I have been thinking on the state of General Aviation a lot lately. This Memorial Weekend we had intended to fly the Bellanca to a Reeves Family reunion in Kirksville Missouri. The weather here in Salida Colorado, unusually, was what encouraged us to stay home. It has been a while since I have seen this much rain, for a number of days in a row, here. So I find myself here on Memorial Day, thinking of my service in the US Navy and about our government today.
Mary and I recently made our" search for spring" trip to Washington DC. We have children to visit there and of course "Spring". It comes so late here at our 7000 ft. elevation. In the course of touring the Capitol and it's new visitor center, we got to experience security firsthand how security is practiced there. It is ridiculous. We had to go through three different levels of security to go and sit in either of the House or Senate Galleries. It would seem like once you have come through security into the visitor center that would be enough. As we moved around the Mall, in and out of buildings and Museum we were constantly being checked. But this is the same mentality that empties the Capital if a Cessna 152 two passenger airplane, weighing less than a honda, gets disoriented and happens to fly near the Capital. ( though rental trucks still move freely through the streets of Washington DC.)
So ever since 9-11 anyone who holds a pilots license in the United States or who is training to obtain one, is backgrounded by the FAA and I assume homeland security. I would not continue to be allowed to hold a pilots certificate if I could not pass this scrutiny. Yet the TSA has decided that any little airport in America that has a commercial (small commutor planes) flight has to have security badges for anyone on the ramp. So if I fly from Salida over to Montrose Colorado to visit an engine rebuilder I have to have a badge (about $200) or be escorted! This is overkill security on a population that is already scrutinized constantly (unlike rental truck drivers) But if you are not a pilot would this be on your mind as a concern? Of course not, in fact, you might find it reassuring even if you didn't have all the facts. We have given way to many rights away for a false sense of security. The TSA and Homeland Security should not be allowed to create rules looking for a problem. Clearly this is a government agency that should be reigned in, but it can only happen if everyone says enough. User fees, security rules, all work because of divide and conquer. We are in this together folks, and a restriction placed on me today will at some point have something similar placed on you tomorrow. Let's start encouraging our Federal Government to act on common sense instead of fear. Let us on this Memorial Day think of those who died fighting for our freedom and reaffirm our commitment to insisting that we keep the freedoms that were so much our light to the rest of the world. As we look forward from today to the 4th of July lets remember this is the "land of the free, the home of the brave".
Will, by the River.
