Airport Access Controls
Controlling access to general aviation airports is a significant challenge for many reasons. First, as already discussed, few general aviation airports are continuously attended or monitored, and doing so is likely to be costly and resource intensive. Second, general aviation airports support a wide variety of operations and consequently must provide limited public access to support and sustain these varied operations including late night cargo operations, training flights, and maintaining adequate numbers of landing facilities that are continuouslyavailable for safety in the case of diversions due to weather or mechanical difficulties.
Providing airport access for transient operators also presents a unique security challenge for GA airports, especially during hours when the facility is not attended. However, restricting airports from transient access has significant consequences both for air commerce and for safety. For example, restricting access after hours may impede air commerce and business, especially in remote areas that rely significantly on the presence of a GA airport. Professionals who use GA aircraft to conduct business in these areas may be reluctant to do so if they run the risk of being denied access to the airport because of a late running business meeting that extends beyond the operating hours of the airport, for example. Also, for safety reasons, sufficient numbers of GA airports need to remain accessible, at least for landing aircraft, to provide suitable alternate airports in case of emergency or diversion due to weather.
Supporting airport access during non-attended hours poses significant security challenges. Access control measures must adequately accommodate transient users or the airport runs the risk of becoming inaccessible to certain users. Various options exist for providing both local and transient operators with adequate access to the flight line. For example, at airports implementing access controls to aircraft storage and operations areas, keypad locks can be installed to control access to flight lines. Codes could be provided to transient operators in case they need to access aircraft after hours and could be changed frequently to prevent unauthorized access. Alternatively, more sophisticated access controls can be implemented using key code or card reader systems where transient operators are provided with codes or cards that expire and cannot be used after a certain period.
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本文链接地址：Securing General Aviation(26)
