[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 118 (Friday, July 31, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2170-E2171]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      RECOGNIZING GENERAL AVIATION

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                       HON. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON

                      of the district of columbia

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, July 28, 2009

  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, H. Res. 508 recognizes the contributions of 
general aviation and encourages general aviation activities. General 
aviation is a little recognized, major sector of the airline industry, 
which contributes $150 billion to United States direct and indirect 
economic output. I also want to mention the Transportation Security 
Administration Reauthorization Act of 2009, which included an important 
section setting up a general aviation working group within the Aviation 
Security Advisory Committee, to advise the Transportation Security 
Administration (TSA) on security issues in general aviation. This 
advisory group was established after the TSA began rulemaking on the 
Large Aircraft Security Program that threatened to swallow general 
aviation amidst burdensome and unnecessary regulations, suited for 
large commercial aircraft. Longstanding unattended issues and 
insufficient attention to the nation's important General Aviation 
sector are finally getting the attention they deserve. Along with other 
members of the House Committee on Homeland Security, I intend to see 
that General Aviation security issues are treated uniquely for the 
sector to administer.
  However, as most members who have sat in on any hearing with the FAA, 
TSA, DHS or any other security agency may now know, the District of 
Columbia's main airport, the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport 
(DCA), is uniquely hampered by impossibly restrictive regulations that 
have destroyed general aviation in the nation's capitol, and arbitrary 
practices may be spreading to others. In the Homeland Security 
Committee, we have taken the important first steps to give detailed 
attention to this major section of the airline industry to the new 
administration.
  After 9/11 the restrictions on General Aviation in the nation's 
capitol, in particular, became symbolic of arbitrary action against 
general aviation that could happen anywhere. Even though New York City 
was the epicenter of 9/11, the nation's capitol is the only location 
that suffers under unique restrictions that have crippled general 
aviation here. In fact, there was no general aviation for four years. 
After joining in my complaints at hearings, the former Chairman of the 
Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Don Young, threatened to 
subpoena any agency that did not comply with a bill that aimed to 
compel the resumption of general aviation flights at DCA and to hold 
them in contempt if they refused to appear before the committee to 
report on progress. As a result, a plan finally was put in place 
requirements but the DCA Access Standard Security Program (DASSP) was 
almost worse than no plan at all. Before 9/11, general aviation 
activity at DCA accounted for \1/3\ (approximately 30,000) of the total 
annual operations at DCA. In contrast, in October 2005 when program 
DASSP began, operations averaged about one flight per week. Today, 
activity averages about three to four flights per day, about 1,000 a 
year. The requirements in the DASSP include:

  General aviation operators must adopt a security program, background 
check flight crews, identify a security coordinator, and train on 
security procedures.
  All DASSP flights must carry an armed security officer (ASO) on board 
(very few such accredited officers are available).
  Flights must depart from one of 27 TSA approved DASSP gateway 
airports. Full departure screening of crew, passengers, baggage, and 
aircraft by TSA security inspectors.
  Flights must request permission to operate in DCA no sooner than 72 
hours in advance of the flight (due to DCA slot requirements) and no 
later than 24 hours in advance of the flight (for TSA security reviews) 
for each flight into DCA.
  These same screening procedures must be used for flights departing 
DCA.
  Charges of approximately $230 are assessed to cover TSA's screening 
costs plus $15/passenger for screening names against the No-Fly and 
Selectee lists.
  Requirements for an Armed Security Officer and use of a gateway 
airport are predictably, and we think, deliberately impossible for most 
operators to meet. TSA has approximately 200 registered operators in 
the DASSP, making the wait for an ASO intolerable.
  However, the Department of Homeland Security has determined ``that 
general aviation presents only limited and mostly hypothetical threats 
to security . . . (and) that the steps general aviation airport owners 
and managers have taken to enhance security are positive and 
effective.'' DHS goes further in its report on general aviation:
  ``The current status of [general aviation] operations does not 
present a serious homeland security vulnerability requiring TSA to 
increase regulatory oversight of the industry.''
  ``Although [TSA's Office of Intelligence] has identified potential 
threats, it has concluded that most [general aviation] aircraft are too 
light to inflict significant damage, and has not identified specific 
imminent threats from general aviation''.
  Nevertheless, the nation's capitol has been singled out as the only 
jurisdiction under particularly onerous, unnecessary and wasteful 
program restrictions. As the initial approach of TSA to general 
aviation in general showed, however, the entire general aviation sector 
was about to be buried by the Large Aircraft Security Program, until 
our committee said ``NO!'' The thoughtless creep mission of the TSA 
into General Aviation, and the total failure to weigh actual security 
risks against the implications of draconian security measures, was 
stopped by our Committee on Homeland Security. The District of Columbia 
general aviation community deserves the same respect and attention.
  General aviation at DCA is not the only industry in the District of 
Columbia that has been wiped out by arbitrary and restrictive airspace 
regulations. The South Capitol Street Heliport is a commercial heliport 
that once served east coast cities such as New York, Miami and Boston. 
It continues to serve the Metropolitan Police Air Support Unit and the 
U.S. Park Police. The heliport is also the point of evacuation for the 
Supreme Court and part of the Department of Defense Nightingale 
program. In fact, on 9/11 this heliport actually became the Air Control 
Command Tower when DCA was evacuated. Moreover, having shown it was a 
vital asset, not a liability, for two years after 9/11, under an 
agreement with the Secret Service--an agreement that was later adopted 
by the TSA to develop its Civil Aviation Security Rules--the South 
Capitol Heliport continued to receive corporate commercial clients and 
news gathering helicopters. Yet, without explanation, beginning in 
October 2003, commercial operators have been altogether restricted from 
using the heliport, despite the fact that the heliport owners have been 
clear that they are willing to comply with any and all security 
demands.
  The nation's capitol has all but lost helicopter service, even for 
the vital security purposes our heliport has performed. Without 
corporate commercial clients the South Capitol Heliport cannot generate 
enough revenue to survive. The owner has submitted the highest level 
security plans, but the TSA and the Department of Homeland Security 
have failed to respond. At my request, the Committee on Homeland 
Security has added heliports specifically to the list of entities on 
the general aviation working group. This heliport is vital for both 
security and commercial helicopter operations that the District of 
Columbia cannot afford to lose. While we pause to recognize the 
importance of general aviation to the U.S. economy, I use this occasion 
to remind my colleagues in the Congress and the Administration to 
recognize the importance of general aviation to the nation's capitol.

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