Maybe I'm being paranoid, but I think the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is out to get us. Somehow, the powers that be at the TSA have become convinced that, although small airplanes were not involved in the horrific attacks on the World Trade Center, they pose a serious risk to the country's security. The evidence is contrary to that conclusion. The dramatic and tragic incident in which a small airplane was flown into the building in Tampa was a pretty good illustration of the lack of damage one of our small airplanes can cause. Studies have shown that even flying a fully loaded airliner into a nuclear power station won't cause any significant damage.
Nevertheless, the TSA continues to ban normal operations at what have become known as the Washington, DC3 (College Park, Hyde and Potomac Airports). And it has said it sees no lifting of the restrictions in the future. In fact, there are discussions of buying out the owners and closing the airports. We all recognize the need to be vigilant and alert to the possibilities of terrorist activities, but what danger does a J-3 lifting off from College Park-the oldest continuously operated airport in the country, and the one where I took my first flight lesson-pose that isn't posed by an airplane taking off from any other airport in the area?
How can the TSA justify continuing to ban corporate aircraft from Reagan National Airport? The chances are much better that the passengers on a Gulfstream V are better known to the pilots than those on a commercial airliner.
What scares me is that at some point, the same people who are promulgating the current restrictions are going to decide that they haven't done enough to keep small airplanes away from the monuments, buildings and symbols of our national government. From there it's only a small step to ban general aviation airplanes from flying over-or even near-major population centers. And next is a total ban of pleasure flying.
Can't happen here? Think again. A 61-year-old man was arrested at a local shopping mall for trespassing after he refused to either leave or remove a T-shirt he was wearing that he had just purchased at a shop in the mall. The T-shirt was deemed to be "offensive." On the back it said, "Peace on Earth" and on the front it said, "Give Peace a Chance."
Recent rulings by the TSA could mean that if the T-shirted man were a pilot, the TSA could determine he is a security risk and require the FAA to immediately lift his pilot certificate. Even more troubling is the fact that although a pilot thus branded would have 15 days to appeal the revocation of his license, the TSA would not have to reveal what information it used to determine he was a security risk. That doesn't seem fair. It only gets worse. His appeal would be heard by the TSA.
