Camp David Incursion Prompts Review Of Restricted Airspace

Will the recent rash of restricted airspace incursions by GA aircraft over the past two months spur an expansion of the Washington ADIZ? One Bush administration official says, "yes."

"Although there is no formal proposal to expand the [restricted airspace], we are continually evaluating the security measures within the zone to ensure they're as effective as possible to address any airspace threat," Transportation Security Administration spokeswoman Yolanda Clark told the Washington Post.

Still, official Washington seems skeptical that the ADIZ will actually be expanded. None of the alphabet groups closely monitoring the situation say they've been notified of a pending change in the shape or area covered by the ADIZ.

"Expanding the [ADIZ] will only increase the number of violations," AOPA spokesman Chris Dancy told the Post. "It widens the net. It creates greater headaches for pilots and air traffic control. It's already very difficult, if not completely unworkable."

Widening the ADIZ "would almost certainly result in more inadvertent stupid pilot tricks we've had over the last couple of weeks," NATA President James K. Coyne told the Washington paper. "I can't believe it will improve security at all."

FMI: www.faa.gov