GA IS No Threat

I thought that this might be a good time to talk about a topic that’s never very far from the surface when we talk about flying.

I still remember September 11 vividly. I felt hurt and betrayed and the images of the jetliners crashing into the Twin Towers was – well –terrifying.

All of the airspace in the United States shut down immediately and, for many of us, stayed that way for a long time. At the time, I was training at Willow Run Airport, a cargo and general aviation airport west of Detroit Metro that turned out bombers during World War II. Willow run is under a shelf of what’s called the Detroit Metro “Class Bravo” airspace and, as a result, it stayed shut down to most traffic for a long time after 9-11.

In the time since 9-11, a lot has happened. Taller fences have gone up around a lot of airports, Air Defense Identification Zones have sprung up around the country, and, sadly, many of my friends, neighbors, and fellow citizens have turned a jaundiced eye toward aviation of any type.

For whatever reason, general aviation had taken a lot of heat in the aftermath of 9-11, much of it undeserved.

When I talk about general aviation (or “GA”), I’m talking about non-scheduled aviation of a kind done by private people and enterprises for their own purposes. It covers all of the flying I do and also covers lots of charters and other kinds of flying. Most of it takes place in single-engine propeller-driven aircraft like the Cessna 172s that I fly.

I want to use this time to clear up some misconceptions about general aviation and the risk – or lack thereof – that GA poses to the public.

First off, unless you count the ill-fated exploits of Charles Bishop, no terrorist attack has ever been carried out using a general aviation aircraft. More on Mr. Bishop later

New regulations severely limit the opportunities that anyone would otherwise have to commit acts of terrorism using GA aircraft.

Stadium overflights within 3 nautical miles of and less than 3,000 feet above the venue are restricted. Further, the Superbowl was here in Detroit a few months ago and I can assure you that men and women with absolutely no sense of humor about security breaches were on the job and had the resources and resolve to protect the revelers downtown from any threat from the air. I know a few pilots at a local airport who just decided to stay on the ground during the surrounding days rather than take any risk at all of running into problems with the security measures.

In February 2003, an existing notice to airmen regarding loitering over nuclear facilities was strengthened to reinforce the need for pilots to avoid these facilities altogether. I flew to the airshow at Oshkosh soon after 9-11 and I can tell you that we got a stern warning from the briefer about the phase of our flight that would take us near the nuclear plant near Gary, Indiana.

New training regulations impose background checks on all non-US citizens who apply for pilot training. At one point, even I had to be fingerprinted when I switched schools.

Small airports – the ones where most GA aircraft live – are pretty secure places. I can tell you from personal experience that just about everyone knows everyone else and the tight-knit community of pilots at those airports are excellent at identifying people and circumstances that don’t belong and asking friendly but firm questions when they come in contact with those situations. The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association has set up and funded a national hotline – 800-GA-SECURE – to encourage people to report potential security issues related to general aviation.

All flight schools in the United States have received updated guidelines from the FAA and each must conduct security awareness training.

So let’s talk about the damage that your average GA aircraft could do.

First off, more than 70% of the GA fleet is composed of small, single-engine aircraft with six or fewer seats and the overwhelming majority of those have four or fewer seats.

The typical GA aircraft, like the Cessna 172s that I fly, weighs less than a Honda Civic and carries even less cargo. By way of example, My instructor, myself, full fuel, and my flight bag take the Cessna 172s that I fly up to within 100 pounds ot eh aircraft’s maximum rated takeoff weight. You could probably exceed that by a few hundred pounds if you threw safety out the window, but not much more. The aircraft has a 180-horsepower engine and there’s only so much that it’s going to get aloft.

The majority of GA aircraft have less than 1% of the mass of a large airliner. A fully loaded Cessna 172 weighs approximately 2,400 pounds and carries 56 gallons of fuel. A Boeing 767 can weigh more than 400,000 pounds and carry some 25,000 gallons of fuel.

You probably remember the sad story of Charles Bishop, the 15-year-old who flew a Cessna 172 into the Bank of America Plaza Building in January of 2002. On impact, the plane’s wings came off and fell to the ground. The engine made it a short distance into the building and the plane did minor damage to the 28th and 29th floors on the southwest corner. Crews removed the fuselage from the building the next day and local officials declared the building safe from occupancy at that time.

The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association commissioned a study by internationally recognized nuclear safety and security expert Robert M. Jefferson. Jefferson reported in June of 2002 found that:

A GA aircraft could not penetrate the concrete containment vessel

An explosives-laden GA aircraft would not likely cause the release of radiation.

A small aircraft attack on auxiliary plant buildings would not cause a safety failure.

A GA aircraft could not ignite the Zirconium cladding on spent nuclear fuel.

It’s hard to steal a GA aircraft. They cost a lot. There’s almost no such thing as a GA aircraft that costs less than $40,000 and a new Cessna 172 will easily run you more than $100,000. Owners lock them up in hangars and use things such as prop locks and other measures to keep their aircraft safe. It would take a fair amount of effort to steal a plane with which to try to do harm.

It’s even harder to highjack a GA airplane. Most GA pilots know their passengers well and a hijacker is unlikely to even make it into a plane. Even if a hijacking situation occurs, the pilot is not helpless. All pilots receive training in how to communicate a hijacking situation and what to do about it if it happens. And you can be pretty sure that no GA pilot is going to quietly put up with a hijacking situation if the guy with the boxcutter of firearm starts suggesting a flightpath that involves a building or gathering of people. Not stuff I’d do ordinarily but you can bet that I’d be willing to explore the outer edges of the airplane’s envelope before I’d obey a command to do something like that.

And it’s reasonably tough to rent a plane, too. Fixed-base operators, or “FBOs” that rent aircraft usually insist on taking you up and checking you out in the aircraft. The check pilots usually get a good idea of the personality and intentions of the renting pilot before they get out of the aircraft and send the renter on his way.

And you might remember the news crew a couple of years ago that tried to show how easy it would be to rent a plane and go do bad things with it. The FBO employee at the desk kept the news crew busy while another employee alerted the local sheriff, who showed up moments later to question the would-be muckrakers.

Even so, it’s possible that a ne’er-do-well might end up with access to a GA aircraft and have the ability to aim it at a local landmark. So let’s talk about what kind of damage a GA aircraft could do.

First off, more than 70% of the GA fleet is composed of small, single-engine aircraft with six or fewer seats and the overwhelming majority of those have four or fewer seats.

The typical GA aircraft, like the Cessna 172s that I fly, weighs less than a Honda Civic and carries very little cargo. By way of example, My instructor, myself, full fuel, and my flight bag take the Cessna 172s that I fly up to within 100 pounds of the aircraft’s maximum rated takeoff weight. You could probably exceed that by a few hundred pounds if you threw safety out the window, but not much more. The aircraft has a 180-horsepower engine and there’s only so much that it’s going to get aloft. In any case, there’s just not enough mass there to do any real damage.

The majority of GA aircraft have less than 1% of the mass of the large airliners that were involved in the terrorist attacks of 9-11.. A fully loaded Cessna 172 weighs approximately 2,400 pounds and carries 48 to 56 gallons of fuel. A Boeing 767 can weigh more than 400,000 pounds and carry some 25,000 gallons of fuel.

Back to Mr Bishop. You probably remember his sad story. He was the 15-year-old who flew a Cessna 172 into the Bank of America Plaza Building in January of 2002. On impact, the plane’s wings came off and fell to the ground. The engine made it a short distance into the building and the plane did minor damage to the 28th and 29th floors on the southwest corner. Crews removed the fuselage from the building the next day and local officials declared the building safe from occupancy at that time. Bishop’s story is sad and I wish that the incident had never happened, but the fact of the matter is that he proved that a GA aircraft just doesn’t have any real potential to do the kind of damage that the public seems to worry about.

The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association commissioned a study by internationally recognized nuclear safety and security expert Robert M. Jefferson. Jefferson reported in June of 2002 found that:

A GA aircraft could not penetrate the concrete containment vessel

An explosives-laden GA aircraft would not likely cause the release of radiation.

A small aircraft attack on auxiliary plant buildings would not cause a safety failure.

A GA aircraft could not ignite the Zirconium cladding on spent nuclear fuel.

Lastly, although there are many GA aircraft fitted out for cropdusting and similar activities, the experts tell us that its just about impossible to do any harm by spraying stuff over the populace. At any real altitude, any sprayed matter would simply disperse into the atmosphere and be harmless. Such aircraft would have to be at treetop level or lower to do any real harm and, by the time you’ve considered doing that, is there really any reason to use an airplane as opposed to a land vehicle?

On the whole, GA just doesn’t pose the threat that some are willing to believe that it does. The paranoia just can’t overcome the facts.

Finally, please bear something else in mind. General aviation plays an important part in the heart and should of this country. We were the first to demonstrate heavier-than-air powered flight. From the earliest military aviators to the barnstormers to the citizen pilots of today, our heritage is inextricably tied to general aviation. We are a people whose horizons are unlimited. Where else but in America can you walk the streets and run into citizen pilots everywhere you turn?

It is right an proper that 600,000 of us hold pilot certificates – 600,000 emissaries of the solitude and excitement of the skies – 600,000 reminders of the greatness that is in each of us – 600,000 pilots – The determined, talented, methodical, steely-eyed people that anyone would be proud to call countrymen.

The hype is just that. Hype. The facts bear out the proposition that general aviation is not the risk that the ignorant believe it to be. If you hear a friend, relative, or colleague perpetuating the misinformation that’s so common, invite them to listen to this podcast. Berret yet, invite them to visit www.aopa.org, where the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association has compiles genuine and correct information about general aviation and its essentially nonexistent threat.

Let’s preserve GA for the treasure it is and address the naysayers with the cold, hard facts.