Formal Notification Lacking

Say, is the FAA trying to slip one past us? That's the question on North Carolina's Pamlico Sound, where notification of the public comment period regarding two newly proposed MOAs has been somewhat lacking.

"Contrary to some published reports," wrote AOPA air traffic manager Heidi Williams, "AOPA still has not received formal notification that the public comment period is underway. The association only learned of the public comment period because one of our members -- one of the very few to receive notification -- faxed it to us." Her comments appeared in the Washington (NC) Daily News.

In fact, the paper reports neither of the two GA airports affected by the Marine Corps proposal to create the Core and Gunny MOAs also failed to receive their notification letters from the FAA.

FAA spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen admits some of the letters her office sent out were returned "undeliverable." She disputes the AOPA's contention that the advocacy organization never received its notice.

That prompted Williams to write, "AOPA remains extremely concerned, not only about the proposed Core and Gunny Military Operating Areas, but the extremely poor job the FAA and the Navy did in soliciting formal public comment.

"The fact that both the FAA and the US Navy are very aware of the strong opposition to these MOAs in both the general aviation community and the local community, and the fact that neither AOPA, the largest civil aviation organization in the US, nor members of the local community were notified forces us to wonder if the lack of notification was deliberate," she continued.

"Core MOA would overlie much of the Cape Lookout National Seashore down to an altitude of 3,000 feet," contends the AOPA, in comments published by the Daily News. "Yet... the FAA recommends that pilots overfly sensitive wildlife areas such the Cape Lookout seashore at an altitude of at least 2,000 feet. That reduces the altitude available to (general aviation) air traffic to only 1,000 feet and greatly increases the risk of mid-air collision."

The Marine Corps takes a much different view, contending that creation of the MOAs would add a safety factor that the airspace currently lacks.

Williams disputes that. "Because Core MOA would extend out over open ocean," she wrote, "it also greatly reduces the margin of safety for overwater flights. In the event of an engine failure, the higher an aircraft is, the farther it can glide. Currently, pilots can fly as high as 8,000 feet and remain below special use airspace. If Core MOA were approved, pilots would lose (access to) nearly a mile of altitude. Altitude equals safety. Forcing pilots to fly at 3,000 feet or lower greatly reduces a pilot's chances of safely gliding to shore if the aircraft's engine has failed."

FMI: www.faa.gov