=20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This article was sent to you by someone who found it on SF Gate. The original article can be found on SFGate.com here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=3D/news/archive/2003/01/06/n= ational1754EST0731.DTL ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Monday, January 6, 2003 (AP) As security tightens around big airports, small airports may be vulnerable LESLIE MILLER, Associated Press Writer (01-06) 14:54 PST WASHINGTON (AP) -- Much has been done to improve security at America's commercial airports, but gaps remain in the nation's aviation system. Tens of thousands of small private planes are vulnerable to the kind of incident that occurred Sunday in Germany, where a man stole a motorized glider and threatened to crash it into Frankfurt's financial center before landing without incident. One year ago Monday, a 15-year-old boy crashed a stolen plane into a Tam= pa skyscraper. Only the boy was killed. It's unlikely that small planes will ever receive the kind of protection given to commercial airliners. It would take billions of dollars to hire security guards and install special locks, fencing and metal detectors at each of the 5,000 U.S. airports that don't have scheduled service. Warren Morningstar, spokesman for the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, acknowledged there are security gaps but said every one of those airports has done something to increase security since Sept. 11. "Can we ever make these airports impenetrable?" he asked. "If we did, they'd no longer be airports, they'd be fortresses." Private pilots now must carry government-issued IDs and a hot line has been set up for them to report suspicious behavior around airports. And flight restrictions for small planes have been imposed around Washington, D.C., military installations and large public gatherings such as the Super Bowl. "We think these measures have helped," said Robert Johnson, spokesman for the Transportation Security Administration. The agency, created in response to the terror attacks, doesn't think small planes present as high a risk as big airliners. In the nation's 429 commercial airports, the government has spent billio= ns hiring security personnel and installing high-tech security equipment. Each airport has an all-federal work force that now screens baggage, though the method varies from airport to airport. There also are thousands of air marshals flying on commercial airliners. Private planes that fly out of commercial airports undergo the same scrutiny as airliners, Morningstar said. But the security at smaller, "public-use" airports varies tremendously. Some of the bigger airports, like Burke Lakefront in Cleveland, increased patrols and vehicle inspections since the attacks. But small airports like the one near Plum Island in Newburyport, Mass. -- little more than a long asphalt strip -- can't afford much more than a fence that could be easily scaled. Last summer the agency issued an alert saying terrorists may turn to private planes and airports because of stepped-up security at commercial airports and airlines. Morningstar said fears are overblown that a small plane can cause anywhe= re near the damage of a commercial airliner. A typical private plane weighs less than a Honda Civic and carries about 50 gallons of fuel, less than 1 percent of the 25,000 gallons a Boeing 767 can hold. "No one's just going to hand the keys over to someone who says, `I want = to own an airplane'," Morningstar said. Many pilots who don't want their valuable planes hot-wired and stolen wi= ll put a lock on the throttle or the chain holding it to the ground, or chain the propellor, Morningstar said. Some fear private planes could easily be used to spread panic, as they d= id on Sunday. A man described as mentally disturbed circled Frankfurt's financial district for two hours, telling air traffic controllers he'd crash into European Central Bank headquarters. During his flight, military jets shadowed him, Frankfurt's airport was closed and authorities ordered thousands of people to leave the city's buildings before he was persuaded to land safely. In this country, several of the Sept. 11 terrorists trained on small private planes, and the government is now checking the background of all foreign students at flight schools. Crop dusters nationwide were grounded three times after the attacks and anthrax scare. "Of course we're concerned about it," said Capt. Steve Luckey, chairman = of the Air Line Pilots Association's national security committee. "(Private planes) are very difficult to protect." Luckey said intelligence, rather than fences and guards, is what's needed to prevent terrorism because it will ultimately be impossible to keep terrorists from weapons -- including the more than 200,000 private planes in the United States. The private pilots' association recommended the TSA review pilot certificates to make sure none are on terrorist watch lists. On the Net: Aircraft Pilots and Owners Association: www.aopa.org =20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2003 AP