Here is the email address of the CBS Evening News, in case you want to
air your feelings about their program on general aviation:



If you watched the program (I didn't) and remember any of the
advertisers, you could do even bettering by emailing the advertiser
and c-c-ing CBS. There is nothing like a pinch in the pocketbook!

all the best -- Dan Ford
email:

see the Warbird's Forum at www.warbirdforum.com
and the Piper Cub Forum at www.pipercubforum.com

Dear CBS News,

Has the National Enquirerer taken over CBS news in a hostile takeover?
I would have expected to hear about it in the financial news.

Your piece sensationalizing the potential for a General Aviation
aircraft being used as a weapon which aired on 1/14/2004 is the kind
of attention grabbing tripe that I would expect from the National
Enquirer, not a mainstream television news agency.

Apparently your reporters lack the skills and education to apply
critical thinking to their reporting. Ground-based transportation
systems have less security than GA aircraft, are easier to obtain,
require less skill to operate, and can carry significantly higher
payloads than the majority of GA aircraft. They are also capable of
delivering payloads to almost any location in America. The ease with
which car bombs are delivered to targets in Baghdad Iraq despite the
presence of armed U.S. soldiers should clearly illustrate that ground
vehicles are an equal or greater threat when compared to light
aircraft.

Is your objective to shut down General Aviation by encouraging the
imposition of onerous restrictions and expenses on a struggling
industry? Will your next target be small boats, personal automobiles,
and light rental trucks? Should Americans be required to show their
"papers" to pass armed checkpoints on every major highway in America?
Just exactly where is CBS news trying to lead the American public with
their propaganda?

Enquiring minds would like to know...

Dean Wilkinson

I just had to write them also. What trash--anything to stir up the unknowing
American public----Mac

I Tivo'd the program and will compile and post a list of all the
advertisers this weekend...

First time I used the Tivo to SEE the commercials instead of skip 'em! :)


Cub Driver > wrote in
:

>
> Here is the email address of the CBS Evening News, in case you want to
> air your feelings about their program on general aviation:
>
>
>
> If you watched the program (I didn't) and remember any of the
> advertisers, you could do even bettering by emailing the advertiser
> and c-c-ing CBS. There is nothing like a pinch in the pocketbook!
>
> all the best -- Dan Ford
> email:
>
> see the Warbird's Forum at www.warbirdforum.com
> and the Piper Cub Forum at www.pipercubforum.com

Dear Mr. Orr and others,

Last night's piece on general aviation was one of the finest examples
of Yellow Journalism since Hearst himself!

Apparently, background research is no longer practiced at CBS News.
One of the most popular rental (and GA) aircraft is the Cessna 172.
According to Cessna's own estimates
(http://skyhawk.cessna.com/spec_gen.chtml), this plane has a maximum
useful load of up to 837 pounds. Subtracting a pilot and fuel leaves
only a few hundred pounds of capacity.

Let's compare this to vehicles available from Ryder, the proven
vehicle of choice for delivering explosives (1993, WTC and 1995, OKC).
According to Ryder (http://www.ryder.com/images/vr_straight.jpg),
without a commercial driver's license you can rent a truck with a
capacity of up to 26,000 pounds!

While I am not an explosive's expert, further complicating your
paranoia about small planes as a terror weapon is how would one
trigger the explosives? Fire? How ironic it was for you to use
Charles Bishop's 2002 flight into a Tampa office building to make this
point - there was no post crash fire. Timer? Too much risk of damage
in the crash or premature detonation from flight delays. A manual
trigger? Do you really think someone could trigger an explosion after
penetrating a building but before their own death from the collision?

You conclude your piece by stating, "...vulnerability will be the
price for general aviations (sic) freedom"
(http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/01/14/eveningnews/main593216.shtm
l). To use a tired but true cliche, freedom isn't free. People have
died and continue to die for our freedoms, including a free press.
Along with many of our freedoms comes some responsibility. While I
realize that responsibility and credibility are distant memories for
most television "journalists" these days, when you sensationalize a
percieved threat while ignoring proven threats, you have done yourself
and the free press a diservice.