Posted on 08/03/2005 6:23:07 PM PDT by since1868
WASHINGTON -- The government wants permanently to restrict a wide swath of airspace over the Washington area and make it a crime if a private pilot knowingly enters a zone that extends from Maryland to Virginia.
Pilots have strayed hundreds of times since the government temporarily restricted airspace over the capital just before the start of the Iraq war in 2003. In many cases, fighter jets, which are prepared to shoot down a plane, have escorted an errant plane to an airport.
The FAA, in a notice to be published on Thursday, said the restrictions are necessary because of the continuing threat of terrorism.
"The success of the Sept. 11, 2001, attack on the Pentagon and reports demonstrating terrorist groups' enduring interest in aviation-related attacks indicate the need for continued vigilance in aviation security," the FAA said.
The agency said there is no information suggesting that terrorists have an imminent plan to use airplanes to attack the U.S. capital.
The current restrictions went into effect in February 2003, when the FAA expanded the zone over Washington before the war in Iraq. Similar limits were imposed after the Sept. 11 attacks.
The restricted airspace includes an outer ring that has a radius of about 30 miles to 45 miles and an altitude of 18,000 feet.
The zone extends east beyond Baltimore, west beyond Dulles International Airport in Virginia, north to Gaithersburg, Md., and about 30 miles south of Washington.
A plane that flies into this zone must file a flight plan, emit a special signal so air traffic controllers can follow it and maintain radio contact with the ground.
An inner ring extends about 15 miles from the Washington Monument. Most flights are prohibited from flying into this area.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Well I hope so.
Hey here is a great idea, lets make it a crime to violate this air space, then later we will make it a crime to drive on certain streets at certain times, then lets make it a crime to walk in certain places at certain times.
That will make us all safe.
And we will get to throw some of those dirty citizens in jail! And keep our jobs! And of course there is always mission creep!
All this will do is get a few errant pilots tossed in jail and make a bunch of chicken littles feel good. It is the criminalization of otherwise normal acts performed with some slight error and will prevent absolutely nothing and will be irrelevant to dealing with islamofascism. Coming to your neighborhood soon.
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