NPRM reopens comment period on Washington ADIZ
The Washington, D.C., ADIZ
with Flight Restricted Zone |
Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta promised it November 3 at AOPA Expo in Tampa. Now the FAA has delivered the formal paperwork, reopening the comment period on the Washington, D.C., Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ). Already more than 21,100 pilots, an unprecedented number, have spoken out against making the ADIZ permanent around Washington and against allowing ADIZs to metastasize to other Class B airspace.
Pilots now have until February 6, 2006, to file their comments. And the FAA also has granted AOPA's request for public meetings on the ADIZ, saying that the meeting dates will be published in a future document.
"Even with the weight of more than 21,100 comments, the public meetings are important," said AOPA President Phil Boyer. "And besides the FAA, officials from the Department of Homeland Security, Department of Defense, and Secret Service need to be front and center at these meetings. They're the ones making decisions controlling the airspace; they need to look pilots in the eye and hear firsthand what their decisions are doing to general aviation."
Meanwhile, the nation's political leaders continue to speak out against the ADIZ. Rep. James Oberstar (D-Minn.) was particularly vociferous against the ADIZ during his address to AOPA Expo.
Another 46 members of Congress have put their opposition on record, including:
- Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska)
- Sen. Conrad Burns (R-Montana)
- Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska)
- Rep. John Mica (R-Fla., 7th District)
- Rep. Jerry Costello (D-Ill., 12th District)
- Rep. Timothy Johnson (R-Ill., 15th District)
- Rep. Jerry Moran (R-Kan., 1st District)
- Rep. Howard Coble (R-N.C., 6th District)
- Rep. Frank A. LoBiondo (R-N.J., 2nd District)
- Rep. Tim Holden (D-Pa., 17th District)
- Rep. Randy Kuhl (R-N.Y., 29th District)
- Rep. Michael M. Honda (D-Calif., 15th District)
- Rep. John Boozman (R-Ark., 3rd District)
- Rep. Leonard L. Boswell (D-Iowa, 3rd District)
- Rep. Steven C. LaTourette (R-Ohio, 14th District)
- Rep. Spencer T. Bachus III (R-Ala., 6th District)
- Rep. Robert Menendez (D-N.J., 13th District)
- Rep. Jon C. Porter (R-Nev., 3rd District)
- Rep. Juanita Millender-McDonald (D-Calif., 37th District)
- Rep. Richard H. Baker (R-La., 6th District)
- Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo., 6th District)
- Rep. Corrine Brown (D-Fla., 3rd District)
| - Rep. Bob Ney (R-Ohio, 18th District)
- Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore., 4th District)
- Rep. Todd R. Platts (R-Pa., 19th District)
- Rep. Robin Hayes (R-N.C., 8th District)
- Rep. Nick Rahall (D-W.Va., 3rd District)
- Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.)
- Rep. Tom Petri (R-Wis., 6th District)
- Rep. Jim Gerlach (R-Pa., 6th District)
- Rep. Shelley Berkley (D-Nev., 1st District)
- Rep. Allyson Y. Schwartz (D-Pa., 13th District)
- Rep. Rick Larsen (D-Wash., 2nd District)
- Rep. Ellen O. Tauscher (D-Calif., 10th District)
- Rep. Jim Matheson (D-Utah, 2nd District)
- Rep. John T. Salazar (D-Colo., 3rd District)
- Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-N.J., 8th District)
- Rep. Charles W. Dent (R-Pa., 15th District)
- Rep. Charles W. Boustany, Jr. (R-La., 7th District)
- Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas, 30th District)
- Rep. Kay Granger (R-Texas)
- Rep. Stevan Pearce (R-N.M., 2nd District)
- Rep. Denny Rehberg (R-Mont.)
- Rep. Vernon Ehlers (R-Mich., 3rd District)
- Rep. John Duncan (R-Tenn., 2nd District)
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"We truly appreciate the strong support from these leaders who are concerned about the effects of government actions on citizen pilots," said Boyer. "This also illustrates why we believe that Congress must continue to be the 'board of directors' for the FAA and the air traffic control system."
Updated: February 6, 2006, 4:15 p.m. EST
