Business jets pose a little-regulated attack opportunity

By Glen Johnson, Globe Staff, 9/18/2001

WASHINGTON - There's a big loophole in the nation's broadened aviation
safety rules.

The focus on making airliners more secure after last week's terrorist
hijackings ignores the fleet of fast and increasingly large corporate jets
that fly in and out of major cities each day, none of them subject to the
new rules, or even to the less stringent ones formerly in force.

Passengers on the estimated 8,000 business jets operating in the United
States are not checked to see whether they are carrying a knife or a gun.
They generally board directly off the tarmac. Their bags aren't screened
before going in the cargo hold. And there's little to prevent a wealthy
terrorist from buying or chartering a fully fueled corporate jet - most of
which lack the safety buffer of a cockpit door - and pointing it at Quincy
Market, Fenway Park, or any of the National Football League stadiums that
will be filled next weekend.

''I could take off from National Airport on a northern departure and be in
Trent Lott's Capitol hideaway in about eight seconds,'' said one aviation
specialist who raised the issue on the condition of anonymity. ''I can be
Osama bin Laden under an alias. All he has to do is pony up the money and
he's got a new missile.''

That risk may partly explain why Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport
is the only major airfield in the country to remain closed since the Sept.
11 hijackings. The four commandeered planes, with 266 aboard, crashed into
the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and an abandoned strip mine outside
Pittsburgh. The death toll is expected to reach or exceed 5,000.

The National Security Council has deemed Reagan National, which sits beside
the Potomac River in neighboring Arlington, Va., a threat to government
leaders.

The business jet issue has been placed on the Federal Aviation
Administration's review list, admittedly below its primary concern for
making airline travel more secure.

''Obviously, we're aware of that,'' said FAA spokesman Les Dorr. ''There are
obviously a lot of areas of aviation and security that are being reviewed
and will be reviewed as a result of these incidents, but I can't speculate
on what changes will be made for those particular aircraft.''

The National Business Aviation Association, a leading trade group, believes
the threat posed by business jets is minimal because most are owner-operated
and passengers are known. In essence, the operators provide a personal
screening.

However, a spokesman conceded authorities may have to get a better handle on
the backgrounds of people who own the jets.

''Given the nature of our operations, I don't think the possibility of a
hijacking is an imminent threat. I think the misuse of an aircraft is
something we have to address,'' said David Almy, a spokesman for the trade
association.

The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, which represents 375,000 people
in the general aviation community, conceded business jets may pose a threat,
but said its priority is getting the national aviation system back to full
operation.

''As a nation, we have to look at all the possibilities, but it's not just
aviation,'' said Warren Morningstar, spokesman for the group.

''You have to remember that after the Oklahoma City bombing, we didn't ban
Ryder trucks from the road or do security checks before you rented one. The
reality of modern life is that almost any object can be turned into a
terrorist weapon. As a matter of national debate, we will have to look at
how far we go in restricting personal freedoms with respect to national
security,'' Morningstar said.

General aviation aircraft range from single-seat crop dusters and
twin-engine trainers up to business jets with famous names like Lear,
Hawker, and Gulfstream. Those planes, which typically seat about a dozen
people, are most prized for their speed, which can surpass that of
airliners.

Globalization, the economic boom of the '90s, and commercial airline delays
have expanded the popularity of business jets. The worldwide fleet had more
than 11,100 aircraft at the end of 2000, more than twice as many as in 1980.
The Raytheon Co. of Lexington has benefited through its aircraft division in
Wichita, Kan., which makes Hawker jets and King Air turboprops.

The popularity of the planes has led to even bigger incarnations, such as
the Boeing business jet - a private version of the 737 - and the Airbus
corporate jetliner. It's a private version of the A-319, which is used on US
Airways Shuttle routes. Private Boeing 727s are also available for celebrity
charter, and Paul Allen, the billionaire Microsoft co-founder, travels in
his own Boeing 757 - the same type of plane that crashed into the Pentagon.

The more than 6,100 companies that belong to the National Business Aviation
Association prize their jets for their flexibility, comfort, and privacy.
Many are owned by corporations with strict requirements for hiring pilots
and tight security for their airplanes. They face most of the same
inspection requirements imposed on commercial planes and have compiled a
sterling safety record.

The difference is that the same safety standards do not apply to their
passengers, who can charter a plane with a credit card or split a
''fractional ownership'' with others.

Passengers do not have to walk through magnetometers that check for guns.
They do not face an airport check-in clerk who asks whether they've kept
their bags in their possession since packing. None of their luggage is
checked for bombs - all on the assumption that anyone getting on a private
plane values his or her own life.

Last week's crashes challenge the validity of that assumption.

The Bush administration said the four planes crashed after teams of
hijackers armed with knives and box cutters took control and steered them on
suicide missions.

A little more than 24 hours later, the FAA decided to subject airline
passengers to more rigorous security checks. All airports and airplanes now
receive thorough inspections, curbside luggage check-in has been
discontinued, knives and other cutting instruments have been banned beyond
security checkpoints, and the use of armed sky marshals is being expanded.

Yet none of the new rules applies to general aviation aircraft, in
particular to speedy and sizable business jets. The threat they can pose is
most vivid in Washington.

Reagan National was a hub for all types of business jets before the
hijackings, and any one of them could have been steered into the Pentagon or
the White House with only seconds' warning for the authorities. In fact, the
private jets were often given an alternate approach and takeoff pattern from
the airport that took them directly over the Pentagon. That kept the normal
pattern over the Potomac River free for commercial traffic.

Both types of airplanes were flown out of Reagan National over the weekend -
but only on a southern departure that took them away from the monuments and
government offices.

This story ran on page A1 of the Boston Globe on 9/18/2001.
© Copyright 2001 Globe Newspaper Company.
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