AOPA Commissions Independent Study To Determine Economic
Impact
Business owners at
airports within the Washington, D.C., Air Defense Identification
Zone (ADIZ) say it's suffocating small aviation businesses. They
report revenue cut in half or more, employees leaving for fear of
harming careers, and customers scared away by daunting regulations.
And those comments are quantified by an AOPA-commissioned,
independent economic impact study.
"The FAA concedes that it hasn't collected any data on the
change in operations and revenue imposed by the ADIZ," said AOPA
President Phil Boyer. "So AOPA commissioned two nationally known
firms to find out. And it wasn't pretty."
While airports and aviation businesses nationally have recovered
fairly well from the post-9/11 shocks, the same can't be said for
businesses inside and near the Washington, D.C., ADIZ.
For example, Montgomery County Airpark has lost 72 jobs and $2.7
million in local purchasing, while Martin State Airport has lost
some $15 million in revenue.
"There couldn't be a more graphic demonstration than this of why
an ADIZ is harmful wherever it might be established," said Boyer.
"That's why it is critically important for every pilot to take 15
minutes now to write the FAA and oppose a permanent Washington,
D.C., ADIZ. It could set a dangerous precedent, threatening every
pilot's freedom to fly."
AOPA is calling on all pilots, regardless of where they live, to
file official comments with the FAA and to strongly oppose the
proposal.
"People are avoiding the ADIZ because of the horror stories that
are out there," said Bill Finagin, a retired two-star U.S. Navy
admiral who runs Dent Air Ltd. at Lee Airport, a 2,500-foot
airstrip in Annapolis, Maryland. "People call for instruction and
when they find out it is within the ADIZ they frequently decline
coming. I have also lost four new aircraft sales totaling about $1
million because the people do not want to fly into Annapolis. They
just tell me the ADIZ is too intimidating."
Now two and a half years old, the ADIZ was set up as a temporary
precaution around Washington prior to the invasion of Iraq. Similar
airspace restrictions over New York and Chicago were removed within
months of being imposed. But the Washington ADIZ remains, and an
FAA proposal to make it permanent has a November 2 deadline for
public comments.
Ironically, while the
ADIZ was intended to protect Washington, it is having the harshest
impact on tiny airstrips such as Annapolis that host small aircraft
with the least capacity to pose any security risk.
"The ADIZ has reduced our income by 50 percent in some
departments," said Gil Bauserman, manager of Bauserman Service at
Maryland Airport in Indian Head, Maryland, a small airfield with
both asphalt and grass runways 16 miles south of Washington. "After
9/11 we were starting to recover, until the ADIZ was
installed."
But even at busier airports such as those in Leesburg and
Manassas, Virginia, flight school managers report that instructors
trying to build time for a possible career with the airlines are
staying away for fear that a minor — and harmless —
technical glitch could scuttle their career plans.
"During 2003 and 2004, seven of our 35 flight instructors were
violated by the FAA for transponder irregularities," said Dr. Don
Robb of the Av-Ed Flight School at Leesburg. "Currently our
business is having difficulty finding enough instructors. They are
concerned about damage to their career prospects because of ADIZ
violations."
Robb also reports a decline in aircraft rentals, a common way
for new pilots and others who do not own aircraft to build
experience.
"Renters are very vocal in their concern, and it appears to
account for much of the decline in their business," Robb said.
Jim Stone, of the Manassas Aviation Center, also reported a
decline in instruction and rentals.
"Due to the restrictions, added time required for flight
training, added time to fly outside the ADIZ for training, and
possible infractions for violations, students have stopped renting
airplanes, and prospective student have been turned off," said
Stone.
For owners at the
Kentmorr Airport, a residential airpark in Stevensville, on
Maryland's Eastern Shore, the ADIZ problem isn't revenue, it's real
estate values. Owners at the field have houses and hangars that
face a 2,400-foot grass runway. They could sell, but risk doing so
with an asset diminished by a government action that offers little
recourse.
"We can't relocate the airport out of the ADIZ so we are pretty
much stuck," said Kentmorr owner Roger Guest. "People that live
here have made a substantial investment in their homes and hangars
to enjoy the convenience of having their airplanes available to
fly. Most of us are retired and live here to enjoy flying and
visits from our friends. That all pretty much ended with the
implementation of the ADIZ."
AOPA commissioned Aviation Management Consulting Group and
Martin Associates to determine the economic impact of the ADIZ. The
two firms have extensive experience in gathering and analyzing this
type of data. Martin Associates used the same economic impact
methodology to evaluate the ADIZ as it has for major international
airports including Dulles, Baltimore-Washington, Hartsfield
Atlanta, Miami, San Francisco, and Sea-Tac International
airports.