[JYO] Small airports blanch at plan to extend Camp David airspace

        

from the Washington Times:  <A 
href="http://www.washtimes.com/metro/20030530-114207-1239r.htm";>
http://www.washtimes.com/metro/20030530-114207-1239r.htm</A> 
 
 
 HAGERSTOWN, Md. (AP) — A Transportation Security Administration proposal to 
extend the restricted airspace around Camp David during presidential visits 
would disrupt operations at 11 airports in the region, Maryland's two U.S. 
senators said. 
    The proposal to temporarily expand the buffer known as P-40 from 
10 nautical miles to 30 would cost the airports in three states an average of 
$236,124 a day, Sens. Barbara A. Mikulski and Paul S. Sarbanes, both 
Democrats, said in a May 15 letter to Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge. 
    The 
change "would cause major disruptions in operations" at the airports, the 
senators said. 
    Sarbanes spokesman Jesse Jacobs said the two senators have not 
received a response to their letter. 
    The Department of Homeland Security 
referred all calls to the Federal Aviation Administration, which has announced 
no change in the P-40 policy, FAA spokesman Jim Peters said. 
    The 11 
airports are: Hagerstown, Frederick, Clearview, Carroll County Regional and 
Davis 
airports in Maryland; Hanover, Mid-Atlantic, Gettysburg, Shippensburg and 
Chambersburg airports in Pennsylvania; and Martinsburg Airport in West 
Virginia. 
    
Of the group, only Hagerstown Regional Airport has scheduled commercial 
flights. 
    "We urge you to carefully consider the detrimental effects that an 
enlargement of P-40 would have on airports and the general aviation community, 
including those businesses and local economies that depend on them for their 
survival," the senators wrote. 
    Washington County Commissioner John C. Munson 
said increasing the restricted airspace would shut down the Hagerstown airport 
when the president is at Camp David in the nearby Catoctin Mountains. 
    "The 
government has no business doing that kind of stuff," Mr. Munson said. 
    
Aircraft, including private and commercial planes, are not allowed in 
restricted 
airspace. 
    Miss Mikulski and Mr. Sarbanes wrote that increasing the 
temporary flight restriction to 30 nautical miles, combined with other existing 
airspace restrictions, would result in restricted airspace measuring nearly 70 
nautical miles. 
    A nautical mile is about 6,080 feet. 
    The Aircraft Owners 
and Pilots Association (AOPA), based in Frederick, said the organization 
opposes increasing the temporary restricted airspace. 
    "Without a specific and 
credible threat, disruptions to [the] nation's aviation commerce should be kept 
to a minimum," AOPA President Phil Boyer said. "While we recognize the need 
to protect the president, AOPA will continue to fight to make the restriction 
fit the threat."

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