More Than 5,000 Pilots File Comments To FAA
By midday Wednesday, more than 5,100 comments had been filed on
the Washington, DC, Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ), with
99.99 percent of them against making it permanent or expanding it
to other major cities.
"That's a great initial response, but there's greater strength
in more numbers," said AOPA President Phil Boyer. "Whether you live
in Washington, DC, or across the country in Washington State, you
too need to respond, because if an ADIZ is allowed to remain over
the 3,000 square miles of airspace near Washington and Baltimore,
ADIZs could multiply to cities like Boston, Miami, Dallas, Los
Angeles, and Seattle."
And that threat hasn't escaped some of the commenters.
"While I do not reside in the DC area...I nonetheless see the
door opening to ultimately make any Class B airspace area subject
to ADIZ regulatory constraints," wrote a Detroit pilot.
"The restriction proposed in Washington, DC, is unneeded and is
like killing a mosquito with a pile driver," said a pilot from
Washington State.
Echoing similar concerns, a pilot from Glendale, Arizona, wrote,
"Among the issues we face in general aviation, the most oppressive
and potentially harmful is the possibility of ADIZ areas being
established and made permanent, the most likely first to be the
existing one in the nation's capital."
A US Army-trained aviator from Mississippi with experience in
combat zones and international and US ADIZs wrote, "Never have I
seen such an unjustified need for a permanent ADIZ as this
proposal."
"I see [the ADIZ] as only, at best, a type of smoke and mirrors,
an illusion," wrote a "Flying Padre" and Navy chaplain who
ministers to Navy cadets flying with the Navy Annapolis Flight
Center (NAFC). A private pilot himself, he noted how the ADIZ
affects even those learning to fly to defend their country. "I've
been on the phone on hold over 20 minutes while I stood line with
as many as four other pilots, student pilots, and instructors at
NAFC trying to file an ADIZ flight plan," the chaplain told the
FAA. "Then I've stayed in the run-up area burning up rental time
and fuel while other student pilots behind do the same. Then yet
another delay to reach Potomac Approach and copy the four-digit
transponder code and contact frequency for departure from Lee
Airport. It's not working!"
A police helicopter pilot in the Los Angeles area expressed his
strong opposition to the ADIZ, saying it places a "major,
unnecessary burden on pilots and air traffic controllers with
almost no increased security benefit." And he couldn't resist
taking a shot at the "Mickey Mouse" TFRs. "As a law enforcement
pilot in Orange County I can speak with authority as to the
ridiculousness of the TFR" over Disneyland.
Other pilots wrote how the ADIZ had forced them to stop flying,
or stop doing business in the area. A Pennsylvania businessman
wrote, "Since 9/11, it has been so difficult if not impossible to
service the greater DC/Baltimore area that I simply do not seek to
do business there any more."
"The ADIZ is intimidating and, because of the associated
clearance and transponder code requirement, it takes sometimes 30
minutes to get through to flight service," said a Virginia pilot.
"I used to love to fly VFR around DC And now, between the ADIZ and
the TFR, the airspace is too complicated to make it fun any
more."
Finally, a United Airlines pilot, who reminded the FAA that two
of his company's aircraft were hijacked for the 9/11 attacks,
wrote, "But I grow weary and disgusted at the continued emphasis
the bureaucrats put on aviation, when other much more suitable
terrorist targets exist.... Perhaps aviation is such a relatively
small group of people and interests that the government (TSA, FAA,
FBI, etc.) feels that they can get away with putting together
onerous restrictions on general aviation that, in truth, do
virtually no good, but have huge political clout.... Everybody
knows the vast sums of taxpayer money spent on 'security' is
nothing more than window dressing, a fa�ade that diverts
resources from the very places it ought to be going. The
Washington, DC, Air Defense Identification Zone is more of the
same. It is a waste of resources, time, and money. But worst of
all, it does no good."