Private Charter Flights Need Tighter Security, Experts Say
BY CHUCK McCUTCHEON

HOMELAND SECURITY 
Private Charter Flights Need Tighter Security, Experts Say
BY CHUCK McCUTCHEON
Newhouse News Service 

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration is moving to tighten security 
on private charter airplane flights, but some homeland security experts 
and lawmakers say more needs to be done to prevent such planes from 
being used as bombs.

Private charter operators cater to business executives, sports teams 
and others who can pay extra for special flights. They often use more 
than 5,000 small airports that usually lack the metal-detection equipment 
or security workers required at the 429 airports with scheduled commercial 
flights. And they differ from public charters involving large tour groups, 
where passengers must go through the same security procedures as those 
on commercial airlines.

The Transportation Security Administration in January issued a rule 
covering security screening of passengers on private charter flights 
with at least 61 seats or a maximum takeoff weight of at least 100,000 pounds. 
A Boeing 767, by comparison, weighs around 345,000 pounds at takeoff.

The regulation includes many of the same passenger screening procedures 
used for commercial flights, though hand-held metal detectors can be 
used at smaller airports. The Transportation Security Administration 
also is allowing the use of non-federal screeners in some cases.

Starting April 1, the TSA is expected to add stricter security requirements 
for operators of many smaller charter planes, including background checks 
and fingerprinting of workers as well as certain cockpit measures.

But some observers want the TSA to go even further. They note that although 
such planes could not cause the damage of the 767s that hit the World Trade 
Center on Sept. 11, 2001, they could still be deadly weapons for terrorists.

"There hasn't been a lot of progress" on improving charter security, 
said Phil Anderson, a domestic security specialist for the Center for 
Strategic and International Studies, a national security think tank. 
"The TSA does not possess the capability to enforce standards across 
the entire charter or general aviation sector. What's the enforcement mechanism? 
They've got to rely on industry to do it."

Senate Democrats who recently graded the administration's homeland security 
efforts gave charter security a "C," saying planes with at least 15 seats 
should meet the same security standards as large commercial jets. They noted 
that the new TSA rule exempts planes that are just below the 100,000-pound weight limit.

"These regulations fall far short of what I have consistently supported," 
said Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Wis., who has led the push for tighter regulation. 
He has noted that the explosive force of a 90,000-pound Gulfstream V jet 
can be greater than that of bombs like those the U.S. military dropped 
in Afghanistan.

But TSA officials say they are addressing charter security satisfactorily, 
given the multitude of terrorism threats and vulnerabilities the government faces.

"We don't have any threat information that tells us these smaller-sized 
aircraft are of particular interest to the terrorist," said Tom Blank, 
TSA's associate under secretary for security regulation and policy. 
"What we've tried to do is create a system of systems to begin to reduce 
and manage the risk. We'd move to put more stringent security regimes 
in place if there was a specific threat."

Federal officials have kept Washington's Reagan National Airport closed 
to charter flights since 9/11, citing ongoing security concerns.

Elsewhere, though, charter officials argue it is impractical and unfair 
to impose costly security requirements when the vast majority of airports 
and planes aren't likely to be terrorist targets.

"There are other ways to secure transportation than just taking a 
commercial airline model and applying it to a non-airline," 
said Jacqueline Rosser, manager of flight operations for the 
National Air Transportation Association, a non-profit group representing 
charter companies. "It's a little hard to have an airstrip on a 
zen lake in the middle of Alaska equipped with (metal detectors) 
when everybody's on a hunting trip."

Charlie Priester, who runs a prominent Chicago-area charter aviation company, 
agreed that "there can't be a one-size-fits-all approach" to aircraft security. 
He said many charter operators deal with the same regular clientele.

"If you and I get on a commercial air carrier and there are 200 people on it, 
we don't know anybody else on there," Priester said. "When people get on a 
charter flight, everybody knows everybody else. They're generally employees 
of one company."

Anderson, however, said he remains concerned that terrorists could build a 
track record simply by booking charter flights to scout them out before attacks. 
"You pay your bill, there's no incident, and with one flight you can become a 
known customer," he said.

The TSA's January rule originally was to address planes weighing 95,000 pounds 
or more, but the agency raised the weight threshold to just over 100,000 pounds 
in response to comments from charter companies and aircraft manufacturers.

Canada's Bombardier Aerospace, for instance, complained that its Global Express 
business jet was unfairly singled out for restriction while the smaller Gulfstream V 
was not.

Blank said the rule modification puts the TSA in line with international standards 
and still enables the agency to regulate older DC-9 jets that weigh around 100,000 pounds 
at takeoff.

Meanwhile, the agency's requirement on employee background checks and 
fingerprinting will apply to planes weighing 12,500 pounds or more. 
The TSA had hoped to have those regulations in place already, but 
postponed the startup until April because of the difficulty of many 
charter operators in setting up training and fingerprinting programs.

Ryan International Airlines in Wichita, Kan., expects to add eight 
workers to do screening and ground security for its charters, said 
Terry Cox, Ryan's director of security. "There's a little economic 
burden and training burden in adding a few people on the payroll," 
Cox said. "But it's something that's doable."

The TSA, in partnership with the non-profit Aircraft Owners and 
Pilots Association, has sent brochures and an 18-minute informational 
video to private pilots reminding them to be on guard for suspicious or 
unusual activity at small airports. The effort is part of an 
anti-terrorism program called Airport Watch.

"We're asking you to become highly aware of your surroundings," 
Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said in the video.

(Chuck McCutcheon can be contacted at chuck.mccutcheon@newhouse.com)

http://www.newhousenews.com/archive/mccutcheon031203.html

http://www2.faa.gov/avr/afs/faa/8300/8300_vol4/4_005_00.pdf
http://www.airnet.com/Services/Charter/CharterBrochure.pdf