Dave Sclair’s editorial concerning the Cessna 150 violation of the DC ADIZ (Lost pilots hurt us all, June 3 issue) implies that the pilot is a real criminal and should be punished to the maximum. AOPA claims that this thinking has been the popular response they have received also.
Well, I have a different view. I believe that the real criminals are those who imposed the ADIZ in the first place and those who support that act like Mr. Sclair seems to. Is our government so centralized that a single strike by a Cessna 150 would decapitate it? If so, I would suggest that we decentralize the government, making it a harder target, rather than create some silly “security” departments and a silly ADIZ. Is this a nation of scared rabbits? Watching them run out of the buildings in D.C., one might get that impression.
I don’t know the pilot of that aircraft, but I would be willing to bet that in his 69 years, he held a job, maybe raised a family, paid taxes and in general made a small but useful contribution to society. I would propose that he has a right to fly over the nation’s capitol and even sightsee if he wants. He helped pay for it, after all.
Steve Phoenix
Olympia, Wash.