Airport Fences

[Sinistar]

I am just west of the Twin Cities. Unless I head east and land at airports under the Bravo, there is very rarely a fence around the airport. Of the 45 or so airports I have landed at, I think maybe 15 had fences and those are Deltas, a Charlie and some of the bigger uncontrolled fields.

Our home base has no fence. We do have a lot of deer and coyotes. The coyotes get out of the way and then chase after the plane after you pass The deer...kinda worried on this one for night landings.

The big problem is that the Fed controls the funding and in our case would provide 90% of the 2..3 million it would take to fence it off. But our small town has no real love of aviation. And there is no FBO or source of taxes/jobs so they don't want to cough up the $200K..$300K it would take to match. Can't say as I blame them. With only like 50 tenants at the airport and maybe 10 live in town that's a hard vote to get.

So we will never have a fence or another major update unless they Fed really sweetens the pot...which will never happen.

But I highly commend the local police. I have yet to be at the airport for more than 2hrs and not see them drive all around the hangars, stop at the tiny FBO building and stop by and say hello. So from a "Fence is needed to keep people out" point of view I think they are doing a darn good job without a fence.

 

[flyingron]

Barbed wire won't deter the determined. Years ago I worked well inside a secure Amy installation. Several of the workers set up a volleyball court behind the building to play at lunch time when the weather was nice. Occasionally the ball would go over the fence. We had one guy who was actually IN the Army. He'd get a good charge at the fence, leap up planting one foot about two thirds of the way up and propell himself over the fence, barbed wire and all. He'd retrieve the ball and repeat the process to jump back.

After several months, someone in the security office caught on to this "issue." The solution. Not to tell the guy not to jump over the fence, but to ban volleyball playing inside the restricted area.
Yep. No volleyball will keep people from jumping the fence.

 

[Polarisguy]

The federal government just likes fences. This is a map of the Fargo Veterans Administration hospital campus. A couple of years ago, someone decided that the veterans needed to be protected against I guess marauding violent demonstrators with a 10ft aluminum spike fence. To make it look pretty, it has nice masonry pillars at the end. The fence is about 2 blocks long, has two vehicle gates and ran somewhere north of a million dollars.

View attachment 69893

Below is a picture of the place where the Taj Mahal of federal fences joins with conventional 4ft PVC panel fence that covers the north perimeter of the campus. The rear side of the campus from the dyke along the river isn't fenced at all....

View attachment 69894

Your tax dollars at work


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[sarangan]

Just curious how many of you have flown into city or county owned airports that have no fences.
Every little airport I've been to has had a 6 foot chain link fence for security except for the one
I trained at. KMEZ Mena, AR. (think American Made).Thanks

They added a fence around my airport after 9/11. It screwed up the localizer signal, and trapped a bunch of deer inside. But I am certain it has kept many a terrorists from stealing airplanes and flying them into buildings.

 

[Lindberg]

The federal government just likes fences. This is a map of the Fargo Veterans Administration hospital campus. A couple of years ago, someone decided that the veterans needed to be protected against I guess marauding violent demonstrators with a 10ft aluminum spike fence. To make it look pretty, it has nice masonry pillars at the end. The fence is about 2 blocks long, has two vehicle gates and ran somewhere north of a million dollars.

View attachment 69893

Below is a picture of the place where the Taj Mahal of federal fences joins with conventional 4ft PVC panel fence that covers the north perimeter of the campus. The rear side of the campus from the dyke along the river isn't fenced at all....

View attachment 69894

Probably designed to discourage transient and through traffic and parking. Looks like those lots would also be vulnerable to crime originating nearby. Improved security does not always depend on full isolation.

 

[DoubleD]

Extensive fencing has been added around San Marcos Regional (KHYI). If someone wanted to get inside, it wouldn't be difficult. The main effect as far as I can see is to make the airport more unfriendly to the general public. Not exactly what GA needs.

 

[weilke]

Probably designed to discourage transient and through traffic and parking. Looks like those lots would also be vulnerable to crime originating nearby. Improved security does not always depend on full isolation.

This is in a residential neighborhood and the only place you can get to by driving through the hospital parking lot is to the muddy river. And while the .gov pays for an entire police department to guard the thing, there is actually no access control at the vehicle gates. It's just a million dollar fence that guards from nowhere to nowhere and anyone who wants to walk onto the hospital campus can just go to the end of the fence and hop over the 4ft vinyl panel fence that it turns into.
I have seen the same folly at airports. A 100ft piece of fence with a vehicle gate but anyone who wants to drive onto the airport can just walk around it to push a button on the inside

 

[SaltH2OHokie]

I'm doing a bunch of construction at a DOD facility that includes security perimeter fencing.

A moderately intelligent person could bypass or defeat most of the "security" measures for $0. They (we) are spending well north of that figure to put them in. It's a mixture of CYA, incompetence and cronyism.

I'm sure the same mixture of reasons drive fencing that doesn't make sense around airports. Our home base is fenced, but the wildlife have no respect for it.

 

[WannFly]

Texas has a lot of airports.

I hear you guys have a wall, that explains why the fences are not fully enclosed

 

[ircphoenix]

Just scoped out Santa Ynez airport. There's a fence that faces the airport access road. Granted you can literally walk around it without having to go much more that 200 feet away from the main airport building/bungalow. And right where the end of the fence is are two Santa Barbara County SO helos just sitting there.

But the hangar area has big nice brand new looking chain link fences and security keypad. I mean... both gates on the entry and exit side were WIDE freaking open... But they were there.

Your tax dollars at work.

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[Kritchlow]

Sorry, I thought the thread title was "Airport Feces." Got my attention, but nothing to add here that hasn't been said.

Truth.... that’s what I thought as well !!!
I still see that when I look at it. Eyes play tricks...

 

[ircphoenix]

Good thing those fences are there. Who knows what could happen otherwise.

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[Stewartb]

Pretty much every airport I went to in Alaska has no fence except Anchorage and Fairbanks.

I have been to several in the lower 48 that has no fence or just a partial fence.

No fence at Lake Hood, including the strip. They did put in a taxiway gate a couple of years ago. It re-routes walkers and joggers off the taxiway, but that wasn’t the reason for it. It was put up after a tour bus drove onto the strip so tourists could watch planes land. Seriously.