Bad news for General aviation...

[Guest]

It would appear that the feel good folks in some state governments are targeting GA pilots for the solution to terroriam...NJ and NY both have legislation on the governor desks mandating criminal background checks on ANYONE requesting flight instruction...including BFRs, Young Eagles, Cessnas orientation flight program, , upgrade training, etc...Some states are already stomping all over federal grounds in this, requiring pilots to stand in line behind apprehended criminals to be fingerprinted for their background checks...The sheer stupidity and ignorance of the legislators (NJ sent it to the Guv unopposed) is astounding!!! Do they realize the exodous of pilotsthis will create, as well as the closing of countless FBOs??Pure kneejerk, feel good, senseless legislation....again...See aopa.org for more info...GA is a easy target, didn't warrant the big gov't bailout after 9/11. Show me a rich FBO and I'll show you the exception....they're a dying breed like the family farmer.Sad...and stupid...Dave

[Guest mikehaska]

So many kneejerk reactions, it's sad.Wait a few years, and this will all pass over!

[Guest]

So, given your fears you seem to think (or know) that the majority of pilots have a criminal past that would exclude them from being allowed to fly their own plane were this to go into effect?I think it's a good idea. Would also prevent drugrunners from getting access to airtransport to transport their wares.

[Guest]

(Rant Mode ON)Flying has become incredibly expensive lately due to factors beyond the control of the pilots. These background checks will be mandated by the state on an activity already covered by fedral regulations. The cost of the background check will be borne by the pilot/student, which may also involve 6-12 months delay between application and the paperwork going through. This would require such a check every 2 years so you could accomplish your bienniel flight review required by federal regs (and plan ahead, screw up your timing and you can't take the check flight, so can't fly at all, and many, if not most, GA pilots fly for business purposes.) Or say I want to do as I did last summer, and rent a plane while ona short notice vacation in FL. This requires a check flight there (a.k.a.training) What if, while Colo doesn't require the background check, FL does? Do I need to apply for a FL background check 6-9 months ahead of time (must do this in FL, as CO doesnt do pilot checks) This would require a special trip there 9 months ahead to set the background check in process, with the costs of that trip... logistically impractical at best. Who suffers? Me, the honest pilot. The FBO who makes a living renting to pilots like me (he is already spending thousands alone on the liability insurance for his fleet of 4 planes, let alone maint, and operating costs, maybe he should just shut down and find a real line of work...)You want to take a Cessna orientation flight this weekend?..Forget it (unless you plopped down a bunch of bucks last fall at the local police department)I'm a VFR pilot. I'm on a VFR flight plan. I request and receive flight following from XXX CTR while on my filed flight plan. They clear me into KXXX airport Class C airspace when it was actually closed to all but scheduled IFR flights three hours prior.I happen to receive NOTAM data from FSS on another radio that tells me of this and turn away before being allowed to drive into closed a/s unknowingly. Who would have bitten the bullet there? Not the XXX CTR controller who told me it was okay to fly there. Not the FSS guy who happened to get the data from the security folks AN HOUR AFTER I TOOK OFF! This happened in real life in Washington DC last January, not to me, but to a pilot who, while doing EVERYTHING by the book, came THAT close to being intercepted, violated, or much worse...(Did I mention the NOTAM/TFR system is broken too??)Meanwhile, one of the Kennedy brothers, a reporter for Fox News, is flying under ATC control and surveillance, and while doing so, is allowed to loiter and circle in the direct vicinity of a Nuke power plant, in direct violation of thr blanket TFRs (temporary flight restrictions, they're all over the place these days) in effect since 9/11. He intentionally violated the rules, and ATC let him...just to make headlines about how easy it is for terrorists to fly a light plane in the vicinity of Nuclear plants. This foolish behavior would get any "commoner" busted or shot down, and gives all the rest of us pilots a black eye. He acted criminally in my opinion, and we get socked with background checks???!!!Yes, I'm kinda frustrated. I can't afford to fly very often, and often require "refresher" training when I do. Having to deal with background checks (don't need one to rent a semi...) is just another hassle. My renter insurance ($25K hull, 5 mil liability) is over 400/yr. The 152 (dinky 2 seater, 100mph cruise and 1600 pounds maxxed out) goes for $67/hour. I need to watch out for the TFR down by Pueblo, and any others that my "pop up" no notice...and the Feds (no pilot/mechanic qualifications required) can ramp check any plane they please and ground it for weeks because a metal manufacturers ID plate (no function whatsoever), installed when built, is 1/2 inch too far forward of the horizontal stab...honest, it happened.The banner towing planes busted in NY...just doing the same things they've been doing with the same planes for the last 17 years, NEVER got below 500 feet. And they were the same old Cessna 182 and Super Cub the company has used over that beach many times daily. But the press fails to mention those little facts...charges have apparently been dropped...So, should anyone want to start flight training, plan ahead. There are those who see GA as a dangerous tool of terror, and pilots as irresponsible fools, and will make it as difficult and inaccessable as possible, regardless of the consequences to the "regular" flyers out there. (Rant Mode Disabled...)Cheers, and no circling large open crowds....(TFRs, remember?)DaveKCOSNot a criminal, never will be

[Guest]

How is this going to help stop terrorism? Did the 9/11 hijackers have criminal records? Even if this was in place before 9/11 the hijackers would still be able to fly because their criminal records would come back clean. I am not 100% sure but as far as I remember the hijackers did not have criminal records right?hmmm....Mike

[Christopher Low 5,353]

Kneejerk reactions are almost always badly conceived, and hardly ever solve the problems that they are designed to overcome. That's why they're stupid.Chris Low,ENGLAND.

[Guest DreamFleet]

Ignorance and knee jerk reactions indeed.We'll just have to send the AOPA after them! Phil Boyer's crew almost never fails! :-)Don't these misguided politicians ever learn?Okay, dumb question, I'm sorry. ;-)Regards,http://www.dreamfleet2000.com/gfx/images/F...R_FORUM_LOU.jpg

[Guest SoarPics]

I'm not sure I would call the politians misguided. This infers that they actually gave some thought to choosing a path, but simply made an incorrect choice. The part of this hypothesis that fails is the concept of a politician being able to think (about more than anything else beyond his/her next election).To compound this farce being perpetrated on General Aviation, one of the major U.S. news networks this evening had a long, drawn out segment on how terrorists could use a GA aircraft to make an attack. The story went on about how easy it would be to steal an airplane, how accessible GA airports are, yada, yada, yada. (One could only imagine how much worse 9/11 would have been if terrorist's had stolen half a dozen 182's, loaded them with fuel and explosives, and flown them at Vne into the WTC. Oh, the humanity!!! Jeez.) Naturally, the segment offered no counterpoint. Of course, this sort of c**p creates great revenue for the news hounds, and is just the thing to make the politicians salivate like teenage dogs.Yep, sometimes it's tough to see who is actually winning this "war" on terrorism.Regards,

[Guest]

I agree 100% Greg. I hear all kinds of things on the news that really make me laugh. When that plane crashed into the park on the 4th of July, the first thing the news made a point to mention was that, "There is no word on what the cause was at this time, but we're sure its not a terrorist attack." What cracked me up is what kind of moron would choose a GA plane to crash into a park? It's really pathetic how the news is so ignorant in general, and as a result, they're provoding false fears to people, which (hopefully) defeats the purpose of the news.Scott