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Hi 'Coupers -- I sent the following to my local chapter of the ACLU, and cc'd the Chicago branch. I'm not always fond of the ACLU, but I think we need allies. Leslie ------------------------------------------------------------------ I am a recreational private pilot. Since the bombings of the WTC, private pilots have been watching our freedom to fly erode bit by bit. Never mind that none of the terrorists was a certificated US pilot, or that no terrorist acts were committed with private planes, we're being painted as a dangerous fringe element. Most recently this has culminated in Mayor Daley of Chicago bringing in demolition equipment to historic Meigs Field in the middle of the night and tearing up the field, thus stranding sixteen planes there. Apparently, the Mayor felt that public debate on this subject is not required. Flight restrictions have been increasing as well. While the need for heightened security is certainly understandable, what the general public doesn't understand is that sometimes these restrictions are not well publicized, and should a private plane stray into a restricted area, you will have an Air Force escort home, and the FAA and law enforcement officials waiting for you when you land. Also, the TSA is now able to revoke any pilot's certificate for security concerns, without the possiblity for appeal. While that would certainly break my heart, for others that would represent the loss of their livelihood. Pilots are easy to pick on; we're less than one quarter of one percent of the general population, and flying is not well understood by many people. People often think we're a bunch of rich nuts. Well, I can assure you I'm far from rich. I've given up movies, vacations, and much discretionary spending just so I can scrape up the money to fly. It's a real challenge to get your pilot's certificate; it takes a lot of determination, study, and expense. I consider it one of the great accomplishments of my life, right after motherhood and at least equal to or maybe more important to me than my college education. The United States is one of the very few places in the world where it's still feasible to be a private pilot, and we're losing that by inches every day. When you want to fly, it gets into your very marrow; it is the dream of a lifetime for many of us. We have to go through regular medical exams and ongoing flight reviews to keep doing it. We study and scrimp and save just for the chance to be airborne, and in a heartbeat it can all be snatched away because the current administration needs to make it appear that something is being done to make us "secure". I, for one, feel far less secure knowing that my government doesn't appear to value the liberty my ancestors fought for. What I think people may be missing is that we are seeing a steady erosion of our personal liberties; what's next? There's been no just cause for restricting private pilots, just ill-informed anxiety and an environment that allows goverment agencies to bully the public in the name of security. If we were approaching this rationally, we would't restrict planes, we'd restrict rental vans since that's what delivered the bomb to the building in Oklahoma city. To paraphrase: "First, they came for the pilots. And I said nothing because I was not a pilot." I'm at a loss to know what to do about this; I've written congressman, senators, state representatives, etc. but they don't appear to be interested. We do have an advocacy group, AOPA (www.aopa.org), but as I mentioned, it's a relatively small consituency. Is the ACLU doing any work on post-911 loss of civil liberties? It would be great if some light could be shed on what's happening to general aviation as part of a set of broader concerns. _________________________________________________________________ MSN 8 helps eliminate e-mail viruses. Get 2 months FREE*. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/virus ========================================================================== ==== To leave this forum go to: http://ercoupers.com/lists.htm Search the archives on http://escribe.com/aviation/coupers/
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