Austin plane crash pilot defines new domestic terrorism

By Chuck Frank / chuck@theklaxon.com / 02.18.2010

Updated on: 02.18.10 at 3:28 pm

Joe Stack quietly lit his house on fire Thursday (with his wife and 12-year-old daughter asleep inside), drove to a nearby Austin, Texas, airport and flew his plane right into the IRS offices at the Echelon building in North Austin.

In Stack’s words, “I’ve had enough.”

Stack has never been quite normal about the IRS. It apparently has been a thorn in his side since puberty. And he had been recently feuding with them. Many of us can relate to the feelings of frustration concerning a phone book-sized self-help manual designed by politicians for politicians with the sole intent of liberating someone from their hard-earned dollars. We payup, drink up, and fantasize about that flat tax nirvana way out yonder and a government expansion formula tied to GDP instead of the printing press at the U.S. Mint.

On some level, we all get Stack. We understand his frustration with the IRS, but the question, however, is Stack a domestic terrorist?

The FBI has defined terrorism as, “The unlawful use of force or violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives.” The Rand Corporation’s Brian Jenkins has defined terrorism as, “The use or threatened use of force designed to bring about political change.”

By definition, Stack is a domestic terrorist.

In practicum, he is a sad, mal-content saturated in baby-boom victim speak, and absolutely sure that his problems and set-backs have come by the hand of his government.

The mess Stack has left is another story. He has unwittingly uncorked the bad genie in the general aviation bottle that has remained confined and docile since Osama bin Laden’s boys took their first flying lesson. The truth is that anyone with a pilot’s license can rent or purchase a small aircraft (get one of your own on E-bay for less than $15K) and fly it into a building to make a statement.

Most find the reverie in this practice short lived. For the rest of those folks with a burr under their saddle and a penchant for raising their game above their friends at the Post Office, we now have a new security concern. This concern will be Stack’s legacy. Not a revision of the tax code, but another layer of administrative and security-based nonsense that will target a subset of our society who are known for their Type-A, squeeky clean, no nonsense appoach to recreational flight or the inclusion of general aviation into their business practices.

Private pilots are not our big concern America, any more than licensed gun owners are. Statistically, one is in far more danger from associating with your lawnmower or snowblower.

Unfortunately, the security nightmare for general aviation will probably begin today with politicians calling for a review of FAA guidelines concerning GA regulations. Private pilots and small airports will bear the burden of this increased interference in an already regulated and highly monitored practice.

To people outside of general aviation, the new entangelments will all make perfect sense.

Thanks, Joe.