# General Aviation presents limited security threat **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 18, 2009, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/general-aviation-presents-limited-security-threat/500198 "2009-06-18T17:39:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2009, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/general-aviation-presents-limited-security-threat/500198/1 "2009-06-18T17:39:31Z")
[Link](http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0609/061709kp1.htm) > [@](#): > > The Homeland Security Department’s inspector general said Wednesday the national security threat posed by general aviation is “limited and mostly hypothetical.” > > General aviation accounts for 77 percent of all domestic flights and includes air cargo transport, emergency medical flight operations, flight school training, and corporate and private aviation. > > \ > > “Although [TSA’s Office of Intelligence] has identified potential threats, it has concluded that most [general aviation] aircraft are too light to inflict significant damage, and has not identified specific imminent threats from [general aviation] aircraft,” the IG stated. > > \ > > “The current status of [general aviation] operations does not present a serious homeland security vulnerability requiring TSA to increase regulatory oversight of the industry,” the IG concluded. Heck, they could have saved a lot of time and money just by reading some of the threads here seven years ago! ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2009, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/general-aviation-presents-limited-security-threat/500198/2 "2009-06-18T20:56:39Z")
Gee, and maybe [Meigs Field](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meigs_Field#Closure)would still be there. ---
**Author:** ![Llama\_Llogophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2009, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/general-aviation-presents-limited-security-threat/500198/3 "2009-06-18T21:59:50Z")
Great, but I’m not holding my breath for the Washington ADIZ to go away any time soon. I’m a professional flight instructor, and I enjoy it very much. But frankly, I’m about one more stupid security regulation away from leaving aviation. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2009, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/general-aviation-presents-limited-security-threat/500198/4 "2009-06-19T20:35:40Z")
> [@gotpasswords](#): > > Gee, and maybe [Meigs Field](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meigs_Field#Closure)would still be there. No, he would have closed it anyway. I like this part of your link: > [@](#): > > When the airport was open, downtown Chicago was within Meigs Field’s Class D airspace, requiring two-way radio communication with the tower. The buildings in downtown Chicago are now in Class E/G airspace, which allows any airplane to legally fly as close as 1,000 feet (300 m) from these buildings with no radio communication at all. Ha! (Not that there’s a terrorist risk, but it would be funny if local pilots made the point that there’s less control now by swarming downtown.) ---
**Author:** ![Llama\_Llogophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2009, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/general-aviation-presents-limited-security-threat/500198/5 "2009-06-19T23:38:24Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > I like this part of your link: > > Ha! (Not that there’s a terrorist risk, but it would be funny if local pilots made the point that there’s less control now by swarming downtown.) Then there’s the fact that you can still fly the Hudson River. People I talk to are shocked to find that planes are still flitting around there, and that I do it all the time. Coming from the north, you can pass low over the George Washington Bridge, fly by all of Manhattan and Ground Zero, around the Statue of Liberty, and low over the Verazzano Bridge. Then you can fly just off the southern coast of Long Island at 500’ or below to avoid the JFK traffic. All of this can be done without talking to ATC. You only need a transponder, and you probably wouldn’t know if it wasn’t functioning. Kind of strange that this freedom still exists, yet the Washington ADIZ has become a nightmare for VFR traffic. I think everything should either go back to the way it was pre-9/11, or make everything super restrictive. What we have now are half measures that accomplish nothing except inconveniencing pilots, and deceiving the public. ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2009, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/general-aviation-presents-limited-security-threat/500198/6 "2009-06-20T04:58:40Z")
> [@Mach Tuck](#): > > ::: snip::: What we have now are half measures that accomplish nothing except inconveniencing pilots, and deceiving the public. That is all there has been since 911… 99.9999999% waste of everything… YMMV ---
**Author:** ![Llama\_Llogophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2009, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/general-aviation-presents-limited-security-threat/500198/7 "2009-06-20T13:19:02Z")
> [@GusNSpot](#): > > That is all there has been since 911… 99.9999999% waste of everything… > > YMMV Well, I won’t go that far. And I’ll slightly qualify my remark that things should go back to the way they were before 9/11. I meant that mostly in the context of airspace restrictions. Armoring cockpit doors made sense. Training aircrews to NEVER open that door when they suspect a problem made sense. There are probably other examples of appropriate changes. But things like the Washington ADIZ are ridiculous. Especially in view of the lack of similar restrictions elsewhere, which is what I was attempting to illustrate with the New York example. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2009, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/general-aviation-presents-limited-security-threat/500198/8 "2009-06-20T15:09:17Z")
The Washington ADIZ is what made me walk away from my private pilot license. I love flying, I have enough money and time to do it. Dealing with insane airspace issues and the FAA? I could deal, maybe. Dealing with insane airspace issues and F-16s? Fuck it.