ABCNEWS.com
Jan. 8, 2002

Unsafe at Any Altitude?
Tampa Crash Brings Scrutiny to Private-Plane Business

By Peter Dizikes

It appears that no one knew Charles Bishop was planning to steer a Cessna 172 from his flight school into a Tampa high-rise. But some are wondering why he had the chance to do so.

On Saturday, Bishop, a 15-year-old student who may have acted out of sympathy to terrorist leader Osama bin Laden, took off from the National Aviation flight school in St. Petersburg and slammed his plane into the Bank of America Plaza building in Tampa, killing himself but no one else. It's the latest incident that has Americans on edge about the methods of flight schools. Many of the hijackers in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks also received flight training in the United States.

And it again raises an issue that first gained prominence after Sept. 11: Are flight schools, and the larger realm of private planes in need of greater federal regulation and security measures, or is it a business that should be allowed to continue using its current practices?

Business as Usual

Members of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, the main lobbying group for pilots flying "general aviation" craft — essentially, private planes, as opposed to commercial aircraft — say they know the answer to that question.

"This was not a breach of security, this was an abuse of trust," said Phil Boyer, president of the AOPA, in a statement released Monday.

Bishop, who was not cleared to fly alone, was assigned to do a pre-flight check of the Cessna while his instructor was working with other students. But then the youth suddenly took off by himself, launching a flight in which he came within 1,000 feet of a Southwest Airlines jet before smashing the plane into the skyscraper.

When contacted by ABCNEWS, instructors at multiple flight schools that train students to use the Cessna 172 — the same kind of plane Bishop crashed — say they have never before heard of a case in which a student readying a plane during the pre-flight process has taken off alone. And, they add, it is normal for an instructor to work with multiple students at the same time.

"Once the student has become proficient in the pre-flight, that's typical," says Penny Wilson of Triangle Aviation in Leesburg, Fla.

Michael Cronin, the lawyer for National Aviation has been publicly repeating that point since the crash took place.

"It is standard operating procedure at all flight schools and in compliance with FAA regulations that a student, be he minor or adult, goes through a preflight check-in by themselves," Cronin said on ABCNEWS' Good Morning America. "That's part of the learning process. In addition, this particular student was well-known here. There was no indication that he would take this sort of action."

'There Is No Security'

But critics say the incident shows all too plainly how the methods flight schools use could lead to further terrorist attacks.

"It probably wasn't a breach of security, because there is no security when it comes to flight schools," says Paul Hudson of the Aviation Consumer Action Project in Washington, D.C. "It's a shocking example of the complete lack of security with regard to general aviation aircraft."

Beyond specific training practices, observers say a larger question is who the flight schools let in. The United States has the world's most widespread and wide-open system of training pilots.

The Federal Aviation Administration issues licenses to pilots, but does not regulate admissions to flight schools. And Congress' new Aviation Security Act, passed on Nov. 19 deals primarily with commercial airline safety, although one clause restricts the flight training that can be given to non-residents.

"If you have the money, they will train you," says Hudson. "It shows a laxness and just a plain lack of security."

Billie Vincent, a former FAA security chief, says background checks should be used to screen out potential pilots with a history of reckless or drunken behavior.

"That's one of the things that can and should be added," says Vincent. "You're looking for the stability of the individual."

Training of the sort Bishop was taking is not terribly expensive, either. The going rate for Cessna 172 training in Florida is between $5,000 and $6,000.

Will the FAA Act?

The FAA does monitor the practices of flight schools by making periodic visits, running some checks on applicants, scrutinizing the flying records of pilots who have graduated from flight schools, and by taking flights with the schools' instructors.

And many flight schools are in the habit of alerting authorities to suspicious behavior. The Minnesota flight school used by terrorist suspect Zacarias Moussaoui notified the FBI in August that Moussaoui had inquired about flying commercial airlines, but was not interested in takeoffs or landings, regarded by instructors as a sign of trouble.

For its part, the AOPA has issued recommendations for air security calling for more thorough identifications checks and better coordination with law-enforcement officials.

But ultimately, attempts by regulators or Congress to further limit private-plane activities or any part of the general-aviation industry seem likely to be met with solid resistance. The AOPA, while known for its emphasis on safety, has a notably successful lobbying arm. A 1998 attempt by the FAA to allow its inspectors to write on-the-spot tickets for rules violations was dropped in the face of sustained opposition.

After Sept. 11, most private planes were grounded for the better part of three months, and no-fly zones — since relaxed — were established around the downtowns of many major cities. But the FAA has not instituted any new permanent regulations on general-aviation planes.

The Department of Transportation has also sent Congress a list of other possible security measures, but lawmakers have yet to act on them.

ABC NEWS' Berry Serafin contributed to this report.

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