Public Meeting Is Thursday on D.C.-area ADIZ

[PA16]

The first of two public meetings will be held this Thursday on the FAA’s proposal to make permanent the so-called temporary restrictions and the current air defense identification zone (ADIZ) in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. The meeting, presented by a panel of representatives from the FAA and other government agencies, will be held on January 12 at the Sheraton Columbia Hotel, Columbia, Md. The second meeting is scheduled for January 18 at the Washington Dulles Airport Marriott. Since the proposal was published on August 4, the FAA has received more than 19,600 comments, mostly negative, but AOPA is concerned that only about 2,300 have come from pilots in the D.C. area. Said AOPA president Phil Boyer in a recent e-mail to D.C.-area pilots: “I’m appealing to you, as a D.C.-area pilot, for help in defeating the ADIZ. Please tell the government, loud and clear, that the ADIZ does not work.â€￾ The comment period closes February 6.

 

[Paul]

Update:

AOPA members step up to plate, tell government panel ADIZ is unworkable, Boyer to speak Wednesday

AOPA members got the chance to come face to face with representatives from six federal agencies to air their experiences and concerns about the hastily developed Washington, D.C., Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) during Thursday's public meetings. More than 300 local pilots — mostly AOPA members — attended the first of two public hearings in Columbia, Maryland, which AOPA had worked hard to create. Over the course of six hours, more than 30 speakers provided the government with a clear message about the ADIZ's inadequacies through personal accounts of operational nightmares, safety hazards, and negative economic impacts.

"Our members are the real asset, and I am proud of the way they are stepping up to present their personal, passionate, well-researched comments against a permanent Washington, D.C., ADIZ," said AOPA President Phil Boyer. "And these public meetings allow the government to hear that — loud and clear — directly from the members, the pilots and aircraft owners who have to struggle with these unworkable regulations every day."

And while the 11-member panel composed of representatives from the FAA, Transportation Security Administration, Homeland Security, Defense Department, Customs and Border Protection, and the Secret Service seemed unresponsive, the FAA assured AOPA that the agency is listening.

"We appreciate all the thought that people have put into their comments — the almost 20,000 submissions to the docket and live testimony yesterday," said an FAA spokeswoman. "We appreciate the time they took to come to the public meetings to offer their recommendations, alternate ideas, and suggestions of how to protect the airspace around the Capital Region but still allow the aviation community to thrive. We will look at all the comments and consider the many creative recommendations we have."

One speaker compared the destructive capability of a Boeing 767 and Cessna 172: It would take about 600 Cessna 172s to pose the same amount of threat as a single 767.

AOPA

 

[charterbum]

Update: Second Washington ADIZ Hearing 1/18/06

Tomorrow’s public hearing at Washington Dulles Airport on the FAA’s proposal to make the Washington-Baltimore air defense identification zone (ADIZ) permanent is expected to draw comments from the leaders of at least three general aviation groups. AOPA president Phil Boyer, National Air Transportation Association president Jim Coyne and Helicopter Association International president Matthew Zuccaro are all scheduled to speak in opposition to the ADIZ proposal. The first of two such public meetings, held last Thursday in Columbia, Md., drew more than 300 local pilots. Over the course of six hours, representatives from six federal agencies heard more than 30 speakers, all opposing the permanent ADIZ, which closely mimics the Washington-Baltimore Class B airspace. The comment period closes February 6.

 

[Paul]

Updateon't make the ADIZ permanent, Boyer tells federal panel

"I implore you; don't take this bad idea and make it permanent!"

Nothing summed it up better than AOPA President Phil Boyer's presentation to collected federal security officials in the large hotel meeting room just next to Virginia's Dulles International Airport Wednesday afternoon. The hotel and the airport are deep inside the Washington, D.C., Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ), and Boyer was only the first of some 200 pilots ready to explain exactly why the ADIZ is a bad idea.

And for the first time in public, Boyer revealed his own personal bad experience with the ADIZ.

AOPA had requested this public meeting, and the one last week, because — as Boyer told the panel of Secret Service, Department of Defense, Customs and Border Patrol, Homeland Security, Transportation Security Administration, and FAA officials — "The voices and faces and the appeals of the affected pilots would have a greater effect [on you federal officials] than even the outpouring of written comments from across the nation."

Boyer said that some 90 percent of the nearly 20,000 written anti-ADIZ comments came from outside the Washington area, "mainly because [pilots] fear that the same thing that was done to Class B airspace here in this city could happen to 29 other places around the country."

Boyer detailed all of the steps that have been taken to improve general aviation security since the 9/11 attacks, including AOPA's Airport Watch Program.

"And don't just credit AOPA," said Boyer. "Credit the more than 600,000 pilots in this country that, like a neighborhood watch, are looking around the airport for untoward things happening."

And then Boyer revealed how he and his wife had been victims of the operational problems of the ADIZ.

"Let me go off script here. I've not told this story before publicly," said Boyer. On a Sunday afternoon in the summer of 2003, Boyer and his wife flew their Cessna 172 for a short pleasure flight between Frederick (FDK) and Carroll County Regional Airport (DMW) in Westminster, Maryland. Both airports are well outside the ADIZ.

But upon returning to Frederick, the Boyers were ordered to call ATC, and Lois Boyer, the pilot in command, was accused of violating the ADIZ.

"She went through hell," said Boyer. "And the next day, the FAA was still going to pursue an enforcement action."

Fortunately for the Boyers, their aircraft was equipped with ADS-B, meaning that even though they were squawking VFR, the aircraft could be uniquely identified on the radarscope. They were able to obtain the radar tapes and prove conclusively that they weren't near the ADIZ. Very few aircraft currently have ADS-B, so for most pilots, it's their word against the FAA's.

AOPA

 

[Paul]

Update: Final Say

The deadline is fast approaching. If you don't want the government to clamp down on your airspace the way it has around Baltimore and Washington, now is the time to file your comments against the proposal to make the Washington, D.C., Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) a permanent impediment to air travel along the East Coast.

The deadline for comments is Monday, February 6. (See AOPA's Member Action Center: Operation ADIZ to learn more or file your comments.)

"As anyone who rationally considers the question recognizes, the security threat from small general aviation aircraft is minimal at best," wrote a 30-year private pilot from the Midwest. "Even most of the smaller motor vehicles traveling in and out of the area hourly, 24/7 pose a greater security risk, than a typical four-seat plane such as mine. The load-carrying capacity and the mass just are not substantial in a small GA plane, as compared to most vehicles on the street.... Establishing the ADIZ is not a good idea!"

AOPA

 

[PA16]

Final Days to Comment on Washington ADIZ Proposal
source: AIN

Monday is the last day to submit comments on the FAA’s proposal to make permanent the temporary restrictions and the current air defense identification zone (ADIZ) in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. The end of the comment period follows two public meetings last month attended by hundreds of business and general aviation pilots and their trade groups. The FAA said it will “consider comments made at the meetings before making a final decisionâ€￾ on whether to establish the “Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area Special Flight Rules Area.â€￾ Since the proposal was published last August 4, the original comment period was extended and the FAA has to date received more than 20,280 comments, mostly negative.