[JYO] AOPA investigates ADIZ-related fuel exhaustion accident

AOPA investigates ADIZ-related fuel exhaustion accident
June 30 — A Baltimore-area pilot and two passengers were injured Sunday after 
they were forced to wait so long for clearance into the Washington, D.C. Air 
Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) that they ran out of fuel.
"Fuel management is the pilot's responsibility," said AOPA President Phil 
Boyer. "But having said that, AOPA has repeatedly warned FAA and the 
Transportation Security Administration that the operational gridlock caused by 
the ADIZ 
procedures would result in an accident, and now it appears that this has 
happened."
AOPA has interviewed the owner of the accident aircraft and will file a 
Freedom of Information Act request for the ATC and FSS audiotapes. AOPA will 
review 
the information to determine where the FAA system failed and redouble efforts 
to fix the problems.
According to the pilot, Dale Roger, in an interview he gave to the Baltimore 
Sun newspaper, he circled outside the ADIZ for about an hour while air traffic 
controllers tried to locate his flight plan. All aircraft operating inside 
the ADIZ are required to have an active VFR or IFR flight plan.
Roger told the newspaper he had a flight plan on file and active. A 
spokesperson for the FAA says a preliminary investigation showed none of the 
flight 
service stations that cover the route of Roger's flight had a record of a 
flight 
plan being filed.
In March, AOPA submitted recommendations on how the FAA could revise the 
procedures to make them workable while still maintaining security. These 
procedures would include established ingress and egress routes and airport 
specific 
transponder codes. Despite heavy lobbying by AOPA with homeland security 
officials and the FAA, these procedures have not been implemented, with the 
exception 
of eliminating the flight plan requirement for closed traffic pattern 
operations at two towered airports using a single transponder code.
On June 9, AOPA received responses from the FAA and TSA denying the request 
for ingress and egress routes and stating that the other recommendations are 
still under review.
"This response is not acceptable," said Boyer. "As the accident clearly 
demonstrates, there is a seriously safety-of-flight issue that is being 
ignored."

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