BHopper88

Plane-watchers lose prime spot near airport
By Tim Barker
Sentinel Staff Writer

December 12, 2002

Three men, some metal poles and a fence-post driver. That's all it took Wednesday for one of the public's most intimate views of Orlando International Airport to start going away.

It should take less than a week for the Orlando-Orange County Expressway Authority to close off an area frequented for decades by plane enthusiasts, tourists and people just looking to kill time.

According to a letter from Orlando transportation engineer Harry Campbell to the expressway authority, a new fence will be erected 14 feet from the edge of McCoy Road, which turns into Frontage Road. The spot offers prime viewing of planes coming and going from two of the airport's three runways.

To further discourage anyone from trying to use the remaining, unfenced portion, a host of "No Parking Tow-away Zone" signs will be spaced along the new fence line.

While the action was requested by the airport -- citing security concerns in the wake of a failed missile attack on a jet in Kenya -- the final decision to eliminate the parking area was made by the city of Orlando.

Initially it appeared there might be a discussion on the issue, with council member Phil Diamond, whose district includes the airport, saying he wanted it brought before the entire City Council.

But the mayor's top deputy, Richard Levey, gave the go-ahead to close the area late last week. The mayor's spokeswoman, Susan Blexrud, defended the fast decision.

"Basically this is an administrative function. It's not anything that needs to go to council," Blexrud said. "I can appreciate that there are people out there who like to sit and watch airplanes go over. But this is a security issue."

Diamond also is now happy with the decision.

"Our country is at war. A lot of people are making sacrifices," he said. "I think it's a prudent measure."

Those security arguments, however, have drawn mixed reviews from aviation experts.

Some have applauded the move, saying it does eliminate one possible approach for terrorists hoping to attack airplanes with shoulder-launched missiles. At the same time, they point out that video surveillance of the area would accomplish the same thing.

Others have been more critical, calling it an overreaction that only damages Orlando International's relationship with the public.

"This is a sad day," said George Hamlin, vice president of Global Aviation Associates, a Washington, D.C., consulting firm.

He said the action does little to offset the threat of a missile attack -- considering the vast stretches of undeveloped land around the airport -- while taking away one of the airport's ties to the community.

"Is it going to cause catastrophic, economic havoc? No. But on the other hand, there may be a time when the airport is looking for community support, and it may be harder to come by," he said.

For now, plane enthusiasts appear to be out of options.

There seems to be little hope that the space will be resurrected as an official viewing area, like those found at airports scattered across the country. And even some of those, including one near Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, have also fallen victim to tightened security.

The Orlando parking area, which stretches along some 3,000 feet of McCoy Road between South Conway Road and State Road 436, was never intended to be used for its current purpose. It just sort of evolved that way, with the city tending the land and keeping it clear for plane watchers.

And even if the airport and city wanted to make it an official viewing area, they would have some work to do in persuading the expressway authority, which owns the land, to go along with it.

Authority spokesman Steve Pustelnyk said the land is likely to be consumed in the future by an expansion of the Bee Line Expressway, which parallels McCoy at that point.

"As the area develops, we'd like to take that road out of there," Pustelnyk said.

There does not appear to be any plan to consider a viewing area elsewhere. City officials say any such plan would have to be initiated by the airport.

"That's something the airport would have to decide," Blexrud said.

Airport officials say that economic and security conditions have ruled out any such talk.

"We have not considered an observation area and currently would not consider one," spokeswoman Carolyn Fennell said.

Steven T De Lisser

There is a web site created by Don Boyd where you can sign a petition against this crap for Lauderdale and Orlando (not sure about KMIA). The thing is, once that fence goes up at Orlando they'll never take it down again.

The state of Florida is screwing itself directly by taking this action because bewteen Ft Lauderdale, Orlando, Opa Laka, Miami, Kendall, Tampa, St Petersburg, Sanford, West Palm, Cape Coral, Naples and many others, Florida has to be the most visited place on earth for aviation photography and viewing.

Here are some of the points made on the site:

To:_ Broward County Commission

This petition urges the Broward County Commission to direct the county administrator and Bill Sherry, Director of the Broward County Aviation Department at Ft. Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL), to re-open the popular public aircraft viewing park on the west side of the airport. This public viewing area was closed on November 28th as an overreaction to the failed shoulder-mounted missile attack on an Israeli airliner in Kenya.

Our reasons for re-opening the public view park as soon as possible:

1. Terrorists using this type of heat-seeking missile can do so within miles of an airport and would most likely use an isolated area for their atrocities instead of a public area full of spotters, photographers and families enjoying their fascination with aircraft. Numerous people would immediately call 911 to report suspicious characters in the public view park. Terrorists would prefer to attack an airliner in flight to ensure total fatalities and more deaths and damage on the ground rather than shooting at an aircraft on the ground. Even if the airport director's erroneous view was correct, there are numerous unattended parking lots on the north side of FLL that haven't been closed in the interest of security, in addition to an elevated Interstate 595 that provides excellent views of runway 9-left/27-right, the busiest runway at FLL.

2. The viewing area is on land owned by the public. The airport itself is public property and funded through federal and state grants and user fees levied on the airlines that we the traveling public pay for one way or another. It seems like some people forget that the current FLL management team is a group of public servants, that they do not own the airport and they work at the pleasure of the county administrator and county commission and ultimately the public. Since FLL contributes most of the noise and air pollution in central Broward County, one would think that the airport would take actions to please the public instead of alienating them by blocking them from a public view park as if the public is the enemy. We are NOT the enemy and we are insulted that the airport director feels that way.

3. The public's fascination with aircraft flight has existed since the Wright Brothers and watching and photographing aircraft is one of our liberties that should not be taken away by public servants for phony reasons. The use of the term "security" is wearing darn thin as our liberties are being taken away one by one, thus giving terrorists the credit they want for changing our ways of life. Why haven't other US airports closed their viewing areas if this is a TSA mandate? Because it was not a TSA mandate!

4. There is a freedom of the press issue involved in this closure. Numerous aviation photographers shoot aircraft photos at the viewing park and some of them sell certain photos to magazines and news organizations needing photos of certain aircraft, certain airlines, etc. Closure of the public view park will eliminate our vantage point and adversely affected our businesses.

5. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of aviation enthusiasts from Europe, Asia, Australia, Canada and other areas of the US who come to South Florida every year to spot and photograph aircraft that they normally don't see in their regions. Most of them come in our winter months because the weather is warm and the sun angles are superb. These folks spend thousands of dollars on air fares, hotels, rental cars, meals in our restaurants, camera equipment and film, etc. One would think they would be more than welcome here but thanks to FLL's closure of the public viewing area, a good portion of them will rebook to friendlier areas where they can photograph from an excellent location next to the airport. Is this what we really need in this economy?

In conclusion we urge the Broward County Commission to order the county adminstrator and FLL Director to re-open our public viewing area immediately.


Sincerely,

The Undersigned

Sean1999 Ram Air TA

Yep this is sad I saw them putting up signs and poles yesterday on my way to work. Totally sucks that was the only place left for great viewing.

It makes no sense to me anyone can drive down the road on the other side of the Bee-line on the inside fence of MCO and take that road to the UPS cargo terminal, the B52 parking park and the rental car agencies and anyone can use a missile against a plane from that road as it is much closer.

I swear the GOAA sucks I am sure they will remove the application from there web site for access to the top level of the parking garage for plane spotting too.

I have been using that parking spot for 15 years to watch planes landing and departing MCO

Sean

__________________
United Airlines Historian and Memorabilia Collector

WAHS Member

crownvic

Sean I too am pissed off at this totally useless action by GOAA.
They are the worst.. Ive been spotting planes here for over 20 years and this just adds to the list of assanine things that they
have done... What about their slack attitude and no interest at
all about losing all the British charter carriers to Sanford??

this airport is dying a slow death!!!

tdh8192

It's too bad the powers that be don't recognize that spotters increase security around airports. Who else among the general public would be more willing to help the police by acting as extra eyes and ears?

__________________
- Tom