Can I borrow the Cessna? It won't take long.

After a great tragedy, Washington's tendency is to announce tough measures designed to prevent a repetition, and then to steadily chip away at them under pressure from lobbyists. After 9/11, private planes were forbidden to use Reagan National Airport. The reason was that Reagan National is within seconds of the White House and the Capitol, which are, of course, prime targets for terrorists. Now, Sen. George Allen (R-Va.) has introduced a bill that will let private planes back in Reagan National.

The private plane lobby is strong, including not only the planes' manufacturers and the general aviation industry that services them, but also corporations with their private jets and private pilots, many of whom are influential members of their communities. Their argument is that if commercial airlines can use the airport, why can't we? That argument sounds reasonable, but while there are only a few thousand commercial pilots, there are 250,000 private pilots. How is the government going to investigate all of them to find out they're not terrorists? And even if it could, many of them fly from airports that have tittle or no security, from which terrorists could easily steal one of the planes, bead for Reagan National when it is open to private aviation, and then at the last second turn the plane into a flying bomb headed for the White House or the Capitol.