Hyde Field pilots get another chance to relocate

The FAA has issued a notam giving pilots based at Washington Executive/Hyde Field, just south of Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington, D.C., another opportunity to relocate their aircraft. The airport has been closed since Friday evening, May 17, for what the FAA termed repeated serious security breaches.

From 1100 Zulu to 1600 Zulu (7 a.m. to 12 noon local) Thursday, May 23, Friday, May 24, and Saturday, May 25, pilots may depart Hyde Field and must follow all security procedures established under the SFAR that allowed Hyde to reopen in February. No inbound traffic will be allowed. Except for these three windows, no person other than the U.S. armed forces, law enforcement, or aeromedical services may land or take off from Hyde Field.

Hyde Field is one of three close-in Washington-area GA airports that had remained closed under government orders until February and then reopened only to based aircraft, and only then if the pilot underwent a rigorous security check and followed special security procedures for each flight.

Of the three airports (Hyde Field, College Park Airport, and Potomac Airpark), College Park has been the hardest hit. It relies most heavily on income from transient traffic, but to date, none of the three is allowed to handle non-based aircraft.

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