Grassley calls for changes in restrictions on student pilots

Following the weekend suicide flight of a 15-year-old Florida pilot who hit a tall Tampa building with a stolen plane, Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says new restrictions may be needed to keep kids out of cockpits.He says, “It’s always baffled me how come a 15-year-old can’t get a driver’s license, but they can get a pilot license. I think uniformity of age to receive a pilot’s license would be a legitimate restriction.” Student pilots may solo at fifteen but cannot get a pilot’s license until they’re seventeen. Grassley says he does -not- think any new federal mandates need to be issued on the safeguarding of small aircraft. He says the Florida situation was unique.Grassley says he’s still very concerned about the potential for bio-terrorism and agriterrorism in rural America.He’s asking the U-S Ag Secretary to conduct an immediate assessment of antibiotics and chemicals that need to be stockpiled to respond to outbreaks of animal diseases. Among those, he lists foot-and-mouth disease as being one of the most potentially damaging.