Attentive, Wet Crowd at First Fly-In Town Meeting

AOPA President Boyer took on the issue of national security and airspace restrictions when he hosted his first-ever Fly-In seminar. To a standing room only crowd of over 300, Boyer talked about the air defense identification zone (ADIZ) and other restrictions around Washington, D.C., and the broader picture of security restrictions across the country.

He warned the audience that the Washington ADIZ is not going away, based on what federal officials have said. "Our biggest thing now is to try to work with the agencies to find operational solutions," Boyer said. He outlined several of the proposals that AOPA has laid before the FAA and the TSA, and said the agencies have indicated they're at least willing to consider the options.

"During a meeting with the head of the Transportation Security Administration... and other top officials earlier this week, we were told that getting back to the way things were September 10, 2001 will be a long way away," Boyer told the audience. But he also relayed some promising developments from that meeting. "One official told us, 'there were some things done in the wake of 9-11 that need rethinking,'" said Boyer.

Bureaucrats did weekend duty

Boyer was joined at the seminar by high-ranking officials from the FAA and the Transportation Security Administration. Bruce Johnson and Linda Schuessler, director and deputy director respectively of the FAA's Air Traffic Service division, Nancy Kalinowski, deputy director of the Air Traffic Airspace Management Program at the FAA, and from TSA, Bruce Landry, assistant director for general aviation operations, and Michal Morgan, acting manager of the General Aviation Policy Office, were in the audience to hear firsthand the concerns on GA pilots' minds.

FMI: www.faa.gov; www.tsa.gov