FBI Wants Crop-Dusting Plane Operators on Alert

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FBI Wants Crop-Dusting Plane Operators on AlertBy Carey GillamKANSAS CITY, Mo. (Reuters) - Acting on concerns that future attackers could turn to chemical warfare, the FBI (news - web sites) is asking all U.S. agricultural-use airplane operators to be on high alert for any suspicious behavior as they take to the skies to chemically treat the nation's crops.``The FBI has contacted us and asked us to sensitize our members to any potential threats,'' National Agricultural Aviation Association Executive Director James Callan told Reuters on Tuesday.An alert posted on the association's Web site reads: ''Members should be vigilant to any suspicious activity relative to the use, training in or acquisition of dangerous chemicals or airborne application of same, including threats, unusual purchases, suspicious behavior by employees or customers, and unusual contacts with the public. Members should report any suspicious circumstances or information to local FBI offices.''Callan said the FBI had not told him of any specific threat and he believed the chances of an agricultural aviation plane being used in a plot were remote.Special licenses, distinct from a general aviation license, are required to pilot the planes, which carry large hoppers that can hold a variety of pesticides and fungicides used in treating everything from potatoes to cotton, he said.There are about 3,000 such agricultural-use planes, once known as ``crop-dusters,'' in use in the United States. Now is prime time for the industry to blanket the skies, as crops from the West Coast to the East are due for chemical treatments.All privately owned and operated aircraft, including agricultural-use planes, have been grounded since the Sept. 11 attacks in which hijacked commercial airliners plowed into New York's World Trade Center and the Pentagon (news - web sites) in Washington leaving thousands missing or dead.The hijackers piloting the planes had been trained in U.S. aviation schools, authorities have said.Some private planes, which number more than 200,000 in the United States, were allowed to resume operations on Monday night with tight restrictions.One of the major limitations is that pilots wanting to fly under visual flight rules are still banned, according to the Aircraft Owners & Pilots Association. Visual flight rules do not require planes to be under constant tracking by ground control.The majority of the 132,000 takeoffs and landings of private planes each day are conducted under visual flight rules, said the association's spokesman, Warren Morningstar.The association, which along with Callan's group is working to restore full flight to the industry, said in a news release that federal authorities were telling the association that there ``threats to our national security'' may still exist.Over the weekend, there were instances across the country in which pilots of private aircraft attempted to resume flying and were intercepted by F-16 fighter jets and forced to land, the association said. http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20010918/ts/attack_crops_dc_1.html