Private pilots balk at idea of TSA oversight

The federal agency that oversees airport security ran into withering opposition Thursday in Atlanta over a controversial proposal to extend to private aviation many of the screening and other rules that now apply to commercial airlines.

About 200 pilots, directors of corporate flight departments and aviation entrepreneurs from across the Southeast packed a conference room at the Renaissance Concourse Hotel to blast the proposal as not only counterproductive, but a threat to the very survival of business aviation.

“Does [the Transportation Security Administration] have their head in the sand?” asked Ray Boyd, who lives near Madison and owns a jet-leasing company in Athens. “The whole program needs to be scrapped. It’s obvious TSA does not understand general aviation.”

Boyd’s comment earned him a raucous standing ovation from others in the audience, filled mostly with critics of the proposed new rules. The rules would require things like fingerprint-background checks on pilots, restrictions on items that can be carried on private aircraft and checking passengers against terrorist watch lists.

The proposal would extend security rules to planes as small as most twin-engine aircraft commonly used by charter and air taxi services. The smallest private planes —- those under 12,500 pounds takeoff weight —- would not be affected.

The Atlanta hearing was the second of five around the nation to gather comments on the TSA’s proposal.

Since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, TSA has increasingly tightened security at airports served by airlines. However, private aviation has been largely excluded from those rules, and some safety experts believe that omission creates a gaping opening for terrorists that must be plugged.

The aviators attending Thursday’s hearing did not buy that argument, saying the mandates would cost them money and do little to prevent a terrorist attack.

“The terrorists are not in the boardrooms or in our aircraft,” said Mark Chaney, director of aviation for Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated in Charlotte. “They will be where you are not looking.”

Many at Thursday’s hearing said any security crackdown should apply only to aircraft of more than 100,000 pounds, which would limit the impact to larger private jets.

Atlanta-based TSA spokesman Jon Allen said the proposed rule changes are just that —- a “proposal.” He said hearings will play an important role in a decision.

“It’s feedback that we value, and it will be considered as the rule-making process continues,” Allen said.

However, some at the hearing said they think the TSA has already made up its mind.

“I’m very concerned this will be crammed down our throats,” said Jared Boyd, a private pilot who lives in Buckhead.

Clif Port, chief pilot for McKee Foods Transportation in Chattanooga, said the TSA proposal would cost his company $100,000 a year.

“The imposition of this proposed regulation will, in fact, result in the terrorists’ objective of crippling our free society and profoundly altering our democratic way of life,” Port said.

Pat Epps, president of Epps Aviation at DeKalb-Peachtree Airport, told TSA officials that the provision requiring passengers to be checked against a list of terrorists makes no sense in the close-knit business aviation community.

“We know who our passengers are,” Epps are. “We’re not letting strangers on our airplanes.”

Said Epps of TSA’s 260-page proposal: “I think it’s a huge waste of time and effort. Your time could be better spent somewhere else.”