[JYO] Congress orders report from security agencies on reopening DC-3

Congress orders report from security  agencies on reopening DC-3, Reagan 
National to GA
Congress and President Bush have ordered the Department of Homeland Security  
to report on steps for general aviation access to the DC-3 airports (College  
Park Airport, Washington Executive/Hyde Field, and Potomac Airport) and 
Reagan  National to general aviation traffic. AOPA has continually emphasized 
the 
need  for improving access to the three GA airports ever since the September 11 
 attacks. All three are located within the 15 nm no-fly zone around the 
nation's  capital. 
"While efforts to let corporate aviation back into Reagan National may often  
have grabbed the headlines, AOPA has never forgotten and never stopped 
_fighting for  the DC-3_ 
(http://www.aopa.org/whatsnew/newsitems/2004/04-1-137.html) 
," said AOPA President Phil Boyer. "Nor have we forgotten the rest  of the 
pilots in the Mid-Atlantic region who must cope with the  Baltimore-Washington 
ADIZ (air defense identification zone), a security measure  that in our opinion 
has long outlived its usefulness. We continue to push to  have it rescinded. 
"Between the ADIZ, the no-fly zone, and the security requirements imposed on  
pilots, the DC-3 airports have been crippled, threatening their very  
survival." 
The report is required as part of the Homeland Security Appropriations Act,  
signed into law this week by President Bush. It requires the agencies to 
"report  to the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations by March 1, 2005, 
on  
restoring access to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) and other 
 general aviation airports within 15 miles of DCA for security-qualified 
charter  and general aviation operators." 
"Just having the report ordered to study the DC-3 as well as Reagan National  
is helpful," said Boyer, "but only one step. Right now, only pilots based at 
the  airports who've been through security background checks can use them. 
Unless the  report's findings open up these three airports — the airports of 
choice for GA  pilots visiting or doing business in the nation's capital — to 
outside aircraft,  then the DC-3, which includes the nation's very first 
airport, 
established by  the Wright brothers themselves, are still at risk of closing 
forever. 
"AOPA is not done with this fight. The DC-3 are important airports for the  
Mid-Atlantic region and the nation," Boyer concluded. "Pilots deserve access to 
 all airports in the National Airspace System."

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