The theft of the Cessna Citation VII from St Augustine, Florida last month heightened the need for the business aviation industry to sharpen its security culture – awareness at all levels that preventing the use of general aviation aircraft as terrorist weapons is a shared responsibility.
So how are NBAA delegates addressing the issue? Bob Showalter, chairman of Showalter Flying Services, the fixed-base operator (FBO) hosting the NBAA static display, says: “The industry needs to understand that it is a big deal for the general public whether or not a light jet could do some significant damage. The public believes it could. Our careers are at stake should the public turn against us. After 9/11 we changed our standard gate procedures within a month. We now have coded gate access boxes and we change our codes on a random basis. There are sniffer dogs on the display and we don’t allow vehicle access to the transient ramp.”
John Siemens, chief test pilot for Sino Swearingen, believes that jet keys on aircraft would be of benefit and says: “We’ve had lots of discussions about designing key locks. We also choose our FBOs carefully.”
For Shawn Vicks, president of Landmark Aviation, vigilance throughout organizations is the key. “It is everyone’s responsibility to be diligent.”
Source: Flight Daily News
