Sat, Mar 01, 2003
AOPA formally asks TSA to rescind DC's Restricted Airspace
AOPA has asked the Transportation Security Administration to
rescind the Washington, D.C., Air Defense Identification Zone
(ADIZ) now that the national terrorist threat level has been
reduced to "yellow."
If It's Yellow, Fly It
In a letter yesterday to TSA chief operating officer, Adm. John
E. Shkor, AOPA President Phil Boyer said, "Our members are now
asking, 'with the rollback of the threat level, shouldn't the ADIZ
be rescinded, and the pre-February 8 conditions be re-instated?'"
Noting that previous public communications had indicated that the
ADIZ was directly tied to the national threat level of "orange,"
Boyer asked TSA to cancel the three notams implementing the
ADIZ.
"The
current ADIZ restrictions place significant financial and
operational hardships on the general aviation businesses and
operators who are based within the airspace," Boyer told Shkor.
"Over the last 3 weeks, it has become clear that the air traffic
control system does not have the resources in place to effectively
manage, for extended periods of time, the volume of general
aviation traffic requiring access to the ADIZ." Boyer noted that
even with the reduced amount of air traffic because of prevailing
bad weather, "pilots have had extreme difficulties in gaining
access to the airspace."
The Cost Would Be Staggering
Boyer said that continuing the ADIZ would require significant
investments for infrastructure to handle all of the aircraft
needing access. "These [investments] would include at least five
new air traffic control towers, as well as 13 additional remote
communication outlets (RCOs)."
"On behalf of the nearly 400,000 members of AOPA, I urge you to
rescind the ADIZ restrictions immediately," Boyer wrote Shkor. "As
always, the Association stands ready to communicate these airspace
changes to our membership, to avoid any misunderstanding created by
the changing conditions."
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