"Stinging" Letter Sent To CBS News President
AOPA President Phil
Boyer (shown right, with Former TSA Head Admiral Loy, to his right)
today sent a stinging letter to the president of CBS News,
complaining about the "slanted, incomplete, factually erroneous,
and salaciously inflammatory" story on general aviation airport
security. That story aired Wednesday night on the CBS Evening News
and claimed that there was "no security" at GA airports and that
"nothing had been done" since 9/11.
Boyer took the story apart piece by piece.
"Your irresponsible reporting techniques
included ... failure to mention a wide range of security
initiatives — developed by AOPA and other organizations in
concert with the FAA and Homeland Security — that are now in
practice across the country," Boyer wrote the head of CBS News,
Andrew Heyward. Boyer said that the "security expert" in the story
was in fact a PR consultant with grief counseling experience at the
NTSB. The other "expert" was a real estate agent.
"On the basis of the voluminous emails and calls we have
received today, I can confirm that your reporter, Bob Orr, has
badly tarnished his reputation in the aviation community. Had he
— or anyone — from CBS simply called, we could have
provided the information that the story was completely lacking,"
wrote Boyer.
He said the story was void of any evidence that GA should be
considered a security threat.
"To suggest otherwise is to be blind to an enormous body of
facts that could never produce the sensationalistic sham that you
deign to call a news story."
Boyer pointed out that
the 5,400 public-use airports in the U.S. have adopted security
measures appropriate to their situation. The Transportation
Security Administration (TSA) has acknowledged that "one size does
not fit all" when it comes to GA airport security. Some, home to
large business aircraft, are fenced with controlled access, for
example.
Most airports have implemented pilot vigilance programs using
AOPA's Airport Watch guidelines. An aviation industry committee
(which included representatives from TSA, the Department of
Defense, Secret Service, and FBI) has compiled "best practices"
guidelines for airport security that the TSA has adopted and will
distribute. The guidelines recognize differing security needs for
the wide range of GA airports.
Boyer again reminded CBS that a typical GA aircraft is incapable
of causing much damage. "The typical general aviation aircraft,
when fully loaded, weighs less than an empty Honda Civic and
carries about the same amount of fuel as a large SUV," he wrote.
"By comparison, an airliner like the ones used on September 11,
2001, can weigh as much as 180 Civics and carry nearly 24 thousand
gallons of fuel. In stark contrast, a general aviation aircraft has
limited ability to cause damage as evidenced by the unfortunate
incident in Tampa. It was an extremely rare act by a lone
individual that, while horrifying to imagine much less see, caused
relatively minor damage.
"Since 9/11 we are all living in a world marked by a heightened
state of fear," Boyer continued. "Many organizations and members
like ours have worked hard to address opportunities to keep those
events from being repeated. By planting deep seeds of fear that are
totally without merit, your report did a major disservice not only
to our members, but to the general public as well.
"We are outraged and you should be ashamed."
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