New York City's WNYW-TV (Fox 5) was doing a news piece regarding security at a specific GA airport in New Jersey. It was one of those ìinvestigativeî reporting exercises. Despite the investigative nature, the story apparently had an agenda ñ paint a dismal picture of the security at General Aviation airports. Seems like they had to work really hard to get the story dismal enough to even broadcast it.
You see, New Jersey's has a "two-lock" rule, requiring that any aircraft remaining at a New Jersey airport for more than 24 hours have two methods of locking the aircraft. The airport manager ensures that all aircraft comply with the rule. Keep in mind that Lakewood Airport is a relatively small GA airport with about 70 aircraft, almost all of them single-engine. The bigger 4 seat aircraft usually weigh less than 3,000 pounds and hold around 50 gallons of gas fully fueled. My guess is thatís less overall destructive power then your average Chevy Suburban at highway speeds.
Anyway, the investigative reporter decided to focus on the aerial advertising business based at the airport. It appears that the doors on the J-3 and J-4 Cubs used by the banner-towing operation have been removed and the reporter believes that violates the stateís rule, because these aircraft have no electrical ignition system and so there is no keyed ignition. Remember these are barely 2-seat tail draggers with fabric covered wings.
When contacted by WNYW, airport authorities told the reporter that two locks are in fact in place as required. There are only two of these aircraft and both of them use prop locks when parked, rendering the aircraft unflyable, There is a second locking mechanism that is not readily obvious for security reasons ñ you have to hand prop the airplane to start it. So if you see several one-armed terrorists lurking about, it was the ones who were unsuccessful with the starting procedure.
3:15:58 PM 
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