TSA on the watch

I see on CNN that Tiger Woods 498 ton yacht slipped through security
surveillance. When the Coast Guard realized that something so big was in
port unexpectedly, they gave him the TFR busting treatment.

It went on to say that they don't worry about vessels under 300 tons. A ton
in this case is a volume measurement of 100 cubic feet so we are talking
about 30,000 cubic feet, 4286 square feet of 7 foot headroom. That's enough
to hide some usable quantities of nasty stuff or evil people.

Why is it that the TSA seems more concerned about the threat posed by my 172
(Lighter than the dinghy for many 200 ton vessels) than vehicles comparable
in size to a 747 that can tie up at any waterfront in the nation without
anyone saying "boo"?

Do you feel safer knowing that most of the people who could be watching our
coastlines are over in Iraq?

--

Roger Long

I don't know that the TSA is particularly worried about 172s. As much of a
pain that TFRs are .. I think the issue is really keeping the area sanitary
so
that they can spot something easier instead of having to pick it out of 100s
of planes flying in an area.


"Roger Long" wrote in message
...
I see on CNN that Tiger Woods 498 ton yacht slipped through security
surveillance. When the Coast Guard realized that something so big was in
port unexpectedly, they gave him the TFR busting treatment.

It went on to say that they don't worry about vessels under 300 tons. A
ton in this case is a volume measurement of 100 cubic feet so we are
talking about 30,000 cubic feet, 4286 square feet of 7 foot headroom.
That's enough to hide some usable quantities of nasty stuff or evil
people.

Why is it that the TSA seems more concerned about the threat posed by my
172 (Lighter than the dinghy for many 200 ton vessels) than vehicles
comparable in size to a 747 that can tie up at any waterfront in the
nation without anyone saying "boo"?

Do you feel safer knowing that most of the people who could be watching
our coastlines are over in Iraq?

--

Roger Long

"Roger Long" wrote:
Why is it that the TSA seems more concerned about the threat posed by my 172
(Lighter than the dinghy for many 200 ton vessels) than vehicles comparable
in size to a 747 that can tie up at any waterfront in the nation without
anyone saying "boo"?

Interesting. Our airspace was virtually shut down from Tues-Thurs this
week for the Kerry/Bush visit. My house is between three fairly busy
Class-D airports all within the TFR's 30-nm radius. Twice, two F-16s
went SCREAMING overhead to escort "little white Cessnas" down to the
nearest runway. I'm not complaining, of course it's good they're so
diligent, and I know it's very serious stuff ... but ... watching, you
have to know those guys in the F-16s are loving their job! I mean I
doubt the response to: "Yo -- you guys have to go force down another
Cessna" is: "Awww...do we HAVE to?"

"OtisWinslow" wrote:

I don't know that the TSA is particularly worried about 172s. As much of a
pain that TFRs are .. I think the issue is really keeping the area sanitary
so that they can spot something easier instead of having to pick it out of
100s of planes flying in an area.

Good point, but they're obviously worried enough to send the big guys up
to force them down *immediately* rather than having any dialogue about
their intentions.

unicate wrote:
I mean I
doubt the response to: "Yo -- you guys have to go force down another
Cessna" is: "Awww...do we HAVE to?"

That is exactly their response. Margy spent some time at a conference
at Andrews summer before last and hung out with the DCANG whose assigment
is to chase down people with their F-16's.

We seriously gave thought to painting the 113th logo on the tail of the
Navion when we had it repainted :-)

"Roger Long" wrote in message
...

Do you feel safer knowing that most of the people who could be watching
our
coastlines are over in Iraq?

Most of the Coast Guard is in Iraq?

No, but if it really is a war, there must be something useful the other
services could be doing. If there are too many boats to worry about
anything under a couple hundred feet long sailing up the edge of Manhattan,
why are they worrying about airplanes?

--

Roger Long



"C J Campbell" wrote in message
...

"Roger Long" wrote in message
...

Do you feel safer knowing that most of the people who could be watching
our
coastlines are over in Iraq?

Most of the Coast Guard is in Iraq?

"Roger Long" wrote in message
...
No, but if it really is a war, there must be something useful the other
services could be doing. If there are too many boats to worry about
anything under a couple hundred feet long sailing up the edge of
Manhattan,
why are they worrying about airplanes?

Our military is much too small to effectively patrol these areas, even if we
devoted our entire resources to it. The war on drugs has proven that we
cannot make our borders impenetrable.

Like it or not, ordinary citizens such as longshoremen and even pilots are
an important part of national security. We just have to be on the watch for
anything out of the ordinary.

That does not mean we should condone waste of the resources we have.
Harassing Cessnas and investigating Tiger Woods as a terrorist is
unconscionable.

"Ron Natalie" wrote in message
m...
unicate wrote:
I mean I
doubt the response to: "Yo -- you guys have to go force down another
Cessna" is: "Awww...do we HAVE to?"

That is exactly their response. Margy spent some time at a conference
at Andrews summer before last and hung out with the DCANG whose assigment
is to chase down people with their F-16's.

We seriously gave thought to painting the 113th logo on the tail of the
Navion when we had it repainted :-)

I don't know how you resisted a temptation like that.

You are absolutely right. It's a huge problem. Faced with such a huge
problem, does it make sense to have most of our military resources busy
creating new thousands of new terrorists in Iraq?

Don't get me wrong. Sadam had to go. I admire the hell out of the people
that are doing it. Doing it the way we did it though was tragically stupid.

--

Roger Long



"C J Campbell" wrote in message
...

"Roger Long" wrote in message
...
No, but if it really is a war, there must be something useful the other
services could be doing. If there are too many boats to worry about
anything under a couple hundred feet long sailing up the edge of
Manhattan,
why are they worrying about airplanes?

Our military is much too small to effectively patrol these areas, even if
we
devoted our entire resources to it. The war on drugs has proven that we
cannot make our borders impenetrable.

Like it or not, ordinary citizens such as longshoremen and even pilots are
an important part of national security. We just have to be on the watch
for
anything out of the ordinary.

That does not mean we should condone waste of the resources we have.
Harassing Cessnas and investigating Tiger Woods as a terrorist is
unconscionable.