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On another list we have had this brought to our attention and it is an issue that should be of concern to all of us. I am sure that most of you have heard about the three general aviation airports near the nations capital that are still not permitted to have anything like normal business. You and I can not fly there. They have to go through a big deal just to get permission to fly from there to some other place and no touch and goes are permitted. It is a bad deal for them and remembering the good time had by all at College Park when the Nationals were held there two years ago Lee the airport manager deserves our full support. In the AOPA article that follows it details, in the second paragraph, how to send your thoughts to the FAA. I would only say that numbers count and that they would prefer that our thoughts be well thought out and brief. If they can do this to these three airports they can do it to all of them if they set their minds to it, now is the time to tell them that enough is quite enough. Have a good day. Best regards, Vern Hendershott AOPA's petition to open up Washington, D.C.-area airports now on federal docket Pilots invited to comment Jan. 6 ? After almost three months, the FAA Office of Rulemaking has formally registered AOPA's petition to allow transient traffic use of the "DC3" airports (College Park Airport, Potomac Airpark, and Washington Executive/Hyde Field) in Maryland, close to Washington, D.C. AOPA had filed the petition in October and has been pressing FAA to put it on the docket ever since. "Restoration of general aviation access to the nation's capital is one of the major post-9/11 airspace hurdles remaining," said Andrew V. Cebula, AOPA senior vice president for Government and Technical Affairs. "Pilots are encouraged to visit the federal government's rulemaking Web site and submit comments recommending that the FAA adopt AOPA's petition and restore general aviation access to Washington's airspace." (Go to http://dmses.dot.gov/submit/ and enter document # FAA-2002-13623-1.) Under the current special flight rule SFAR 94 governing operations at those airports and within a 15-nm radius of the Washington Monument, only pilots who were based at those airports prior to September 11, 2001, and have undergone extensive background checks may operate from the "DC3" airports. In its petition, AOPA is also asking that vetted pilots be permitted to conduct air traffic pattern work at all three airports. "AOPA was recently successful in getting the FAA and TSA to issue a notam that allows for inter-airport operations by vetted pilots," said Cebula. "We continue to explore all available regulatory alternatives to push for implementing the two remaining recommendations contained in our petition." The association's petition notes that although SFAR 94 contained language suggesting that additional operations may be permitted after a procedural validation period, no effort has been made to open the "DC3" to transient flight operations since the SFAR was finalized in February of last year. Also, despite the fact that general aviation has never been used in the conduct of terrorist activities, it is the only segment of the aviation community restricted by SFAR 94. With the exception of security TFRs (in various areas around the country), general aviation operations are now permitted since the airspace shutdown after 9/11. That is not the case in the Washington area, where SFAR 94 prohibits almost all general aviation operations. ========================================================================== ==== To leave this forum go to: http://ercoupers.com/lists.htm
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