Washington DC ADIZ Now Permanent

[cancidas]

from AOPA ePilot:

D.C. ADIZ becomes federal regulation

The FAA has announced that the new Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Area Special Flight Rules Area (SFRA) will go into effect in February. The SFRA replaces the D.C. ADIZ and will be published under 14 CFR Part 93.

The government issued the rule despite overwhelming opposition from general aviation pilots. More than 22,000 pilots wrote to the FAA opposing the rule.

“It’s extremely disappointing that the ADIZ—something that was hastily implemented as a temporary measure—has become federal regulation,” said Andy Cebula, AOPA executive vice president of government affairs. “We never gave up trying to eliminate the ADIZ, working with security officials, members of Congress, the White House, and the FAA.”

Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Area Special Flight Rules Area
Size: 30-nautical-mile radius, extending from the surface up to 18,000 feet msl
Location: Centered on the DCA VORTAC

[PHL Approach]

22,000 pilots... opposed. This should finally be the hint to the American public that the government will do what they want to do until the end of time. Same goes for NIMBY's. Give up on doing petitions or going to meetings. You are wasting your time. We have no say in our democracy, never had a say.

[PhilDernerJr]

We have no say in our democracy, never had a say.

I'd hate to light a fuse of debate in an aviation thread, and not that I myself and completely pleased with various government decisions lately, but to say we never had a say in our democracy....perhaps the US isn't the right country for you.

As for this ADIZ, it exists for the sake of safety in times of a terror thread. It's not like your rights are being trampled on. There's no NEED for GA aircraft to operate in that airspace. Of course people would LIKE to, but 22,000 people or not, it only takes one moron to want to fly a plane into a building.

[pgengler]

I'm not happy about the whole ADIZ thing but at least the FAA finally decided what everyone else already knew, that this wasn't a "temporary" thing and shouldn't exist through a perpetual NOTAM. (Now let's see what, if anything, happens to the Disney TFRs.)

As for this ADIZ, it exists for the sake of safety in times of a terror thread. It's not like your rights are being trampled on. There's no NEED for GA aircraft to operate in that airspace. Of course people would LIKE to, but 22,000 people or not, it only takes one moron to want to fly a plane into a building.

It doesn't exist for safety. The FRZ (Flight Restricted Zone) at the center of the larger ADIZ might be a safety thing but if you patrol that closely enough there's plenty of room before a plan would reach any of the likely targets at the center of the FRZ.

Even if I were to accept that something like the DC ADIZ were a security benefit instead of security theater, there's no good reason for most of the requirements about the ADIZ. Filing a flight plan, squawking a discrete code, and entering only through certain "gates" gains you nothing in security. Being in two-way communication with ATC (like Class C/D airspace) is probably the one thing I'm OK with.

Basically, it seems to me like the whole ADIZ thing is the government's response to the last threat. 9/11 worked because the terrorists had the element of surprise. It's highly improbable that even if terrorists tried the tactic again that it would work, and a typical GA plane has a very limited destructive capacity. It also assumes that any terrorist attack would seek to hit Washington, which is a pretty arrogant assumption; I'm sure there are plenty of plans for the continuation of government in case of a large-scale attack so we wouldn't be thrown into anarchy. No doubt there would be some panic but much the same result could be achieved by targeting any number of other places (stadiums, shopping centers, etc.).

[PhilDernerJr]

I'm scared to google "plane white house" to research the guy that flew his onto the lawn, in fear of getting woken up by a federal tactical unit. :)

[mirrodie]

THanks for most of the explanations on the acronyms, but what is DC ADIZ?

[pgengler]

ADIZ stands for Air Defense Identification Zone. Wikipedia sums it up as: "An air defense identification zone (ADIZ) is an area of airspace defined by a nation within which 'the ready identification, the location, and the control of aircraft are required in the interest of national security'. Typically, an aircraft entering an ADIZ is required to radio its planned course, destination, and any additional details about its trip through the ADIZ to a higher authority, typically an air traffic controller."

There's an ADIZ on both coasts, requiring aircraft coming from overseas to have a flight plan with an "ADIZ penetration" ETA updated in flight as necessary; basically it's a "so we know who you are when you're coming" sort of thing.