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Scott, Not to beat a dead horse, but are you fairly sure the inspectors were FAA reps? I ask this because our city Fire Marshall regularly inspects the city hangars we rent…but not the privately built/owned hangars on the field (KHEF). The airport manager is also required to record and report the registration number of each aircraft on the field on 1 Jan of each year. None of these have ever been “intrusive” and the locals are very considerate. We have had TSA folks periodically drive around the airport and check our access procedures—particularly staying close by until the gate closes/not allowing tailgating. Have not seen FAA folks involved in any of this; they almost seem subservient to TSA here.
Bob
Subject: [LML] Re: The Big Squeeze On GA
Scotty, what was the rational for FAA access to the hangars? What are they looking for?
Big Squeeze indeed. I "sublease" a hangar in Sky Haven, the 194 hangar complex at KARR (www.SkyHaven.com). To clarify, rental agreements are made with Sky Haven, a corporation with all of the sub-lessees as its members and run by a board elected from among the members. Sky Haven itself leases the grounds and buildings from the City of Aurora (municipal public towered airport) on a very long term basis and annually charges each hangar for providing common area maintenance (taxes, building exteriors, pavement, etc.). The sub-leases may be bought and sold much like real property deeds and are recorded with the county clerk since the term of the lease tracks that of the master lease with the City. Last November the FAA inspected the airport and was unhappy that it could not gain entry to each and every hangar - they did inspect over 6 hangars because the sub-lessees were present and allowed entry. Recently, the FAA issued a letter to the airport demanding that the airport have "unobstructed" and "free" access to the Sky Haven hangar interiors. Their suggestion was that the airport have keys to each hangar by September 30. The Sky Haven sub-lease provides for reasonable access with the sub-lessee being present or at any time and by any other means in the case of an emergency. The lease between Sky Haven and the City does provide the City with the right to "enter upon the premises" at "any reasonable time" for various purposes including inspection. Part of the problem is whether "premises" includes the interior of each hangar. In any event, this does bring up issues of "unreasonable search" (4th Amendment), privacy, liability if the airport holds keys, etc. We have considered asking the AOPA for advice, but your comments are not very encouraging. The net of all this - another example that the agency that is supposed to promote GA is sure doing a great job of holding its thumb on the jugular. I find the searching of GA aircraft very interesting but this is not the only way GA is being attacked. Here at our airport, MCAS Yuma, Arizona (NYL), GA is getting hit on two fronts. First you need to know we are a joint use military base with airline, GA, and military traffic. The airline terminal is on the north side, GA on the west, and military is about a mile or more away on the southeast side of the airport. MCAS is one of three bases that have been chosen for the F35 Strike Fighter and the military did a threat assessment on the base to list potential problems. Last summer, before I became the AOPA representative, I was approached by one of the board members stating the airport management and the board of directors were told by the military that GA was a security threat and Personally Operated Vehicles, POV’s, should no longer be able to drive onto the airport. Since the meeting was the next day I didn’t have a lot of time to organize the GA population but was able to get 40 or so pilots together and was able to stall this initiative. Since that time the airport management and the board of directors have been pushing this issue. So now the airport management has decided to allow us, for now, to drive to our hangers and T-Shades and will be taking away any other driving privileges starting July 1st, 2011. You can see the plan at www.yumaairport.com on the left side click on General Aviation, on the right side click on Vehicles. Since then I have become the AOPA ASN Volunteer here at NYL and have attended every monthly board meeting. I feel strongly it won’t be long before we are not allowed to drive onto the airport. I also question AOPA’s roll in GA as they were no help at all and I am still awaiting a response from an email I sent to Sean Collins on 3-14-2011. As someone else made mention, I guess they are too busy selling alcohol and don’t have time for us mere pilots. Since when do alcohol and flying go together?
Fly Safe,
Christopher J. Alberti N441JH Lancair 4P Hanger C3
President/CEO
Starlite Aviation Technologies LLC
1963 S. 39th Drive
Yuma, Arizona 85364
Phone: 928-581-2383
Fax: 928-329-6488
Email: starliteaviation@yahoo.com Web Site: www.starliteat.com
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