Aopa Pilot October 2004 [antikvár]

PRESIDENT'SPOSITION BY PHIL BOYER Speaking out The Thursday morning in late August began routinely at the office with my normal quick review of the overnight e-mails. Little did I realize tliat much of the day and the rest of the week would be tied up because of an e-mail from a member who forwarded a Boston Gtote newspaper article. The headline was enough to get any pilot's attention and would surely send chills up anyone's spine; "Analysts warn of small-plane threat .Security seen lacking in general aviation; A1 Qaeda plans cited." Even vrith the various media-monitoring sources AOPA employs, nothing beats you, the membership, being our eyes and ears for this sort of one-sided journalism. The article was written by a freelance correspondent based on information leaked to her from an incomplete project being researched by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). This is a Washington-based think-tank that addresses security. I had been involved with them last year when I participated in a panel discussion on scenario involving a large Gulf-stream business jet that was "hijacked" and used like the airliners on September II, 2001. This experience showed me that there was little room for common sense or the real facts to their scenario once the researchers decided on a course of action. At any rate, the Globe article lived up to the headline, going on to say, "the threat of terrorists using small planes to attack American targets does exist and requires immediate action by the government .A1 Qaeda members could use a small aircraft such as a single-engine, four-seat Cessna 172, to cause a catastrophe. . .FedEx Field, in Landover, Maryland, seats more than 90,000 people and it's just right out there in the middle of an open area, crimson and gold, just the perfect target." Of course, the researchers at CSIS failed to recognize that the Washington Redskins home field is in the most restrictive airspace in the country, the D.C. "No Fly Zone," with probably more armament than we would like to know aimed at any unidentified airplanes, large or small, entering riiijl airspace. Within the first hour of receiving that e-mail and a dozen more from other AOPA members, your association started using new resources and a coordinated effort to make sure the other side of this issue was aired. Immediately after the 2001 terrorist attacks, many of our resources mmed from communicating externally with die press and general public to making sure you, as members, were totally informed of airspace restrictions, new regulations, security-related legislation, and a host of issues surrounding the aviation fallout from the tragedy Whatever per- Phil Boyer, a former ABC-TV executive, has been president of AOPA since January 1991. sonnel or time were left we expended communicating with government officials in an effort to thwart attempts at unreasonable new pilot registration procedures, airport security rules, and other Draconian proposals. At the same time, we worked proactively to address and communicate our proposal that a driver's license could provide photo identification when used in combination with pilot and medical certificates. We also developed AOPAS Airport Watch and other common-sense general aviation security measures. There weren't many resources left over to address the media and reach die general public. But things have changed, and the Boston Globe story allowed us to test a whole new communications structure to better serve your interests and counter one-sided stories. Your head of government and technical affairs was on the phone with a CSIS executive to find out about this repon and to register our displeasure at not using AOPA as a resource. This call triggered our first indication that CSIS was blindsided also, and a pledge that AOPA input would go into the final report. Your association's new head of media and public relations and his staff were on the phone to all radio and TV stations in the Washington, D.C., area where the story was most likely to be picked up because of the Redskins stadium scare. They contacted the Globe to seek out the freelance writer, who is a reporter for a Phoenk TV station, and, after telephone conversations vrith her, I was set up to appear by satellite on a television version of the same story The highly rated all-news radio station in the nation's capital started running promotions for a so-called security expert who was to be interviewed. The next morning at the height of radio drive time, I was giving the GA side to this story and pointing out that with the airspace and airport re-so-ictions, "we're probably the safest place in tiie nation for any kind of aviation activity at this point." Within an hour of that interview, CSIS issued a statement; "CSIS has not dravm any conclusions regarding the current vulnerability of general aviation in particular tiie Globe article is incomplete and doesn't take into account a broad range of findings diat are still under development " At tiie same time our new communications chief sent a strong letter to the G/ote stating, "It is irresponsible to imply tiiat notiiing has been done to safeguard general aviation. That is far from tiie tiutii." In September, tiiese same skilled media professionals found diat a Fox TV reporter was claiming that she had discovered two Piper Cubs at a New Jersey airport with no doors and with no ignition keys. Of course, they aren't required to have them and after AOPA checked, bodi had prop locks and a second means of secunng tiie aircraft. We'll never catch every story in every local newspaper or TV station, but we have put in place resources and an mternal communications so^icture to address the continuing negative stories the media never ceases to invent. ao» AOPA PILOT . 4 . OCTOBER 2004