Letter to the Editor

Published November 22, 2001, in the Community Review

        In the wake of the September 11 terrorist hijack-bombings, tremendous attention has been devoted to improving safety at major commercial airports.  Unfortunately, next to nothing has been done to improve security at the nation's many general aviation airports, most of which have minimal security security procedures in place and could easily serve as sites for terrorist activity.
   DeKalb Peachtree (PDK) airport, surrounded by residential areas, is a frightening case in point.  Although it is the second busiest airport in Georgia after Hartsfield itself, it has virtually no security oversight.  For more than a week after September 11, for example, one flight company with regularly scheduled passenger service out of PDK continued to advertise on its web site: "No security checks required!"  "Aircraft is waiting out the back door!"  "Walk from your car directly to the aircraft!"
PDK Airport Director Lee Remmel routinely authorizes use of PDK by planes of up to 105,000 pounds, with enough fuel capacity to fly to Western Europe or coast-to coast in the United States.  Such planes, if commandeered by terrorists, could be used as large flying bombs--a recipe for disaster in our own backyard.
      Most disturbing, PDK remains open between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. when the tower is closed.  During this time, airport security for 800 acres and multiple runways has been provided by one unarmed security guard.  Anyone can fly in or out of the airport, with no questions asked.
       Many civic leaders believe that unless and until effective overnight security measures can be implemented at PDK Airport, it should be closed between the hours of 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. to all but emergency flights.  When I called this community concern to the attention of Lee Remmel on Channel 5 News on November 2, he was quoted as saying that such an action was "not an option."
      I believe, quite to the contrary, that until effective security measures can be provided at PDK airport--an airport that is owned and operated by DeKalb County--it is "not an option" for responsible DeKalb County officials to fail to close the airport to all non-emergency traffic between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m.  This measure is already ostensibly in place as a "voluntary" night restriction--although it is violated by more than two hundred fifty flights a month.
    In a letter of November 12 to fifteen responsible public officials, including the DeKalb County Chief Executive Officer and Commissioners, I pointed out that this night flight situation poses a clear and present danger to the safety and security of citizens of DeKalb County.  If responsible public officials fail to act in a timely manner and to the best of their ability to remedy a serious safety and security problem that has been clearly called to their attention--and if a catastrophic event should occur that might have been avoided by such timely action--the potential legal liability to responsible officials and the County itself could be enormous.
      None of us is so unrealistic as to expect that we can have total security against any possible terrorist attack.  To the extent that such total security would even be conceivable, it could only occur in a police state, rather than in the free Republic that we all know, love, and want to do everything we can to preserve.  What citizens of DeKalb County do have a right to expect, however, is that security lapses that could make PDK the airport of choice for potential airborne terrorist attacks should be promptly and effectively corrected.

Larry Foster

President

Hawthorne Civic Association