I think AOPA has made a major strategic error with their "Small planes
aren't a terrorist hazard." line. If someone pulls off an attack with one,
their whole position will collapse like a balloon pricked with a pin.

The fact is that small planes are an incredible hazard. Face it, there is
almost nothing that could stop a determined and willing to die pilot flying
50 agl unless exactly the right equipment and an AWACS are right on the
spot. We have enough of that to cover about .005% of the potential targets
that would paralyze the country with fear.

The real point is that GA aircraft are just one of about 500 such threats.
If it is justified to shut down GA then it is justified to lock down the
whole society. Destroying people's livelihoods and freedom when it won't
make the country as a whole safer but just move the threat from planes to
trucks, boats, you name it, is a precedent for a future grimmer in many ways
than the one we are in now.

Hell, a determined group could slowly fill an apartment in Manhattan with
rad waste and explosives carried in over a period of weeks in cardboard
boxes. Who pays attention to people moving in and out of cheap apartments
in New York? Shall we outlaw carrying cardboard boxes up stairs?

They have to catch these people where they live or at the borders. Trying
piecemeal to eliminate or control activities that could be part of a
terrorist plot will lead inevitably to a society more restricted and
controlled than even the one radical Islam envisions.

Now they are worried about carrying almanacs! I kid you not. See CNN or my
other post.

--
Roger Long