The Impending Death of Private Aviation

General aviation ("flying small planes") has been more or less on a downward spiral for a few decades. Three major blows in the 1970s and 1980s were (i) the tightening of depreciation rules by the IRS; (ii) the two fuel crises of the `70s; and (iii) the rise of suing everybody for everything. Add to that the fact that the stagnation in aircraft development and the end of the adventure era took aviation out of the glamor spotlight. Video games hurt, too. The upshot is that airports that used to be crowded with rows of small airplanes now have a lot fewer. Small airports also closed at a rate of one a week, sometimes because the old owners died and development pressures, sometimes because and obstinate bureaucrats forced them (Chicago's Mayor Daley II being the worst offender [may his insides be eaten out by bugs]).

But the final bullet in the ear of general aviation may be administered by the Transportation Security Administration (motto: "Stealing Your Shit Since 2001"). The TSA, having made airline travel into a nightmare where you have to partially disrobe while the TSA employees steal things from your bags, now has embarked on its quest to make it impossible to fly private airplanes.

Their next step is to require all operator of airplanes that have a maximum takeoff weight of over 12,500 pounds to screen their pilots and passengers at a whole passel of airports. This is the list of airports. I have flown out of a few of them and I can assure you that, based on that experience, many, if not most of those airports do not have the capability to screen a damn thing.

I submit four points for your consideration:

First: Nobody has offered up a bit of evidence to support any need to do this. If you go through the rule, the justifications buried within the rule sound more like a bad pitch for a Fox TV show than anything grounded in reality. The justifications for this rule are of the "if your aunt had wheels, she'd be a wagon, so we had better prevent her getting wheels" variety. The plan envisioned by the TSA is "security theater:" A program, paid for by the operators of airplanes and airports, whose sole function is to make it appear that the TSA is doing something.

Second: Anybody who thinks that this program will stop at airplanes with MTOWs over 12,500# is fooling themselves. This program will be extended, first to all multi-engined airplanes and then to the rest of the civil fleet. The TSA's goal is to shut down all private aviation in this nation. This rule is nothing more than a giant power-grab by the TSA.

Third: Does anyone really think that it will accomplish a damned thing to screen the corporate executives before they step aboard their Citation? What benefit to our national security will be provided by rooting through Oprah Winfrey's luggage before she boards her Gulfstream?

Fourth: All the TSA is doing with its proposed rule is checking off the boxes on the form. The TSA will ram this rule down the throats of the aviation community unless we can convince the Congress and the Obama Administration that this is a really bad idea.

So write your congressman, write your senators and, if you have any contacts or pull, use them.

Kill this rule.