My letter to the FAA:
Oct. 31st, 2005 02:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
av8rmikeI know, I'm not the world's greatest writer, but the AOPA implored all of us living in the DC area to write to the FAA with our complaints about the current security restrictions in place for pilots.
Dear Sirs:
I am a general aviation pilot living in Baltimore city who received a private pilot certificate in October of 2002. I received my training at Freeway Airport (W00) in Mitchellville, MD and have most recently operated out of Martin State Airport (KMTN) in Middle River, MD. I have logged 103 hours total, but have not logged a single hour in well over a year. I do not own a plane; I can only rent from the fine businesses at MTN that are probably feeling the pinch from the Washington, DC ADIZ's onerous security restrictions. On the last flight I took, a simple flight out of the ADIZ, across the Eastern Shore to Cape May, NJ and back, once I was finally able to raise air traffic control, they somehow had lost the record of my flight plan. Therefore, I was forced to circle somewhere above Chestertown, MD, a scant 15 miles from Martin State, while I re-filed a simple flight plan just to get back home. Martin State is over 40 nautical miles from the center of Washington, DC, yet it is subject to the same restrictions as an airport half as distant, with the same dubious security benefits.
At the time of earning my certificate, I was intending to pursue an instrument rating. Given the hardships general aviation pilots affected by the Washington, DC ADIZ must endure in the name of security, I have had to delay these plans indefinitely.
I am writing to implore the Federal Aviation Administration to hold public hearings investigating the workability and benefit of the ADIZ, and not to simply make the ADIZ permanent based on the appearance of security. The "one size fits all" or sledgehammer approach to rule-making is only imposing an unnecessary burden on pilots and controllers alike while disaffecting pilots like myself and others who fear harsh penalties for the smallest of infractions. One can only imagine the number of prospective pilots who have abandoned their pursuit of a certificate when presented with “horror stories” about dealing with ATC and the FAA for even the simplest of lessons. The conclusion that one draws from the current rules is that the government does not trust its own law-abiding citizens to carry out one of our most basic freedoms: the freedom to come and go as one pleases.
Certainly, some security restrictions should be in place to protect the seats of government from legitimate threats, namely, the 15-mile Flight Restricted Zone already in place. Small, general aviation aircraft do not pose any security threat to the nation’s capital, and should not be subject to these burdensome security restrictions.
Thank you for your time,
(me)
Other, better-written comments here.
Dear Sirs:
I am a general aviation pilot living in Baltimore city who received a private pilot certificate in October of 2002. I received my training at Freeway Airport (W00) in Mitchellville, MD and have most recently operated out of Martin State Airport (KMTN) in Middle River, MD. I have logged 103 hours total, but have not logged a single hour in well over a year. I do not own a plane; I can only rent from the fine businesses at MTN that are probably feeling the pinch from the Washington, DC ADIZ's onerous security restrictions. On the last flight I took, a simple flight out of the ADIZ, across the Eastern Shore to Cape May, NJ and back, once I was finally able to raise air traffic control, they somehow had lost the record of my flight plan. Therefore, I was forced to circle somewhere above Chestertown, MD, a scant 15 miles from Martin State, while I re-filed a simple flight plan just to get back home. Martin State is over 40 nautical miles from the center of Washington, DC, yet it is subject to the same restrictions as an airport half as distant, with the same dubious security benefits.
At the time of earning my certificate, I was intending to pursue an instrument rating. Given the hardships general aviation pilots affected by the Washington, DC ADIZ must endure in the name of security, I have had to delay these plans indefinitely.
I am writing to implore the Federal Aviation Administration to hold public hearings investigating the workability and benefit of the ADIZ, and not to simply make the ADIZ permanent based on the appearance of security. The "one size fits all" or sledgehammer approach to rule-making is only imposing an unnecessary burden on pilots and controllers alike while disaffecting pilots like myself and others who fear harsh penalties for the smallest of infractions. One can only imagine the number of prospective pilots who have abandoned their pursuit of a certificate when presented with “horror stories” about dealing with ATC and the FAA for even the simplest of lessons. The conclusion that one draws from the current rules is that the government does not trust its own law-abiding citizens to carry out one of our most basic freedoms: the freedom to come and go as one pleases.
Certainly, some security restrictions should be in place to protect the seats of government from legitimate threats, namely, the 15-mile Flight Restricted Zone already in place. Small, general aviation aircraft do not pose any security threat to the nation’s capital, and should not be subject to these burdensome security restrictions.
Thank you for your time,
(me)
Other, better-written comments here.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2005-11-01 02:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-01 03:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-01 03:47 am (UTC)These restrictions also have the effect of taking away some of the freedoms terrorists don't like us having. Or to use the tired phrase - allowing the terrorists to win.
It's all too similar to taking knitting needles away from little old ladies boarding commercial aircraft, or making you take your shoes off in line because one guy had a bomb in his sneaker.
I'm glad you guys are fighting it. I hope you prevail.