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.”