AOPA To Security Officials: Stop Making GA The Scapegoat! | Aero-News Network
Aero-News Network
RSS icon RSS feed
podcast icon MP3 podcast
Subscribe Aero-News e-mail Newsletter Subscribe

Airborne Unlimited -- Most Recent Daily Episodes

Episode Date

Airborne-Monday

Airborne-Tuesday

Airborne-Wednesday Airborne-Thursday

Airborne-Friday

Airborne On YouTube

Airborne-Unlimited-10.28.24

Airborne-NextGen-10.29.24

Airborne-Unlimited-10.30.24

Airborne-Unlimited-10.24.24

Airborne-Unlimited-10.25.24

Fri, Jun 25, 2004

AOPA To Security Officials: Stop Making GA The Scapegoat!

Boyer Blast Aimed At FAA

Stop blaming general aviation pilots for government security communication lapses. That was the angry message AOPA President Phil Boyer fired off to the FAA Monday following the Washington (DC) Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) notam issued late Friday.

"This notam is a classic example of how GA is made the scapegoat for failures within a system that was set up for failure," Boyer wrote FAA Deputy Administrator Robert Sturgell, the agency's primary security contact. "It is an affront to the 400,000 members of AOPA. And the notam doesn't address the obvious disconnect within the government agencies working ADIZ security and FAA air traffic control."

The notam requires general aviation aircraft to immediately exit the ADIZ via the most direct route should their transponder become inoperative.

It was the FAA's response to the panic created June 9 when a communication failure between the FAA and air defense officials tracking a plane carrying Kentucky Gov. Ernie Fletcher to Ronald Reagan's funeral caused the evacuation of the US Capitol  (below).

And it was a classic communication screw up. The Kentucky State Police King Air had an intermittent transponder. The flight crew had properly notified ATC and had received proper clearance for their flight to Reagan National Airport. Air traffic controllers knew about the transponder problem but failed to notify the National Capital Region Coordination Center — a $20 million command facility built specifically after 9/11 to ensure aerial security in the airspace around the nation's capital.

The King Air flight crew did everything right. They notified the FAA's Washington Center that their transponder had stopped working. FAA controllers then manually entered the flight data in the computer display tagging the target and cleared the aircraft to continue toward DCA.

But NCRCC security officials don't see the tagged tracon radar returns, despite their new multimillion-dollar facility. They saw an "unidentified" aircraft without a transponder heading near the Capitol building and scrambled interception aircraft and ordered the panic evacuation of the Capitol.

"We spend $20 million on a command center, yet we can't get the FAA and security agencies to share the same radar data," said Boyer. "We spend another $5 million to $6 million a year on additional staffing and equipment to try to make the ADIZ work, and people won't share information. And somehow this is all general aviation's fault. What's wrong with this picture?"

As one AOPA member put it, "Not very well thought out, I believe. 'They' need to fix the communications between ATC and the 'security forces' rather than applying yet another permanent bandage to burden pilots in the ADIZ."

FMI: www.aopa.org

Advertisement

More News

Senator Pushes FAA to Accelerate Rocket Launch Licensing

States That Current Process is Damaging National Aerospace Development US Senator Jerry Morgan is pushing the FAA to speed up the process for rocket launch licensing. He argues tha>[...]

Classic Aero-TV: RJ Gritter - Part of Aviation’s Bright New Future

From 2015 (YouTube Edition): Model Aviator Aims For Full-Scale Career While at the 2015 Indoor Electric RC Festival, referred to as eFest, ANN CEO and Editor-In-Chief, Jim Campbell>[...]

Aero-FAQ: Dave Juwel's Aviation Marketing Stories -- ITBOA BNITBOB

Dave Juwel's Aviation Marketing Stories ITBOA BNITBOB ... what does that mean? It's not gibberish, it's a lengthy acronym for "In The Business Of Aviation ... But Not In The Busine>[...]

ANN's Daily Aero-Linx (10.27.24)

Aero Linx: Cardinal Flyers Online The Cardinal Flyers Online Web site was created and is maintained by me, Keith Peterson. My wife Debbie and I have owned a 1976 RG since 1985. Wit>[...]

ANN's Daily Aero-Term (10.27.24): Clearance Void If Not Off By (Time)

Clearance Void If Not Off By (Time) Used by ATC to advise an aircraft that the departure release is automatically canceled if takeoff is not made prior to a specified time. The exp>[...]

blog comments powered by Disqus



Advertisement

Advertisement

Podcasts

Advertisement

© 2007 - 2024 Web Development & Design by Pauli Systems, LC