Room For Improvement, but Generally On the Mark
National Air
Transportation Association (NATA) president James K. Coyne
congratulated the participants in an industry working group for
their efforts in developing a series of recommendations for ways in
which non-commercial aircraft operators and aviation businesses may
enhance security at smaller, general aviation airports throughout
the U.S. The recommendations present a series of voluntary,
standardized guidelines the general aviation industry may use in
continuing to ensure the security of its aircraft, flights and
facilities.
The recommended guidelines, developed over the summer of 2003 by
a broad-based industry working group formed by the government's
Aviation Security Advisory Committee (ASAC), were formally
presented today in public meetings. Industry representatives
participating in developing the recommendations included airport
managers, state government officials, aircraft operators and
aviation businesses. NATA, the national trade association
representing small businesses providing products and services to
aircraft operators, served as a member of the working group
throughout its deliberations.
"General aviation airports are completely different from their
larger counterparts served by the scheduled airlines. They range
from small, privately owned grass strips to major facilities in
large cities that relieve traffic congestion at a nearby commercial
airport and to everything in between," Coyne said. "This difference
extends to the ways in which they can -- and cannot -- be secured.
The working group took great pains to recognize this fundamental
difference and develop meaningful recommendations. I'm pleased to
say they succeeded."
Recommendations agreed to by the working group include
guidelines addressing personnel issues, security-related
infrastructure, surveillance, planning and communications plus
so-called "special" flight operations, like agricultural aviation.
The working group's recommendations were the result of a
broad-based consensus among the various participating individuals
and organizations. In many cases, they are based upon a series of
similar recommendations each organization made in the aftermath of
September 2001.
"In September 2001, NATA
assembled scores of industry experts to develop a similar set of
'best practices' designed to enhance general aviation security,"
Coyne said. "That effort and the association's initial collection
of guidelines have stood the test of time. I'm very pleased to
point out that many of them are incorporated into the working
group's final product."
One of the recommendations' most important features, according
to Coyne, is that they represent minimum standards. Aviation
businesses, airport managers and individual aircraft operators are
free to exceed them. Similarly, they are designed to be considered
at all general aviation airports, large and small, regardless of
the financial resources available for implementation.
"These recommendations are designed to help general aviation
managers organize their approach to enhancing security without
requiring scarce financial resources," Coyne said. "The federal
government has made it clear that the security of scheduled
airlines is its highest priority. That's as it should be,
since terrorists have repeatedly demonstrated that segment of
aviation is their favored target. However, one result is that there
simply is no money available from federal agencies to pay for such
enhancements at general aviation airports. Recognizing this, the
working group went to great lengths to avoid placing any unfunded
mandates on the aviation industry."
Another major feature of the working group's output is a
restatement of the many security-related steps industry has taken
-- whether voluntary or required by the federal government -- since
2001. These include new federal regulations addressing
security of non-scheduled passenger and cargo-carrying commercial
aircraft weighing 12,500 pounds or more, requiring background
screening of non-citizen flight students, a new FAA-designed pilot
certificate and the numerous airspace restrictions still imposed
throughout the U.S. Similarly, all non-scheduled aircraft --
whether private or commercial -- are still banned from the Ronald
Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) adjacent to Washington,
D.C.
"Without many members of the general public or the federal
government actually realizing it, the general aviation industry has
implemented a wide variety of measures designed to make it less
vulnerable to potential misuse by a terrorist," Coyne noted. "For
the most part, these steps have been implemented voluntarily
instead of having been required by one agency or another. Yet,
despite all that industry has done and has been required to do, one
hurdle remains: Re-opening DCA to general aviation."
According to Coyne, NATA intends to work closely with local,
state and federal government entities to implement the working
group's recommendations. Once the recommendations are accepted by
the ASAC, they will go to the Transportation Security
Administration for distribution.