General aviation faces restrictions

BANGOR – The Federal Aviation Administration has relaxed restrictions at the country’s major airports, but at dozens of Maine’s smaller facilities many planes remain grounded.

The implications of new FAA security demands were discussed during a closed-door session Wednesday at Bangor International Airport where Gov. Angus S. King and Maine Transportation Commissioner John Melrose met representatives of the state’s airports and the Maine Air National Guard. The governor said he could not discuss some aspects of the talks because of security concerns.

But some of the new FAA restrictions visible to the public include a 300-foot ban on parking anywhere near an airline terminal. Other security measures include the grounding of all visual flight rated pilots. Pilots who are instrument flight rated may take off from general aviation facilities such as Old Town Municipal Airport and Houlton Regional Airport. But they represent only a small percentage of Mainers who hold pilot licenses.

King said the FAA’s response to the Sept. 11 terrorist hijackings has essentially grounded all noncommercial aviation in the country.

“This is a very difficult security challenge,” King said. “Are you essentially going to say there’s going to be no more general aviation in the United States? Or, on the other hand, do you want to be the guy who says it’s OK and the next incident is a Cessna loaded with dynamite that goes into the White House? It’s a very tough call and one that federal officials at the FAA and in Congress are going to have to wrestle with.”

The governor said “billions of dollars and hundreds of hours” could be invested to secure the country’s air transport system only to have the next terrorist strike directed at a telecommunications system, electrical system or water supply.

“So this is a very complex issue,” King said. “The challenge is how do we maintain sufficient and reasonable security without compromising what it is we value about this country.”

Airport managers like Bob Cossette of Hancock County Regional Airport in Trenton said Wednesday’s meeting with King and Melrose was helpful, particularly since current FAA restrictions have literally put his customers and staff out to pasture.

“My parking lot is closed down, I can’t use it,” he said. “We’re parking in the fields [to meet the 300-foot setback]. I’ve got a 100-unit paved parking lot and all of the cars are in the field.”

Cossette said state officials were optimistic that grant money can be found to construct a temporary or possibly long-term parking area.

Meanwhile, small airport managers like Alton Bouchard, the fixed-base operator at Old Town Municipal Airport, hopes a scheduled announcement by the FAA Friday will permit visual flight rated pilots to get back in the air. His general aviation facility, like those in Caribou, Frenchville and Millinocket, are among the 37 in the state where business has nearly ground to a halt.

No flight schools, no airplane rentals, no airplane maintenance and no revenue. On any given week, Bouchard said he might have 250 arrivals and departures. On Wednesday, he had recorded 15.

“This has had a devastating impact on general aviation,” Bouchard said. “For the temporary period, there is no general aviation of any kind going on. With a couple of exceptions, law enforcement flights are the only traffic that we’ve had. That’s because 90 percent of our pilots are under visual flight rules. I’m sure this is just a temporary situation, but in the interim we’re all suffering greatly because of the loss of revenue.”

Alfred “Sandy” Reynolds of the Maine Scenic Airways Inc. in Belfast said he may not be able to wait out the FAA. Since he can’t take his students up to log necessary flying hours, he may have to lay off his full-time instructor and cancel the insurance policy on one of his planes.

“I’d like some relief,” Reynolds said. “We’ve had no income for a little more than a week. It’s been hard on us.”

Other security measures are apt to add to the operational costs at the airport and could run as high as $200,000 a year for some facilities. King said the additional expenses would be the airports’ responsibility.

“Nobody was asking me for money today,” King said.