Private pilots permitted to fly again

© St. Petersburg Times,
published October 16, 2001

The Federal Aviation Administration is lifting a ban on flying the planes used by most private pilots in 15 metropolitan areas, including the Tampa Bay area.

Most pilots who use visual flight rules, or "see and be seen," will be allowed to resume flying within 30 miles of Tampa International Airport on Wednesday.

Such pilots fly low enough to navigate by landmarks on the ground and don't need to file flight plans.

But the new rules will keep certain types of flights grounded: banner-towing planes, sightseeing trips, blimps and planes used in reporting news and traffic.

"It allows the rich boys to fly their planes around but for the rest of us, it's just tough (luck)," said Colette A. Eddy, owner of Aerial Innovations, an aerial photography company in Tampa.

FAA officials say they are working hand in hand with the Transportation Department and Defense Department on a "phased program" to get planes back into the skies while ensuring national security.

But the prohibition on some types of flights is being dictated by the National Security Council, not aviation agencies, said Warren Morningstar, a spokesman for the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, the nation's largest civil aviation organization.

"We've not been offered specific explanations," he said. "Without those explanations, it's difficult to see how these operations represent a significant threat."

The federal government grounded all aircraft except military flights within an hour of the first airliner striking the World Trade Center in New York.

The FAA methodically began allowing certain kinds of flights within days: first law enforcement and emergency medical aircraft, then commercial airliners.

Later in the month, the agency gave the green light to crop dusters and private pilots flying outside a 30-mile radius of major airports in the 30 largest U.S. metropolitan areas, including Tampa International.

The guidelines were further relaxed to allow flights inside the metro areas for student pilots and those following instrument flight rules. Such rules govern pilots of planes that are equipped to navigate and land using instruments alone. The rules require pilots to file flight plans in advance and remain under the constant direction of air traffic controllers.

The eased restrictions on instrument-flight-rule traffic cleared the way for corporate jets and other aircraft with advanced navigational equipment to fly in busy urban areas. But about 90 percent of private plane flights are conducted under visual flight rules, Morningstar said.

The FAA's plan to lift restrictions on flying under visual flight rules, starting with five cities on Monday and another five today, cheered Edgar Flaig, a pilot in Spring Hill.

"I will definitely go flying" on Wednesday said Flaig, a retiree who gave his age only as older than 70. "I might go to Lakeland for lunch, or maybe to Sebastian. I fly nearly every day when I can fly. It's very relaxing, exciting too, and you can get places fast."

But companies whose flights will remain banned under the new rules say there's no logical security reason to keep them grounded.

"It doesn't make any sense making us feel like we're criminals," said Tom Merrifield, owner of Advertising Air Force, a banner-towing company that operates from St. Petersburg's Albert Whitted Airport.

"With full fuel and the pilot, the plane weighs 1,100 pounds. If we flew into a building, the engine might go through but the rest of the plane would just stick out the side."

Companies that sell fuel and service private planes also have taken a big hit, said Susan Hardman, deputy director of general aviation operations for the Hillsborough County Aviation Authority.

Fuel sales at Plant City Airport are off 80 percent, she said. At Tampa's Peter O. Knight Airport and Vandenberg Airport near Brandon, sales are 60 percent below normal.

There were only 3,737 takeoffs and landings at Albert Whitted in September, about half as many as in the same month last year, said airport manager Monty Burgess. Operations are off 28 percent so far this month, he said.

Eddy, who runs the aerial photography company, had to lay off about half her staff of 10 because she couldn't hire a flight for jobs around Tampa and Orlando. Even though her business wasn't specifically prohibited, the new rules outlaw "loitering or circling."

She said the rule keeping "news reporting" flights grounded raises suspicions that more than security concerns are at issue.

"Why aren't the media guys allowed to do their jobs?" Eddy asked. "What don't they want us to see?"

-- Times staff writer Jeffrey S. Solochek and researcher John Martin contributed to this report. Steve Huettel can be reached at huettel@sptimes.com or (813) 226-3384.

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