[JYO] Fwd: AOPA President Phil Boyer will testify today...
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Ed, 

I am getting concerned that individual VFR pilots and their planes appear to 
be low down on the list of priorities as the airspace is reopened to civilian 
aviation.  So, I wrote to my representatives to Congress yesterday.  The 
following is a general "form" letter extracted from what I sent.  I am 
passing this along in case others at JYO, who share this concern, may also 
want to write.   

Best regards, 
John Pallister

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To email a letter to your representative to the US House go to:  
http://www.congress.org enter your zip code and follow the directions.

Dear ______________

Please work to lift the FAA ban on solo Visual Flight Rules (VFR) flight 
UNDER the class Bravo airspace, such as the airspace overlying the Leesburg 
Airport, Virginia.  The FAA has already lifted the ban on VFR flight under 
Class Bravo airspace for purposes of dual flight instruction, but has not 
done so for normal VFR flight by certified pilots, thereby grounding numerous 
light aircraft at Leesburg, as well as thousands of other aircraft trapped 
under Class B airspace nationwide.  With respect to national security, the 
distinction between flight training and normal VFR flight makes little sense, 
and the continued ban on normal VFR flight makes little sense.  Certified 
(licensed) pilots of VFR airplanes, who are typically well-established and 
patriotic US citizens, pose no greater threat to national security than do 
flight instructors and their non-certified students, and both pose far less 
threat than airliners, due to dramatically lesser weights, speeds, and 
momentum.

I agree with Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) President Phil 
Boyer, who on the afternoon of September 25th asked Congress to help free the 
41,000 aircraft currently trapped in 30 enhanced Class B airspace areas and 
the two no-fly zones around Washington, D.C., and New York. Testifying before 
the House aviation subcommittee, Boyer said, "In 28 of those Class B areas, 
no VFR flying is allowed, and 85% of general aviation pilots can only fly 
VFR. Yet in those 28 cities, dual flight instruction is allowed. So a pilot 
like Mr. Hayes (a member of the aviation subcommittee from North Carolina) 
can't fly out of Charlotte. That doesn't make sense. And in New York and 
Washington, general aviation is shut down completely. Montgomery County 
Airport, for example was the third busiest airport in Maryland, contributing 
$15 million a year to the economy, and it's stopped dead in its tracks."

As a US Citizen and patriot, I support the recent actions of the President 
and the Congress in responding to the terrorist threat, and I also support 
the swift actions taken by the FAA in closing the national airspace during 
the period of immediate danger.  I also strongly support the actions taken by 
the FAA during the past week to restore the airspace, and our individual 
freedoms.  However, I'm afraid that the thousands of certified private pilots 
and airplane owners who operate out of smaller airports close to metro areas, 
like Leesburg, are being forgotten as the airspace is restored.  Please take 
whatever action possible to restore our "freedom to fly" as soon as possible.


Name and address: __________________________

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