Tallahassee, Florida -- If you remember back a few weeks ago, I made a number of comments in prior Port of Entry columns that flight schools were being hammered hard by the paralyzed airspace and concerns over the training received in U.S. flight schools by some of the September 11th terrorists. With flight training all but halted, training aircraft grounded, and students unable to continue lessons, the industry which serves as the de facto "hatchery" for our growing national aviation resources has been severely crippled. Few states have been hit as hard as our own Florida, which, due to its year-round flying weather and spectacular scenery, is a favorite flight training location.

Well... I got an email from my bud/flight instructor, Frank, today. Frank owns and operates Kitty Hawke Aviation in beautiful Archer, Florida. His flight school is based on a pristine grass airstrip called "Flying Ten" and it's where I learned to fly. Frank's school is flying again, having survived the past month by what he calls "the skin of his teeth." In what can only be described as a Tonya-Harding-like-blow-to-the-kneecap, the Florida House of Representatives has introduced two bills which, if enacted, will further damage this vital sector of our state's economy.

You've heard it before: "We're the government and we're here to help."

I'm sure these proposals are well intentioned, but this is yet another example of what happens when power precedes intelligence, when politics take a front seat over logic. Consider these two bills:

The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association ("AOPA" -- of which I am a proud card-carrying member) naturally opposes legislation whereby a state government attempts to intervene with the regulation of a federally controlled activity (i.e., aviation).

So why are they doing this? Do the folks in Tallahassee seriously believe they can do a better job than the FAA and other federal agencies in monitoring the U.S. flight training of psychotic terrorists? I doubt it. Look at the facts, folks:

• The majority of the terrorists who were onboard the September 11th flights had no prior criminal records and fingerprint searches would have yielded no negative results. FBI criminal background checks would have possibly identified perhaps one or two of the terrorists, no more.

• Providing five letters of personal reference is more of a challenge for an upstanding normal human being than it is for terrorists. When I ask, for example, an NIW candidate who is curing AIDS for five letters, he/she would have to rack his/her brain for names! How hard would it be for a mega-financed terrorist organization to produce five letters of personal reference? And what are they going to do? Follow UP on the letters?? Dumb, dumb, dumb.

• ALL entities doing business within the state of Florida already must be registered in one way or another. City and county occupational and zoning licenses and permits, use permits, etc. are all part and parcel of doing business in the Sunshine State. Under the complex FAA guidelines, flight training schools have the option of falling under certain parts of the regulations. Without getting into too much nitty gritty, it basically breaks down into two categories: (1) flight schools which are formally approved by the FAA and can say so and (2) flight schools which are not so certified. The certified schools get to offer more and, generally, charge more. They can offer certification with less training hours and the certified facilities, generally speaking, are more likely to receive INS approval for the issuance of M-1 visas for foreign students seeking flight training in the United States. These additional regulations will only create a complex paperwork mechanism which will do to small flight schools what the current H-1B paperwork nightmare does to employers: establish liability via enforcement without the realization of a benefit from compliance. It is bureaucracy for the sake of bureaucracy.

It's like this, folks: create a ton of fictional hurdles for someone to initiate flight training and young people will lose interest in flight training. Schools will close. Meanwhile, terrorists will find new and deadlier ways, if they are determined, to do their damage.

Worrisome as many of the new federal laws are -- and we will be looking at them closely in the coming weeks -- you must admit that they seem to be pretty focused on the proverbial "bad guy." In contrast, these Florida bills are more of the "throw the baby out with the bath water" nature, and they stink. You cannot prevent terrorism by restricting the personal liberties of the American population any more than you can prevent drunk driving by making alcohol illegal. We tried that, remember? It was called Prohibition, and more money was spent on liquor per capita then in America than anytime before or since.

I know it's fall in Tallahassee and you boys up there are all worked up doing that silly chop-chop-chop thing, but take it from this Gator: let the FAA figure out how to keep our skies safe, okay? Frank doesn't need your intervention, thank-you-very-much, and your well-intentioned bills aren't going to do JACK to make our state's skies safer.