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?
