By Russ Niles Newswriter, Editor Pilots planning a trip up the California coast might have been alarmed by a NOTAM issued by the FAA for the Point Mugu area, just north of Los Angeles, earlier this week. The NOTAM advised of a "radiation hazard" for a 1.5-mile radius up to 8,000 feet around Point Mugu Naval Air Station and said the area is "continuously hot."
Since Point Mugu NAS is the Navy's missile and weapons test center, it might be assumed (not by anyone we know, of course) that the NOTAM referred to some kind of nuclear mishap.
Fortunately that wasn't the case. A spokesman for the FAA's Los Angeles operations center said the NOTAM was issued to allow the Navy to test some type of radar (hence the term radiation) at the base. Despite the heavy military activity around the base, the area is also heavily used by civilian traffic.
From your AV site........
Ailing Transponder? Then Get Outta D.C.
When the transponder malfunctioned on a King Air inbound to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport recently, it sparked a panicked evacuation of the Capitol building ... despite the fact that ATC was fully aware of the aircraft and the pilots had complied with all the protocols. So, to prevent future such unsavory scenes, ATC has changed the protocol. In a NOTAM, the FAA said that effective immediately, anyone flying in the D.C. Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) who finds their transponder is not doing its job must immediately exit the ADIZ by the shortest, most direct course. Further, any pilot who knows the transponder cannot comply with the ATC requirement to continuously transmit had best stay out of the ADIZ altogether. The only exception is if human life is at stake, and the pilot (upon request) will be required to provide justification of such at the completion of the flight.
http://www.avweb.com/eletter/archives/avflash/255-full.html#187529