Government lifts small-plane rules

For the first time since terrorists hit New York and Washington on Sept. 11, small private planes have been allowed to fly around some major metropolitan airports.

The Federal Aviation Administration began easing a ban on pilots who don't use instruments for landings around some major cities this week, including St. Louis, Kansas City, Mo., and Memphis, Tenn.

This slowed air traffic at Cape Girardeau Regional Airport, said airport manager Bruce Loy.

Normally, pilots from here will fly to surrounding metropolitan areas, but until Monday many of the private planes and pilots could not enter the space around St. Louis, and Memphis.

Restrictions have been lifted at 15 of the 30 metropolitan areas that had been placed under strict FAA regulations Sept. 11.

The FAA grounded about 41,000 planes across the nation, 1,300 in the St. Louis area, following the terrorist attacks as a security precaution. This was coupled with a brief shorter ban on flights of crop-dusters, which investigators said were the subject of inquiries by possible terrorists for use in biological terrorism.

Most private plane pilots fly by the visual rules for landings, although a few are instrument-rated.

"We were kind of waiting for awhile," Loy said. "Everything was on the ground for awhile."

The FAA order also kept air ambulances on the ground nationwide, including the two helicopter services in Cape Girardeau.

Loy called the FAA decision to ground planes unprecedented.

"This has never happened here before." he said . "But we have been flying in and out of here now almost three weeks."

Financial losses

"We had some restricted the first 10 or 12 days," said Larry Davis, Airport Control Tower chief at Cape Girardeau. "But it's business as usual here now."

"We have about 45 private planes based here," said Loy. "Some of the pilots are instrument-rated."

Loy said he didn't have all the figures yet, but the airport did suffer some financial losses during the restrictions.

"Our traffic count was down, and that meant less sales of fuel and restaurants services," he said.

"I never used Lambert Field in St. Louis that much," said Cape Girardeau pilot Mark Seesing. "But at one time, I took some charters into the Spirit of St. Louis, near Chesterfield, Mo., and the Downtown Airport" in the East St. Louis area.

Seesing also used Gen. DeWitt Spain Airport north of Memphis.

But, those airports were included in the 25- to 30-mile air space around the St. Louis and Memphis metropolitan areas, and were closed to visual flights.

About 90 percent of private planes are flown under visual flight rules where a pilot is low enough in the sky in good weather to navigate by landmarks on the ground, according to the National Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association.

Those flights are still banned in 15 metropolitans areas where restrictions have also grounded news helicopters and blimps. All private plane flights are banned within 20 miles of Kennedy Airport in New York, and National Airport near Washington.