New security measures at Sonoma County airport

<p>Business as usual at the Sonoma County airport now entails identification badges and background checks for anyone who goes behind the chain link fence, from maintenance workers to the spouses of private pilots who regularly visit a rented hangar.</p><p>It is not an insurmountable burden, but it is at least an annoyance and a $15 expense for the hundreds of people it affects.</p><p>“It's a major inconvenience for people,” said Jon Stout, manager of the Charles M. Schulz-Sonoma County Airport. “It is creating a large burden on our employees and it costs the tenants money. They have to pay us for the processing, because we had to increase our staff.”</p><p>The new rules from the Transportation Security Administration require everyone with airport access to have a “threat assessment evaluation,” something that before only applied to airport and airline workers.</p><p>The rules apply to any airport with commercial service, like the Sonoma County airport, which is served by Horizon Air. It does not affect private airports, like Healdsburg or Petaluma, which don't have commercial service.</p><p>There has not been a specific threat made to the Sonoma County airport, which has 100,000 to 135,000 takeoffs and landings a year, Stout said.</p><p>But the new rules are designed to improve safety, said Dwayne Baird, a spokesman for the Transportation Security Administration.</p><p>“It's so that they can be vetted through a security assessment to make sure they are not there for other reasons than what they should be,” Baird said.</p><p>Those getting the badges Thursday were split on the value.</p><p>“I think it's a good idea, definitely,” said Ryan O'Harren, a Santa Rosa man who flies corporate planes and for JetBlue. “Anything associated with aircraft movement should be secure.”</p><p>Private pilot David Lynch of Santa Rosa said it will not make the public safer.</p><p>“It's not a threat,” Lynch said, referring to small planes. “There's nothing for cars and trucks and they can go any place an airplane can go and pack a lot more explosives.”</p><p>David Gallon was one of more than a dozen Korbel workers who needed badges to access their corporate hangar.</p><p>“I don't know if this is necessary,” Gallon said. “But it seems they should know who goes in and out of the gates.”</p><p>Under the rules, there is a higher level security badge and background check required for airline employees and anyone who needs access to the apron around the Horizon airplane.</p><p>The airport's 11 businesses, which employ 125 workers, also must obtain badges for their workers and implement security plans.</p><p>The last level of security is for anyone who goes behind the fence at the airport. Now, these people must have a background check and badge or be escorted by someone who does. That includes private pilots, vendors, even emergency services personnel, anyone who wants access without having to be escorted.</p><p>“Are we a high risk, high probability threat? No,” said Sonoma County Fire Chief Mark Aston, who also was getting a badge. “But is it a good thing to have something? Absolutely.”</p><p>The pilots and passengers on planes that fly into the Sonoma County airport do not have to have badges, but need to stay near their plane.</p><p>Airport employees will be checking badges and there will be spot inspections by the Transportation Security Administration. Penalties range from a warning to a $10,000 fine or the loss of access privileges.</p><p>So far, the airport has had federal background checks and issued badges to 1,050 individuals. It expects to issue 600 to 700 more.</p><p>Federal rules are still being formulated that may treat aircraft weighing more than 12,500 pounds, which are usually corporate jets, the same as commercial airlines.</p><p>Under those rules, all corporate jet passengers could be screened through federal no-fly lists, just like commercial passengers.</p>