Domenici's (R-NM) staff to
convince him not to introduce the amendment at this time," said Jon
Hixson, AOPA vice president of legislative affairs. "But it's also
fair to say that the senator still has concerns about aircraft
violating the airspace around the Capitol, and frankly, he's not
the only one."
In fact, Sen. Hillary Clinton's (D-N.Y.) amendment, calling for
a study of GA airport security and the threats posed by GA
aircraft, passed unanimously.
"In this building, we have experienced evacuations which,
thankfully, were caused by either false alarms or as a result of
errors by pilots," Sen. Clinton said during debate over the bill
and amendments. "It is important to evaluate the threats that could
be posed."
This "evaluation," according to Sen. Clinton, does not mandate
any new costs for general aviation.
"While we would welcome an unbiased review of general aviation
security — precisely because we know it would show that GA is
not a significant threat to the safety and security of the majority
of U.S. citizens — we have some concerns about other issues
raised by this amendment," said AOPA President Phil Boyer.
"The amendment calls for 'feasibility studies' for everything
from 'measures to disable aircraft' to 'low-cost, high-performance
technology' to track GA aircraft. If these studies lead to
regulations, there will be costs."
AOPA's legislative affairs staff spent considerable time talking
to Sen. Clinton and her staff about this measure. And while the
senator was unwilling to make some changes AOPA asked for, it's
clear that she now has a growing appreciation for the value of
general aviation.
"I believe in general aviation. I take advantage of it
practically every week," said Sen. Clinton on the floor of the US
Senate. "It is a significant and important contributor to our
national economy."
But she noted that given the heightened vulnerabilities and the
recent evacuations of the Capitol, "we need to roll up our sleeves
and take another hard look at this. I hope we can do it
hand-in-hand with the general aviation fixed-base operators,
pilots, owners, airport managers, and others who have been working
hard to increase security measures at so many of these small
airports.
"Of course, it is impossible to
avoid every threat that is posed to the public or that we can
imagine, but we should be vigilant to make sure we have a
partnership so that local communities, private individuals, and
private businesses can all take necessary steps to be vigilant and
protective," said Sen. Clinton.
"Sen. Clinton has described perfectly the AOPA Airport Watch
program," said AOPA President Phil Boyer. "We also know that any
fair analysis of imposing airline-type security or other expensive
mandates on general aviation will fail the cost-benefit test."