At a public meeting on Wednesday, January 18, Helicopter Association International (HAI) President Matthew Zuccaro spoke out against a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) designed to make the Washington, D.C. Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) restrictions permanent. The public meeting, the second of two meetings on the subject, was hosted by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in response to a flood of negative comments on the NPRM from pilots, airport operators, and others in the General Aviation (GA) community.

Pointing to examples of the costs imposed on the helicopter community by the air space restrictions surrounding the nation’s capital and questioning the logic and efficacy of existing restrictions, Zuccaro urged representatives of the FAA, U.S. Secret Service, Department of Defense, Customs and Border Patrol, and Transportation Security Administration to rethink the idea of making the ADIZ permanent.

Zuccaro opened his comments by extolling the versatility and potential of the helicopter, as demonstrated so vividly last summer in response to Hurricane Katrina. “We can go places no one else can go. We can do things no one else can do. Helicopters can do just about anything. They are the time machine of our generation. Unfortunately, there is one thing we cannot do – operate within the airspace of our nation’s capital,” Zuccaro said.

The HAI President went on to list examples of the economic impact of existing Washington, D.C. air space restrictions on individual operators. He described how the restrictions have crippled corporate helicopter activity in the area and decimated civil helicopter operations at the only public heliport in D.C., the South Capitol Street Heliport. He outlined the frustrating and costly experience of America Rising and its blocked dream of initiating daily scheduled helicopter service between downtown New York and Washington, D.C. “It is not just a question of experienced financial loss, which has been substantial. What is more important is the loss of future opportunities and growth for the helicopter industry.”

Zuccaro (right) contended that, despite all of the economic losses and lost possibilities, the ADIZ does not work and would not necessarily prevent a terrorist attack launched from within the restricted area.

“What it does is treat innocent, compliance oriented GA pilots and operators like criminals,” he said.

Zuccaro went on to use the FAA’s own words, quotes from the NPRM document itself, which appeared to undermine the FAA’s justifications for the restrictive air space regulations. He pointed to the statement in the NPRM, which admitted that the Department of Homeland Security had “no information suggesting an imminent plan by terrorists to use airplanes to attack targets in the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area.” He went on to cite another excerpt from the NPRM which stated, “According to testimony before Congress by the then Director of Central Intelligence, George Tenet, the September 11 mastermind, Khalid Shaykh Muhammad, originally proposed using multiple small aircraft packed with explosives to conduct the attacks. Osama Bin Laden reportedly suggested the use of larger aircraft instead.”

According to Zuccaro, “This would seem to indicate the thought of using small GA aircraft has already been rejected by terrorists, due to the realization such use would not achieve their desired goal.”

Zuccaro also noted that trucks, cars, suicide bombers, and other methodologies, which have been utilized worldwide, such as in the Oklahoma City bombing, the first World Trade Center attack, the London subway bombings, and Indonesian attacks, are not subjected to the same pre-registration requirements, detailed surveillance, restricted access, nor requirement to be accompanied by an armed guard, as is the case for Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) operations. Yet helicopters, which have not been used in terrorist attacks, are.

In addressing the issue of helicopter access to DCA, Zuccaro noted that the current procedures for helicopters to operate in and out of DCA can only be described as convoluted, overly burdensome, and non-reliable. Considering that operators must develop an internal security program, conduct criminal background checks on all crews, provide 24-hour advance requests, conduct the flight IFR, detour to a gateway airport, undergo inspection and screening of crew, passengers and aircraft, place an armed guard on each flight, deal with the possibility of clearance cancellation at anytime, in addition to the fact that the operator must pay for all costs incurred, in reality, from a practical point of view, helicopters still do not have access to DCA. When making the decision as to how best serve passenger needs within the D.C. area, helicopter operators must weigh the issues associated with the current DCA protocols against the process to more attractive alternatives, such as Dulles, or an available GA airport. This process also has the potential to create an inaccurate picture regarding the true desire of helicopter operators to access DCA.

Closing on a personal note, Zuccaro pointed to his personal experiences in the 1970s, as a helicopter pilot and aviation manager for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and his involvement in the development and construction of the emergency heliports on the World Trade Center towers. “I was one of two pilots who conducted the test landings on these heliports,” he said. “Along with the rest of you, I watched in horror as many of those I knew and worked with perished, and those glorious buildings were reduced to rubble. This is indeed a tragedy I will remember for all time. In the ensuing years, I have come to heed the President’s advice that we must keep on living, conducting our lives as before and not constraining our activities. To this end I would submit to you that we should not allow General Aviation to be unreasonably constrained or eliminate its future. This would be another tragedy I would rather not have to watch. Should this happen, the terrorist will have surely won without doing anything.”

FMI: www.rotor.com