Emotions Run High At First Stop Of TSA's Road Show

The first of five public meetings to be held by the Transportation Security Administration to listen to feedback on the proposed Large Aircraft Security Program was held last week in Atlanta.

A conference room at the Renaissance Concourse Hotel was packed to standing room only with pilots, executives, and others from the aviation community, unanimous in their strong feelings against the extension of commercial airline security procedures and regulations to general aviation.

Notable attendees included Craig Dotlo, the Northeast Regional Representative of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA), and Ed Bolen, President of the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA).

TSA spokesman Jon Allen said such hearings will play an important role in making a decision regarding the proposed rules. "It's feedback that we value, and it will be considered as the rule-making process continues," Allen told the Atlanta Journal Constitution. And feedback he got - plenty of it.

"AOPA is concerned with the weight threshold that is used for the basis of the regulations and provisions in the rule that outsource security oversight to a third-party auditor," Dotlo said. "AOPA does not support the NPRM as currently drafted and requests that TSA reconsider the proposed rules, focusing particularly on whether there are less costly and less intrusive ways of enhancing general aviation security."

In addition to echoing Dotlo's misgivings, Bolen suggested the creation of a rulemaking committee would provide mutual benefits. "We believe that by working together, we can harden business aviation against attack without destroying it in the process. We deserve a dialog about how best to do this," Bolen said.

Ray Boyd, who owns a jet-leasing company in Athens, said, "Does (the Transportation Security Administration) have their head in the sand? The whole program needs to be scrapped. It's obvious TSA does not understand general aviation." His sentiments were obviously shared by many in attendance and earned him a standing ovation.

"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," pilot Clif Port said, adding that the new regulations would cost his company $100,000 a year.

Pat Epps, president of Epps Aviation at DeKalb-Peachtree Airport, pointed out that having to check passenger names against a list of terrorists was unnecessary, and said, "We know who our passengers are. We're not letting strangers on our airplanes."

Epps also called TSA's 260-page proposal "a huge waste of time and effort. Your time could be better spent somewhere else."