The concept is such a logical way to keep an eye on the thousands of GA airports across the United States that the Transportation Security Administration, which is more focused on large air carrier airports for now, has partnered with AOPA to provide a simple, easy-to-remember nationwide toll-free reporting hotline. It's 866/GA-SECURE (866/427-3287).
Scheduled to be up and running December 1, 2002, the hotline will be staffed 24 hours a day. Operators will route any information called in directly to the proper local authorities. That means, for instance, that if you're a student pilot and you see something during one of the stops on one of your solo cross-country trips, you don't have to waste time looking up the local police department's phone number. You just call 866/GA-SECURE.
While the toll-free number is a key to making the whole thing work, AOPA's Airport Watch program is much more than just a phone number. It also includes printed materials such as posters and pamphlets showing examples of suspicious activity, steps pilots can take to help law enforcement, and sensible precautions for improving airport security. AOPA also has produced a training video with several terrorist scenarios acted out. Law enforcement officials participated in the development and production of the videotapes, providing realism for the police response to the threats shown on the tape.
So what can you do to help? First, if you're a relatively new student at the flight school, don't be offended if someone asks you what you're doing on the flight line. Instead, be glad that someone thinks enough of your airport to look after its security. Carry a driver's license or other government-issued photo ID as well as your student or pilot certificate to show who you are and that you have a reason to be there.
The Airport Watch pamphlet mentions several other things you can do. They include:
- Look for pilots who appear to be under the control of someone else.
- Look for anyone trying to access an aircraft through force.
- Look for anyone who misuses aviation lingo - or seems too eager to use all of the lingo.
- Introduce yourself to new faces at your airport. At once, you can resolve many questions about these folks.
- Remember to lock the aircraft anytime you leave it, even if it's just to run into the FBO to use the restroom or pay for fuel.
Use common sense. None of these items necessarily indicates a terrorist threat. But listen to your gut instinct and follow through.
There are those in the general public who, through lack of understanding, continue to clamor for the same type of security measures at all airports as those at the big air carrier airports like O'Hare, JFK, or LAX. Despite repeated efforts by AOPA and others in the GA community, they refuse to see that when it comes to GA airport security, one size does not fit all. They ignore the question of who pays for all the extra security. The small-town government with a 3,000-foot-long municipal airfield? The family that decides to open its grass strip to the public? Those people who demand international airport-style security for every airfield ignore the fact that the average GA aircraft, fully loaded, weighs less than many compact cars weigh empty - or carries barely 50 gallons of fuel, slightly more than a large SUV.
AOPA is proud to have taken this very proactive position by developing the Airport Watch program, and even prouder on behalf of our members to have received the endorsement of the very regulators who were looking at how to handle GA airports. Read the handouts. Watch the video. Be on the lookout for anything unusual around your airport. And remember the toll-free number: 866/GA-SECURE.
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