A recognized reliever

On finding the money to pay for increased security demands ...
"We have made some adjustments to our rates and charges - landing fees and fuel flowage fees - and we've accepted that the airport will have to absorb some of that cost. Down the road we're hoping that some of these things can become grant-eligible, but historically security improvements at GA airports have not been generally funded through AIP. It's one of the things that AAAE is pushing for."

On AAAE's General Aviation Airports Security Taskforce ...
"Our chairman, Jim Koslosky (Grand Rapids, MI) felt early on after September 11 that it was important for AAAE to look at security from the GA airport standpoint as well as from the commercial viewpoint. We tried to put a group together that was balanced geographically and in the type of GA airports represented.
"We feel that the federal government will eventually get to the point where there will be some formal rulemaking or actions taken relative to GA security. That will logically come from the TSA, under the current structure. We don't know when this will happen or what it will be, but we do know that under the very draconian restrictions put on GA post-9/11 - some vestiges which still remain, like at DCA - that it was important to get something out there that offered the airport perspective.
"Though the report isn't finalized, one aspect that everybody zeroed in on very early was that the threat is access to aircraft.
"Another thing is, just like there are different kinds of commercial service airports, you've got different types of GA airports. Just as you don't treat Topeka like JFK, you don't treat an agricultural strip in Kansas like you would Morristown. We're looking at four categories, with consideration for location, length of runway, and number of based airplanes."