[JYO] FAA mulls user input on permanent ADIZ

_http://www.ainonline.com/Issues/03_06/0306_permadiz_3.htm_ 
(http://www.ainonline.com/Issues/03_06/0306_permadiz_3.htm)    


     
 
    FAA mulls user input on  permanent ADIZ

 
By Paul  Lowe / March  2006

 
The comment period on the proposal to  transform the Washington, D.C., air 
defense identification zone  (ADIZ)âwhich covers 3,700 sq mi that closely 
follow 
the  Washington-Baltimore Class B airspaceâinto the Washington area special  
flight rules area (SFRA) closed early last month, with the FAA receiving a  
record 21,380 responses.

The question now becomes what goodâif  anyâwill come from the large 
outpouring of mostly negative comments and  two public meetings held in the 
Washington 
area in January.

AOPA  briefed more than 40 key aides to members of Congress on February 6, 
the  day the comment period closed. The congressional aides help influence the  
positions that lawmakers take on issues and help them write the  legislation.

âWe made it clear that their constituents, pilots who  vote for their bosses, 
are deeply concerned about the spread of ADIZs to  other parts of the country,
â said Andy Cebula, AOPA executive vice  president of government affairs. 
âIt
âs clear that the incredible number of  comments made a huge impression on 
congressional  staffers.â

Congressional and User Support
AOPA  lobbyists reiterated the effect of the ADIZ on pilots and businesses,  
citing a $43 million annual loss in regional economic activity because of  the 
ADIZ. âFrom the comments, from the public meetings, from the  congressional 
briefings, to the letters from members of Congress  themselves, there should be 
no question in the minds of the FAA and  security officials about where 
pilots stand on the ADIZ,â said Cebula. âIt  will make a difference.â

Forty members of Congress signed a letter  sent to FAA Administrator Marion 
Blakey in October asking for public  meetings and an extension of the NPRM 
comment period.

They also  requested that officials from the Defense Department and the 
Department of  Homeland Security attend the public hearings in January because 
â
reviewing  written comments alone will not allow the FAA and other federal 
security  officials a full opportunity to pose questions and explore 
alternatives.â  
Not one federal panel member asked a question at the January meeting at  
Dulles.

Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), a GA pilot with more than  11,000 hours, 
expressed concern that the FAA is proposing to make the ADIZ  permanent without 
addressing the necessary operational concerns to ease  the burdens on pilots 
and 
air traffic controllers.
He said the Vision  100-Century of Aviation Reauthorization Act President 
Bush signed into law  in December 2003 required that the FAA provide Congress 
with justification  for the ADIZ every 60 days. âTo my knowledge, we are 
still 
waiting for  these justifications,â he wrote.

In addition to the comments and  the two public meetings, AOPA president Phil 
Boyer said that Sen. Ted  Stevens (R-Alaska), chairman of the Senate 
Commerce, Science and  Transportation Committee, has promised him that Congress 
will 
hold  hearings on the ADIZ/SFRA plan. Stevens is one of the most powerful and  
longest-serving members of the Senate.

It is not just pilots, local  government officials and businesses that oppose 
the ADIZ and the proposed  SFRA. The National Air Traffic Controllers 
Association said the ADIZ is  dangerous, expensive and unjustified. A presenter 
at a 
January meeting  called it a ârecipe for a midairâ because of the mix of 
pilots and student  pilots circling the Casanova VOR in Virginia waiting for a 
clearance into  the ADIZ.

The city of Leesburg, Va., which owns and operates  Leesburg Executive 
Airport inside the ADIZ, âstrongly urgedâ the FAA to  withdraw the NPRM. 
The city 
also âstrongly urgedâ the FAA to reduce  restrictions on airspace over 
Leesburg to the lowest level practicable  under current security requirements 
and 
consider the economic and  political effects of the restrictions that reduce 
activity at the airport.

Other related posts: