AOPA Scolds Fox News!

["Jim Hoerner" <jim_hoerner@HOTMAIL.COM>]

You may have seen the sensationalistic story last week about how the NYC Fox 

TV reporter, Douglas Kennedy (cousin of Robert Kennedy, Jr., of the 

Riverkeeper organization, which advocatesshutting down Indian Point), was 

able to fly unimpeded over the plant in a small plane.  That story is here:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Know_Nukes/message/3079



The president of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association has blasted that 

story...



April 22, 2002



Roger Ailes

News Chief Executive Officer

Fox Broadcasting Company

1211 Avenue Of The Americas

New York, NY 10036-8799



Dear Mr. Ailes:



Little did I realize our paths would cross, even though I went off into a 

totally different field than television, where you and I met and worked for 

so long. Actually, I do recall you had substantial experience working with 

candidates as a political advisor, so we have almost swapped places. Sadly, 

however, this letter is to complain about a story that I and many of our 

380,000 AOPA members think crossed the line beyond the fair and accurate 

reporting that I know you personally promote. The report surrounded the 

so-called "threat" of small general aviation aircraft to nuclear power 

plants.



Reporter Douglas Kennedy misrepresented the facts and misled the audience. 

He claimed he rented a small airplane and made multiple passes over the 

Indian Point nuclear power plant, lingering in the area for twenty minutes. 

"No one warned the pilot of anything," Kennedy said. "No one at the plant, 

in fact, did or said a single thing in regards to the plane."



That was false and Kennedy knew it.



Your staff misrepresented the nature of the story to the flight school. They 

said they wanted to rent an airplane to photograph escape routes near the 

plant. Based on that representation, the pilot of the aircraft telephoned 

the manager on duty at the New York Terminal Area Radar Control facility and 

obtained permission for the flight.



The aircraft departed Teterboro with an assigned, discrete transponder code, 

and under direction of air traffic control. It flew northbound past the 

plant at above 2,000 feet, continued north for about three miles, then flew 

west for several miles, then south until about four miles south of the 

plant, then turned back upriver and flew past the plant again. Once well 

past the plant, the pilot turned around and flew southbound past the plant 

for a third time. The video crew requested another pass, but the pilot 

declined because he had already told air traffic control that he had 

completed the photo run.



The federal government knew who was onboard the aircraft and knew what the 

purpose of the flight was. The federal government maintained constant radar 

vigilance on the aircraft and remained in communication with the pilot.



The flight school verified the identities of your crewmembers before the 

flight, including making copies of their photo IDs.



Should anyone have been concerned about this aircraft passing the Indian 

Point power plant? Of course not. The flight had been cleared and was being 

tracked, the crew and passengers were known, the purpose of the flight 

approved.



Kennedy's story also did not fairly represent the threat of a general 

aviation aircraft crashing into a nuclear facility. He cited a nuclear 

activist, with no identified engineering expertise, claiming that a small 

aircraft could damage a nuclear facility, and "damage to the spent fuel pool 

could lead to a massive release of radioactivity, which would then threaten 

the entire New York metropolitan area..."



Yet independent nuclear engineers have confirmed for us that even an 

airliner could not penetrate the containment vessel house the nuclear 

reactor. Spent fuel rods are kept in steel-lined concrete "swimming pool" 

designed to withstand an earthquake measuring 6.6 on the Richter scale. Some 

thirty feet of water covers the fuel rods. Even if an aircraft were able to 

penetrate the building covering the storage pool, it couldn't get to the 

fuel rods. When impacted at aircraft speeds, water is harder than concrete. 

Pieces of the aircraft might sink down to the fuel rods, but it's 

extraordinarily unlikely that the fuel would be disturbed.



And Kennedy claimed that most nuclear plants "are near a major airport." He 

neglected to mention that all nuclear plants have been designed taking into 

account the plant's proximity to an airport; it's proximity to federal 

airways, and proximity to military aircraft training routes.



In sum, your staff misrepresented themselves and the facts to obtain a 

sensationalistic story that unfairly alarmed a trusting public. Our members 

had expected better from Fox News, and, frankly, you and I know well these 

facts spell poor journalism.



Sincerely,



/s/



Phil Boyer



http://www.aopa.org/whatsnew/newsitems/2002/020424letter1.html



A reply from Fox News Senior VP is here:

http://www.aopa.org/whatsnew/newsitems/2002/020424letter2.html





--

Hold the door for the stranger behind you.  When the driver a 

half-car-length in front of you signals to get over, slow down.  Smile and 

say "hi" to the folks you pass on the sidewalk.  Give blood.  Volunteer.









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