WASHINGTON, D.C. — Don’t blame the FAA. The proposal to make the area around the nation’s Capital a permanent “”National Defense Airspace”” was the idea of the Department of Defense (DOD) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The FAA merely followed instructions. That’s just one of the many things this proposal brings to the […]
Capital Comments
The few, the proud, the persistent…
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Homeland Security Department has issued an Interim Flight Rule that will again permit general aviation aircraft to operate into and out of Reagan National Airport. Since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, GA aircraft have not been permitted at DCA, which is located just across the Potomac River from downtown Washington. […]
Summertime… and lawmakers are busy before they head home
WASHINGTON, D.C. — This time of year, as Congress looks to the next fiscal year and hurries to get off to its summer “”district work”” period (aka vacation), a variety of events occur. Some move swiftly along the path to enactment, others might get changed along the way, some never make it. Here are just […]
TSA’s plan to reopen Reagan National blasted
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is trying to match the wants of general aviation, politicians and businesses with its responsibility to maintain a high level of security for the nation’s capital, but is getting heat from all sides. Prompted by TSA’s plan to open Washington’s Reagan National Airport to general aviation, the […]
What’s a billion here or there?
WASHINGTON, D.C. — If you live the average life span, from the moment you are born until your death your heart will beat a little more than 2 billion times. Many years ago when I worked for a newspaper, I drew a caricature of one of the columnists. He liked it and used it to […]
How did two Cessna 150 pilots cause worldwide hysteria?
WASHINGTON, D.C. — From January to mid-April of this year, Blackhawk helicopters patrolling the sky in the ADIZ around the Washington/Baltimore area have responded to more than 280 incursions. That averaged three a day. But one last month — when two persons in a Cessna 150 came close to the White House — generated worldwide […]
Debate continues on Capital Hill over user fees
WASHINGTON, D.C. — How to fund the FAA was the subject of still another hearing in the House of Representatives and the notion of user charges raised its ugly head higher, lifted by testimony from James May, president and CEO of the airlines’ Air Transport Association (ATA) and comments from several government witnesses. In his […]
Just say no
WASHINGTON, D.C.— A push to privatize the air traffic control system and/or put it on a fee basis is heating up, but two recent hearings in the House of Representatives indicate that members of the aviation subcommittee will have nothing to do with it. The subcommittee is looking into the modernization of ATC and its […]
Here we go again: Lawmakers introduce bill to open Reagan National to GA
WASHINGTON, D.C. — It has been tried before, but here we go again: an attempt to get Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport reopened to general aviation. This time a bipartisan bill has been introduced in the U.S. House directing the Department of Transportation to allow general aviation access within six months. Except for a number […]