ANN Readers are really PO'ed and continue to send record amounts of e-mail (thousands...) to us over the matter. Here's a few more samples...

Message(s) Sent To CBS

Congratulations. You have proven once again that the terrorists are winning - with your help.

The primary purpose of terrorism is not to win wars outright. It is to create terror within their enemy. And thereby cause their enemy to collapse from within. Last evenings Evening News does a great job in promoting this terror. Never mind that the piece was full of incorrect "facts" and no real expert on GA and its relation to terror was consulted in its preparation. Never mind that no small GA aircraft has ever, anywhere in the world, been used as an instrument of terror (except as in pieces such as was aired by your network last evening).

Never mind that there is more security associated with GA aircraft and airports than there is with rental cars and trucks or your own car in your own garage or parked in your driveway or on the street. Your piece on GA was intended to cause concern and terror amongst your viewers with respect to the (practically non-existent) possibility that the next small GA aircraft they see flying overhead could be a terrorist on a mission to do great harm to our national security. What more could the terrorists ask for than for CBS Evening News to spread terror amongst it viewers? And they didn't even have to blow up one ounce of explosive to achieve their purpose. Plant the seed of fear in the likes of one irresponsible paranoid network news reporter and let the media spread terror amongst its viewers. Terror can be generated just as surely this way as it can by flying large air transport aircraft into tall buildings. It is the object of terrorist to create terror, and they are succeeding with your help.

Wilbur Young

To The Editors At CBS

I am appalled by your company's poor reporting and broadcasting about the threat of general aviation to our country. The lack of sources from the government, security officials, and GA community makes your piece heavily bias showing complete disregard for good journalism. Our government's top security experts have repeatedly said that due to their size, slow speed, and limited payload, GA aircraft pose little to no threat. But even if they did, our nation's most sensitive places are surrounded by "airborne" fences... fences that are enforced by patrolling military jets and anti-aircraft missiles in some cases. So lets talk about how this is more dangerous than U-Haul or other truck rental companies. Lets talk about how all you need is a fake ID to rent one. How about the fact that you can park it a truck full of two tons of weapons in front of any important building in Washington, including the President's home. Let's compare this to the constant radar monitoring and tracking of every airborne object in the world by NORAD and the fact that it takes a background check and many months of training to fly a plane.

Clearly these are things that your Real Estate expert should have known and mentioned...to have at the very least a balanced report.

You have lost a viewer.

Eric Steelberg

Greetings (To CBS)

I would like to voice my sincere disappointment at the piece you aired the other night about terrorism and General Aviation. I have a unique perspective on the issue, as I sat and watched the story at my place of work in the middle east, while serving my third tour over here since September 11th with the Air National Guard. I can't explain my disappointment with your news agency which I regard as otherwise credible. You aired a sensationalized story, and have since lost most of that credibility in my eyes. As someone who has sacrificed a LOT to defend the freedoms we enjoy, and as an avid recreational pilot, I feel completely betrayed.

The extent to which you have inferred that GA be regulated, while lacking any factual or statistical basis, negates anything for which myself and my co-workers risk our lives daily. Beyond that, it was just plain uninformed journalism.

Finally, about that car you drive... it could both conceal and deliver a bomb. I suggest you build a fence around your garage, and search anybody who enters the premises. Besides the obvious threat, you also have a driveway that connects directly to a road, which in turn could deliver you to any large building, gathering place, or landmark. On second though, armed guards and metal detectors are next for your front doorstep. And while you continue to drive that huge payload SUV, News Van, Mercedes or BMW (heck, you probably arrive everywhere via Limousine... lots of cargo room there...), I'll gladly continue to defend that freedom for you.

Get your facts straight. General Aviation is safe, and is perpetuated by the best group of people I've had the pleasure to call my friends.

Pat Wright

To ANN/Jim,

Has anyone considered that CBS News intended to slant the truth for the sake of viewer ratings? I can't think of a better way to trick the viewers, especially GA pilots to watch yellow journalism at it's finest.

It makes me wonder who's agenda they are supporting (the airlines???). It certainly isn't the tax paying, law abiding American citizens who make their living in general aviation. It is an insult and a slap in the face.

Thanks for a great newsletter,

Mike Denest

Dear Sir or Madam (CBS)

I was greatly disappointed last night to learn that CBS News has sunk to the level of supermarket tabloid journalism. Your piece on General Aviation, last night was nothing but shameful sensationalism. It so misrepresented the truth about General Aviation that it calls into question any and all information I have ever received from your network. How could you even pretend to do a fair and balanced story on General Aviation without including an interview with the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, which has as members two thirds of all pilots in this country. Your piece was so devoid of real journalism that I was left wondering if it was just pure sensationalism or if their was some hidden agenda, that has nothing to do with terrorism.

Yes, terrorists could possible use a General Aviation aircraft as weapon someday.
Just as any means of transportation can be used as a weapon.

Let me ask you this; given that the average family automobile can be used to deliver 3 to 5 times the destructive energy of the typical General Aviation aircraft.

Why don't you run the same piece on private automobiles. After all they move about with no restrictions, nobody screens the driver or passengers or luggage, when not being used they are not kept inside secured areas. Given these facts would you run the same story on private automobiles. Or how about private boats.

I have a small 17 foot speedboat and it can carry more than twice the load of explosives that my airplane can. It would be much more effective at bringing down a bridge then my airplane. Will you run a story about marinas and the terrorist threat they represent. The bottom line is that everything you said about private aircraft is also true of private automobiles and private boats. The only difference is that the average car or boat is a significantly more effective weapon. They are easier to obtain, requires less training to operate and are subject to far less regulation and scrutiny. Perhaps these are some the reasons terrorists have a history of using cars, trucks and boats. But they have never used General Aviation aircraft!

I do not purchase supermarket tabloids, nor do I purchase the products they advertise. Likewise I will no longer be watching CBS News nor purchasing the products that support it. I will be contacting your sponsors to let them know that you have lost all credibility as a news source and that I will be getting my news somewhere else. I noted the following products being advertised last night; Campbell’s Soup, OneTouch Ultra, Fosamax, Centrum, and BreatheRight. Their manufactures and distributors will be hearing from me.

Bill Kelley

Dear CBS,

I thought your job was to report news, not create sensationalized fiction.  It seems to me that CBS already has an entertainment division.  The piece your aired last night was the biggest piece of mis-information that I've ever seen.  As an active GA pilot I can assure you that you completely overstated the threat posed by GA to the country.  If you had bothered to consult some reputable aviation sources you would have learned that.  Or perhaps you did and didn't like the truth so you omitted it in a blatant attempt to grab ratings.  I live in Tampa and have significant knowledge concerning the Fall 01 crash of the Cessna 172 by the teen student pilot into the bank downtown.  That event only managed to damage a single office.  You fail to mention that anyone can rent a truck and fill it with 10 times the amount of explosive that a GA plane can carry and drive up to just about any building in the US and cause significantly more damage.  Does Oklahoma City ring a bell?  How about the first attack on the World Trade Center.  I suggest that before you yell fire in the theater again that you be damn sure that you see the flames.

Todd Stovall

How Can That Be?

For CBS to descend into Jingoism is disappointing but predictable. Ice skates can be used as weapons, should we call for national registration of ice skates? Cars and trucks are the vehicles of choice in delivering bombs as political statements, where is the hue and cry for security measures against ground-based motor vehicles?
 
Pandering to groups who believe their righteous indignation the equivalent of an education is the lowest form of communication. I am disgusted though not surprised that Dan Rather's news organization has decided to target General Aviation to build its and the network's ratings. Can you not find a drug company, a banking organization, an arm of government or the armed forces to publicly skewer for your sole benefit?
 
Show business was never supposed to compete with the Constitution, however as Dick Cheney pointed out in reference to the deficit, "Ronald Reagan proved it doesn't matter." Apparently the freedoms this country has fought wars for, expended lives over, are items in a spread sheet. Shame on you.

Richard Herbst

Gentlemen or Ladies -- as the case may be (CBS)

Your show about the terrorist threat of general aviation was obviously an attempt to create sensationalism at the expense of the aviation community. Who ever was responsible for this gross distortion of the facts is both dangerous, and uninformed. How could anyone be so stupid as to point to  small air craft for a possible threat, while ignoring the millions of 40' tractor trailers, containers, and rental trucks swarming the roads of this country.

The weight carrying capacity of a light aircraft is a tiny fraction of what even a pickup truck can carry.

While there has never been a case of a light aircraft being used for attacking anything, I would draw your attention to the attacks on the federal building in Oklahoma City and the first bombing of the World Trade Center. Have you bothered to notice that the words "plane bombing" don't seem to pop up much in the news, while the stories of  "car bombings" are an every day occurrence. The use of car, and truck bombs are the trademark of the terrorist culture. Why would they change a successful tactic and start a new one??

I used to frequent your network often, but since you have chosen to go use sensationalism rather than well documented journalism I will only watch CBS when the 49ers are playing there. I am a part time general aviation flight instructor aged 65, and I have been teaching people to fly for 35 years. I have a god feel for the airport where I practice my trade. There are very few air planes stolen from our very busy field. I know of only 4 in the past 35 years, this compared to the hundreds of cars and trucks that disappear daily in our county.

You fools are alienating a large segment of the thinking people of this nation, by trying to spook the non thinkers.

Good luck to you, we of the thinking population of the USA, reject your sad attempt to pad your slipping ratings.

Al Blachman

FMI: www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/01/14/eveningnews/main593216.shtml, evening@cbsnews.com (CBS News E-Mail), trissel@eaglesnest.aero (Airport Manager quoted in CBS Story), lesley1414@msn.com (Lesley Hock, Realtor quoted in CBS Story)