How to avoid becoming a statistic
That afternoon, just days ago as I write this, found me moving from TV camera to TV camera in back-to-back interviews outside AOPA's headquarters in Frederick, Maryland. That was the day a pilot flew a two-place Cessna 150 into prohibited airspace over the heart of Washington, D.C., resulting in evacuations of the White House, Capitol, and Supreme Court.
Although Hayden "Jim" Sheaffer and Troy Martin, his student-pilot passenger, reportedly had discussed their plans for a flight from Pennsylvania's Smoketown Airport to a Lumberton, North Carolina, fly-in at a recent meeting of the flying club to which they belong, their flight path took them into the Washington Metropolitan Area Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) and then into the no-fly zone, within three miles of the Capitol. The Cessna was intercepted by a U.S. Customs and Border Protection Black Hawk helicopter and Citation jet, but their crews could not establish radio communications with the errant pilot. Two F-16 fighter jets then dropped four warning flares in the 150's path in an effort to divert it. The Cessna was escorted to Frederick Municipal Airport, where it landed shortly before 1 p.m. Once on the ground, the pilots were taken into custody at gunpoint, handcuffed, and detained for questioning.
The Cessna 150's arrival -- quickly followed by at least three television news helicopters -- focused a lot of attention on AOPA's home airport. Unfortunately, it was not the kind of attention that your association seeks to generate. After a long day of interviews I could hardly drive home for all the satellite trucks parked adjacent to the office.
It should be clear from the reception these pilots received that general aviation pilots no longer have the luxury of heading out to the local airport on a day when the weather is CAVU (ceiling and visibility unlimited), starting the engine, and just taking off. In the post-September 11, 2001, world of "pop-up" temporary flight restrictions (TFRs) and other security-related airspace restrictions, checking notices to airmen (notams), reviewing AOPA's online flight planning resources, and conducting rudimentary flight preparation are as much of a necessity as putting fuel in the tank.
Whether you fly in the Pacific Northwest, the middle of Kansas, or suburban Washington, D.C., no pilot is immune from security-related flight restrictions. Just look at the cities to which President Bush has traveled during the past month -- and remember that each stop is accompanied by a TFR with a 30-nm radius.
The men, who each own one-tenth of the aircraft, had followed the club's online procedures for scheduling the 150 for the trip -- despite media reports that "the pilots were unauthorized" to use the airplane. In a phone call late in the day, the club's president told me he did not understand how the pilots could have been unaware of the airspace restrictions, noting that "AOPA has done everything possible to educate pilots about the ADIZ and proper procedures for operating in the Washington, D.C., area."
If one of them had spent just a few minutes with AOPA's Real-Time Flight Planner, it immediately would have been apparent that a direct route was not going to work. The flight planner, powered by Jeppesen, depicts current and scheduled TFRs -- and clearly shows the ADIZ with a thick, red-and-white-shaded border (see "President's Perspective: Saving Your Bacon," January 2004 AOPA Flight Training).
Not only is the pilot risking the loss of his personal flying privileges, but his actions also harm the entire general aviation community. Especially at a time when AOPA is working to alleviate some operational issues surrounding the ADIZ, security officials could be inclined to use this incident to justify further restrictions on general aviation -- something that we all want to avoid.
I've said it before ("President's Perspective: We Must Not Stumble," May 2003 AOPA Flight Training) and I feel I must say it again: Pilots need to be responsible and help spread the word to ensure that every pilot flies responsibly. Every pilot must understand that airspace security around the president is no different than ground-based security -- you wouldn't ignore an armed guard and drive your car around a security barrier at the White House, and you certainly wouldn't ignore the Secret Service and walk past the security line at a presidential public event.
Flying is no different. Use the information and tools that are available to you for free through AOPA to help ensure that you don't cross the line.
See the AOPA Air Safety Foundation's Critical Airspace Safety Hot Spot, in the AOPA Online Safety Center.
