General aviation customers annoyed about security rule

Some customers have voiced annoyance at the Coastal Carolina Regional Airport's push to get security clearance for people who use general aviation facility.

The airport staff is attempting to comply with the April 1 Transportation Security Administration deadline requiring a threat assessment for anyone with a gate pass into and out of the fixed-base operation for private planes at Coastal Carolina.

Fixed-base operator Jack Trabucco said that the day after a story ran in the Sun Journal on the requirement he had  "calls from people five states away saying they won't use the airport because it will be too much trouble to get in and out of here."

Tom Braaten, Coastal's commercial airport director, said he also had received calls and e-mails, including "a fairly obnoxious note."

"Most people have been really good about it," Braaten said. "They understand the need and are being incredibly supportive. They are bringing in their ID's and filling out the forms. It takes about two to three days for the threat assessment to be completed; we take their picture, and off they go.

"There are just some folks who think their plane is like their car and they shouldn't be bothered. The fact is, it is not our choice to determine whether these are all good people. It's a security requirement. Like those on the commercial side who understand they have to go through security and have their bags checked whether it is carry-on or checked. We're trying to make it as convenient as we possibly can."

April Hill, the airport staffer coordinating the process between fixed-base users and the TSA, said about 90 of the 170 regular users of the general aviation facility have applied so far, including about 20 in the last week. None have been denied.

"For most part it has been positive, with a few with really strong opinions about it but who went through the process," Hill said. "Others just go through it knowing rules are rules."

"No one with a felony conviction within the last 10 years can receive an ID," she said. "They are automatically excluded. The TSA will vet the applicant's name against a threat watch list. If they happen to pop up, they are also excluded. Then the application is sent to a clearinghouse through TSA."

General aviation facility users here need to know, Hill said, that after March 31 "they will not have access to the area unless they have clearance. If they have a gate card and come in and haven't had a threat assessment and been approved, they can no longer use their gate card."

Trabucco said that "some of them just don't understand what's going on. Security may be a little more intense here at this field but it certainly isn't going to affect people coming and going. This is only for aircraft owners here and the people who use this facility here. People who fly in have a badge from their own airport."