comments?

http://www.strategypage.com/fyeo/qnd...get=URBANG.HTM

excerpt:

While passenger aircraft are now pretty secure, the same is not the case for
commercial freighters and private aircraft. It is quite possible that a smaller
aircraft, or long range transports from foreign nations, could be used for
suicide attacks. This scenario has terrorists renting a small two engine
aircraft (like the Piper Aztec or Cessna Businessliner) and flying off to any
target within several hundred miles. These aircraft rent for about $250 an hour
(with a 3-4 hour minimum). They have a cargo capacity of about half a ton, and
that could be filled with explosives. This would give the terrorists the
equivalent of an American cruise missile (which has a one ton warhead.) These
aircraft have a maximum take off weight of about three tons and only carry
about 500 pounds of fuel. Probably would not bring down a large skyscraper, but
would do a lot of damage to the White House or most other government buildings
in Washington. You can buy these aircraft second hand for $200-300,000.

I hate stuff like this, but I think it's better to toss it out there and shine
light on it than stick my head in the sand and pretend it isn't there.





www.Rosspilot.com

You can also drive down a street shooting people at random and there is not
much anybody can do to stop you.

Sure, it is possible to use small aircraft for a terrorist attack. The
question is, what do you do about it? There is really not much of anything
anyone can do to prevent it.

Maybe the asteroid is coming, but I am not going to spend a lot of time
worrying about it.

This would be the typical answer from a GA pilot. For the vast majority of
non-pilots (which is reality), they have NOTHING to lose by shutting down
GA. The benefits for them are clear -- elimination of another threat which
they have no knowledge about. On the other hand, guns or other items which
could be used to kill are owned by a large diverse group of people. Trying
to ban those could be highly detrimental to a politicians career if not
worse. For us, the answer is clear, as you have put it below, try to look at
it from the other side of the chainlink fence. The AOPA and the few in
government interested in aviation are the only people standing between us
and the shutting down of GA as we know it.

"C J Campbell" wrote in message
...
You can also drive down a street shooting people at random and there is
not
much anybody can do to stop you.

Sure, it is possible to use small aircraft for a terrorist attack. The
question is, what do you do about it? There is really not much of anything
anyone can do to prevent it.

Maybe the asteroid is coming, but I am not going to spend a lot of time
worrying about it.

"S Narayan" wrote in message
...
| This would be the typical answer from a GA pilot. For the vast majority of
| non-pilots (which is reality), they have NOTHING to lose by shutting down
| GA.

It would be more accurate to say that the general public does not know what
they would lose by shutting down GA.

If they shut down GA, most of the general public would have no idea why they
have no jobs, why they can't get their mail, why their doctor or lawyer or
CPA can no longer serve them, why their forests are burning down, why their
seafood suddenly has become more valuable than gold in the few places it is
still available, why children are suddenly dying of cancer, etc. The public
would just blame it on bad handling of "the economy," whatever that is.

"C J Campbell" wrote in message
...

"S Narayan" wrote in message
...
| This would be the typical answer from a GA pilot. For the vast majority
of
| non-pilots (which is reality), they have NOTHING to lose by shutting
down
| GA.

It would be more accurate to say that the general public does not know
what
they would lose by shutting down GA.

If they shut down GA, most of the general public would have no idea why
they
have no jobs, why they can't get their mail, why their doctor or lawyer or
CPA can no longer serve them, why their forests are burning down, why
their
seafood suddenly has become more valuable than gold in the few places it
is
still available, why children are suddenly dying of cancer, etc. The
public
would just blame it on bad handling of "the economy," whatever that is.


"However, we cannot opt out of economic issues. Every citizen and every
official they elect has an affect on the economy. Our only options are to be
informed or uninformed when making our choices in the economy or in the
voting booth.
Unfortunately, those who are uninformed -- or, worse yet misinformed -- when
it comes to economics include the intelligentsia, even when they have Ph.D.s
in other fields.

"Economics as a profession has some responsibility for this widespread lack
of understanding. Highly sophisticated economic analysis can be found in
courses on campuses where a majority of the students have no real
understanding of something as elementary as supply and demand.

"Even students taking introductory economics as their one and only course in
the subject may get little that they can take with them out into the world
as citizens and voters. Introductory economics is too often taught as if the
students in it were all potential economists who had to be introduced to the
standard graphs, equations and jargon that they will need in higher level
courses or in the profession." -- Thomas Sowell, _Thoughts on the 'Dismal'
Science_, December 26, 2003

On Mon, 29 Dec 2003 23:48:52 -0800, "C J Campbell"
wrote:


"S Narayan" wrote in message
...
| This would be the typical answer from a GA pilot. For the vast majority of
| non-pilots (which is reality), they have NOTHING to lose by shutting down
| GA.

It would be more accurate to say that the general public does not know what
they would lose by shutting down GA.

If they shut down GA, most of the general public would have no idea why they
have no jobs, why they can't get their mail, why their doctor or lawyer or
CPA can no longer serve them, why their forests are burning down, why their
seafood suddenly has become more valuable than gold in the few places it is
still available, why children are suddenly dying of cancer, etc.

....why it's no longer possible to get checks returned in the statement
each month, why the rural economy in Alaska has collapsed, why the
organ transplant system has fractured or been destroyed, why there is
suddenly a shortage of pilots in the U.S...

Rob

Why UPS, DHL and FedEx will only deliver to areas close by the
major airports that can handle 737s & 757s.

"C J Campbell" wrote in message
...

"S Narayan" wrote in message
...
| This would be the typical answer from a GA pilot. For the vast majority
of
| non-pilots (which is reality), they have NOTHING to lose by shutting
down
| GA.

It would be more accurate to say that the general public does not know
what
they would lose by shutting down GA.

Agreed.


If they shut down GA, most of the general public would have no idea why
they
have no jobs, why they can't get their mail, why their doctor or lawyer or
CPA can no longer serve them, why their forests are burning down, why
their
seafood suddenly has become more valuable than gold in the few places it
is
still available, why children are suddenly dying of cancer, etc. The
public
would just blame it on bad handling of "the economy," whatever that is.


Let's not forget crop dusters, aerial surveying, photography, pipeline
patrolling etc..
So there goes the cheap, plentiful food from agriculture, more fires and
less security.
Less tourism to some of the more inaccessible locales.
In addition, Alaska might as well be boarded up.

S Narayan wrote:



Let's not forget crop dusters, aerial surveying, photography, pipeline
patrolling etc..
So there goes the cheap, plentiful food from agriculture, more fires and
less security.
Less tourism to some of the more inaccessible locales.
In addition, Alaska might as well be boarded up.

Forget it. The average person wouldn't understand the consequences of
shutting down oxygen.

- Andrew

The truth is using a small aircraft for a terrorist act would be pretty
easy, cheap and effective. The other side of that is, of course, so what? As
we all know, it is easy to rent a truck, strap explosives around one's body,
bring guns into a school, etc. The issue is not the delivery mechanism.

As has been said often, and again recently in this forum, we are becoming a
cowering nation. I have no problem acting upon real and significant threats,
but I hate the insidious use of the "war on terror" to shape public policy
that infringes on rights and diseminates meaningless alerts, leading to
"news " articles about simple acts like busting airspace and fashion changes
to airport friendly shoes...

Sometimes I feel like I must have been born at the luckiest time in US
history. I spent my 20's and 30's after WWII, polio, smallpox, the
depression... before AIDS, overcrowded cities, and now the war on terrorism.

Michael



"Rosspilot" wrote in message
...

http://www.strategypage.com/fyeo/qnd...get=URBANG.HTM

excerpt:

While passenger aircraft are now pretty secure, the same is not the case
for
commercial freighters and private aircraft. It is quite possible that a
smaller
aircraft, or long range transports from foreign nations, could be used for
suicide attacks. This scenario has terrorists renting a small two engine
aircraft (like the Piper Aztec or Cessna Businessliner) and flying off to
any
target within several hundred miles. These aircraft rent for about $250 an
hour
(with a 3-4 hour minimum). They have a cargo capacity of about half a ton,
and
that could be filled with explosives. This would give the terrorists the
equivalent of an American cruise missile (which has a one ton warhead.)
These
aircraft have a maximum take off weight of about three tons and only carry
about 500 pounds of fuel. Probably would not bring down a large
skyscraper, but
would do a lot of damage to the White House or most other government
buildings
in Washington. You can buy these aircraft second hand for $200-300,000.


I hate stuff like this, but I think it's better to toss it out there and
shine
light on it than stick my head in the sand and pretend it isn't there.





www.Rosspilot.com