Small Planes and Terrorism ...Local Expert in our Forum.

[IcyPatriot]

sdaniels ... I had some questions in the Cory Lidle thread I felt would be disrespecting to keep posting in that thread....so I started a new one.

Here is the post i was making...then took out because that should be for that topic to be polite IMO to the Lidle & Instructors family and friends.

So here it is...you have a wealth of knowledge to share with us...if you don't mind.

__________________________________________________ _____________________

Originally Posted by sdaniels7114
The feds choose to not differentiate between different types of aeronautical activity. An airliner is given no more preferential treatment than a glider. Since you can't close the airspace over major cities (how would anyone travel anywhere?) it has to be available to everyone. All they choose to do is charge a landing fee at a few of the major airports. That tends to keep the little planes from landing and taking off there; but that's it.

edit: That's not to say that there's no rules for operating over the city, there's a ton of them in fact. Just that anyone who chooses to obey those rules is as welcome to operate there as anyone else.

So...just wondering here. Is there a "I have a right to fly" thing going on here? Or is it the flying lobby is very strong? Or both? is this how people fly where perhaps it is not so safe?


To the uneducated flyer (ME) ... it sounds pretty scary that someone could fly a small plane to commit terror. I had nightmares for weeks after the blimp crashed into the stadium in that movie(name?)

Like say in a city...line of sight...no flight plan needed...into a stadium full of people. A small amount of explosives packed into a plane could kill a few thousand after and during the crash.

Not trying to pick on you flyers...but many people probably never realized how easy this is if you have $$$ and time.

[sdaniels7114]

Keep in mind that that airplane most likely hit that building going faster than 100 mph and could have been carrying 50 or more gallons of gas and all it did was kill the people on board and damage 10 or so of the apartments in the building. There's just not enough explosive potential in a four-seater to do that much damage. Airplanes ain't exactly roomy and are very limited in terms of weight-carrying capacity so even loaded with dynamite, its impossible for one to do the damage of 9-11.

There is a lobby for aviation, its called AOPA and they do work to minimize aviation legislation; but there's only so many pilots in this country. We don't have that much power. More than likely, the Feds treat all planes the same because if they chose to differentiate, Delta, for example, would be able to get an 'in' over United and that would create unfair competition.

Rather than private planes, I'd worry more about private boats. My sister and brother-in-law own a 28 footer that they dock at a club on the Charles river. The only thing stopping them from going down the river out into the ocean, picking up a nuke that some ship 50 miles off shore is holding for them, and bringing it back, is the fact that they're not scumbag terrorists.

[IcyPatriot]

They have now banned...I guess temporary all flights below 1500 feet. I would think...at the very least that you have to earn the right to fly around a city. If all they do is make rules concerning minimum flight hours needed to earn the privelage it would be better than nothing.