The New York Times
September 20, 2001

Safety Concerns Turn to Closing Gaping Holes in Security of Non-Commercial
Aircraft
By ANDREW C. REVKIN

With the country focused on safeguarding airliners from terrorism, aviation
experts say private cargo, charter and corporate aircraft may now be more
vulnerable to hijackings by suicide attackers.

Security experts and pilots said any terrorist pilot could strike with
whatever winged weapon was easiest to acquire — be it a cargo jet or a small
propeller plane parked at a rural airport.

This is alarming, they say, because until now security standards for cargo
planes have been less strict than for planes carrying passengers, and
because many small airports lack even rudimentary security measures like
fences, lights or guards.

Theft of private, cargo or charter planes is rare — it is mainly the
province of drug smugglers — and there has never been a hijacking of a
charter jet or cargo plane, aviation experts said. But they said a hijacking
would be easy to accomplish.

"We'll all have to change our course of conduct and be more cognizant of
what could happen," said Dale E. Froehlich, the president of Business
Aviation Services, an air cargo and charter company in Sioux Falls, S.D.

Mr. Froehlich noted that there are only two airports in South Dakota with
full security, control towers and the like. At the rest, he said, "Our
planes just fly in and meet a ground courier service for the package
transfer." He added that the Federal Aviation Administration was "concerned
about that, particularly during off hours."

As a result, representatives of aviation businesses will meet tomorrow with
federal law enforcement and aviation officials to discuss ways to reduce the
risks. "We're having this meeting to ensure that for the next 50 years we
can have the same terrorism-free record we've had for the last," said James
K. Coyne, the president of the National Air Transportation Association, a
trade group that helped organize the session. Companies represented by the
association own 11,000 propeller planes and 9,000 jets.

Meetings and conference calls have been convened all this week between
charter airlines and cargo carriers and federal officials. They have
discussed, among other things, providing access to terrorist databases at
the Federal Bureau of Investigation so clients not known to a company can be
screened.

Meanwhile, big cargo carriers, like Federal Express and United Parcel
Service, have intensified patrols around their runways and terminals.

But pilots say the planes remain vulnerable, particularly given the
differences in security regulations. For example, on cargo jets, federal
regulations require that the cockpit door remain open on takeoff and
landing, Federal Express pilots and officials said, conceivably exposing
pilots to attackers. The pilots said this rule should be reassessed.

"There is more security now, but on the cargo side you have a lot more
people in and around the plane uncontrolled," said Kevin Scheiterlein, who
pilots a Federal Express Airbus A-300 jet and is a spokesman for the union
representing company pilots.

Mr. Scheiterlein said the manhunt for terrorists and the intensified
security for passenger jets would naturally "funnel the vulnerability"
toward general aviation.

This week, a growing number of pilots for air freight companies were calling
for the right to carry firearms loaded with fragmenting aluminum or plastic
bullets that can knock down an assailant without perforating the jet's skin.

Many people in private aviation businesses said they were scrambling to
close security gaps.

Some cargo carriers have temporarily ended the common practice of providing
free "jump seat" rides to employees other than pilots or crew members and to
riders from other carriers.

Owners of small airports are hiring security consultants to come up with
plans for guarding parked airplanes. One such consultant, Mario Mercier,
from Tampa, Fla., said he was scheduled to travel to New Jersey next week to
review security for Morristown Municipal Airport, an airport about 20 miles
west of New York City.

"I can go to any small airport and you tell me which airplane you want to
break into and we just take off," Mr. Mercier said. "That's how easy it is."

Small planes lack the weight and fuel capacity to take down skyscrapers, but
could pose a large threat if loaded with chemical or biological agents or
radioactive substances, security experts said. They can also skim treetops
to avoid detection on radar.

Yesterday, Alison Duquette, a spokeswoman for the F.A.A., said two teams of
aviation experts were meeting through the rest of September to find ways to
tighten security for all aircraft.

Copyright 2001 The New York Times Company
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