I find the searching of GA aircraft very interesting but this is not the only way GA is being attacked. Here at our airport, MCAS Yuma, Arizona (NYL), GA is getting hit on two fronts. First you need to know we are a joint use military base with airline, GA, and military traffic. The airline terminal is on the north side, GA on the west, and military is about a mile or more away on the southeast side of the airport. MCAS is one of three bases that have been chosen for the F35 Strike Fighter and the military did a threat assessment on the base to list potential problems. Last summer, before I became the AOPA representative, I was approached by one of the board members stating the airport management and the board of directors were told by the military that GA was a security threat and Personally Operated Vehicles, POV’s, should no longer be able to drive onto the airport. Since the meeting was the next day I didn’t have a lot of time to organize the GA population but was able to get 40 or so pilots together and was able to stall this initiative. Since that time the airport management and the board of directors have been pushing this issue. So now the airport management has decided to allow us, for now, to drive to our hangers and T-Shades and will be taking away any other driving privileges starting July 1^st, 2011. You can see the plan at www.yumaairport.com on the left side click on General Aviation, on the right side click on Vehicles.

Since then I have become the AOPA ASN Volunteer here at NYL and have attended every monthly board meeting. I feel strongly it won’t be long before we are not allowed to drive onto the airport. I also question AOPA’s roll in GA as they were no help at all and I am still awaiting a response from an email I sent to Sean Collins on 3-14-2011. As someone else made mention, I guess they are too busy selling alcohol and don’t have time for us mere pilots. Since when do alcohol and flying go together?