Smaller airports get grant to tighten security

The small, regional airports provide a range of services, including weekend pleasure flights, commercial cargo delivery and corporate travel.

Under the program, Tullahoma airport for example has received money for new security gates, lighting and fences.

Officials said the new measures are helpful, but the real security at smaller airports comes from the fact that most are tight-knit communities where people know each other.

“If someone sees something suspicious, it’s a matter of dealing with it,” said Jon Glass, director of the Tullahoma Airport Authority which handles as many as 60,000 takeoffs and landings a year.

Projects eligible for funding include security fences, gates, restricted-area signs, lights and motion sensors around terminals, and hangar surveillance cameras.

All are needed after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, but gates and lights are the most popular items, officials said.

Smyrna Airport, the state’s third largest general aviation airport, has about 75,000 flights a year.

More people, especially executives and celebrities, want an alternative to commercial flights.

“You will find more and more general aviation airports are putting in cameras — at least in the terminal — so they have a record of who is coming and going,” said John Black, Smyrna Airport director.

But the program must recognize the different needs of the regional airports.

“The No. 1 thing I would hate to see is a one-size-fits-all security plan because things that need to be in Nashville or Smyrna would be a waste of time here — or not efficient,” said Jim Chapman, who oversees the daily operations at Tullahoma airport. “Instead of terrorists, we have families that want to come out onto the runways.”
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On the Net:
Tennessee Department of Transportation: http://www.tdot.state.tn.us

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