Alaska pilots should be wary

The Transportation Security Administration is about to make life a little more miserable for small businesses that fly planes for profit.

If the federal government approves a package of new security standards, any company with planes that weigh 12,500 pounds or more will be affected. That weight standard won’t affect most private aviators who fly Cessnas and the like. Even planes as big as a twin Otter won’t be bothered. But many charter companies, small passenger services and air freight outfits will be affected by more government.

The TSA plans would require pilots and mechanics to undergo background checks and passengers would have to be checked against the government’s no-fly list. All at the cost of the business owners.

And, the new regulations would prohibit the planes from carrying thousands of items. Many of these companies fly fuel, building materials and other goods that would likely be on the list of hazardous materials banned from the airways.

If people in the Bush think goods are expensive now, wait until these aviation companies have to tack on more money to cover the expenses associated with the new regulations.

And gone will be the day when you can arrive at the Homer airport, or any other small airfield in the state, check your bags and get on the plane. You’ll go through security like you do in Anchorage or Dulles or O’Hare. There’s even the possibility some passenger flights would require an air marshal aboard.

The bright side, if there is one, is the new regs would create a few more jobs because aviation companies won’t be trusted to do the screenings themselves.

A TSA spokesman told an Atlanta’s Fox affiliate that the new measures would allow the government to create “a baseline of security for larger general aviation aircraft. Aircraft that are large enough, fast enough to be used as a weapon. We want to make sure general aviation doesn’t become an attractive target.”

Companies like Hageland Aviation don’t seem like threats to the nation’s security, but if a radical can commandeer a passenger jet and fly it into a skyscraper, then it’s not unreasonable to think someone of that bent could hijack a DC-3 and fly it into the pipeline.

It seems like there should be an easier way to make sure that doesn’t happen.

These new rules have a smell to it like No Child Left Behind. What works in Kansas doesn’t necessarily work here.

If the new regulations go into effect, somebody in McGrath will have job at the airport. And that’s good, because he’ll need it to pay for the extra cost of everything that lands there.