The Ins and Outs of the ADIZ - Have You Had Enough Yet?
The "band aid" ADIZ "no fly" area around the Washington DC area is suddenly becoming more trouble than it's worth for our friendly Homeland Security pals. As long as most Americans didn't truly understand that the ADIZ would not protect anyone from anything, it was a wonderful publicity stunt that the average or below average American believed would actually do something about terrorism. But now it isn't quite so firmly in the "good publicity" column. And this might be the perfect time to inject some sanity into the mix and get them to finally get rid of the unwieldy, expensive, annoying, and useless blue line painted around Washington and Baltimore.
The story of the "Flying Farmer" (I have another noun I would use that begins with an F, but let's leave it at that) was plastered all over the news as he caused tens of thousands to flee in the wake of 90 knots of screaming terror in the guise of a Cessna 150. The FAA took his license away from him yesterday. I personally wish that they make him reimburse us all for the millions of dollars it took to chase his ass down, evacuate 1/2 the city, and cause otherwise sane individuals to run in circles screaming, but they can't do that. In any case, the point is that if anything, the Flying Farmer underscored the utter uselessness of the ADIZ
The other hundreds of ADIZ incursions have not been so widely reported. Mostly because most of them are utterly worthless as media fodder. For example, a King Air getting ready to land at Gaithersburg (my home airport) changed his transponder code from the special code given to him to go into the ADIZ, to the normal "I'm flying in visual conditions" code that most pilots who have been flying since before 9/11 are so used to putting into the little machine. It was obvious that the pilot had no hostile intentions, he was merely doing what his checklist likely told him to do before landing, forgetting for a moment the "new regime" we have in the air. He was likely "violated" anyway. Yesterday's incursion was also obviously non hostile. From what I can put together, a Canadian pilot flying on a properly filed instrument flight plan in instrument conditions (in other words, he couldn't consistently see the ground) was hit by lightning. The lightning knocked out his radio, so he was unable to respond to radio calls. He was intercepted and landed at Gaithersburg.
So what does this mean? It means that dozens of law abiding pilots who have no hostile intent whatsoever, make a slight error in complex procedures and airspace, and find themselves the targets of intercept procedures. Meantime, a "real" terrorist would have been into the airspace, have done their "nasty" and the post crash fire would be well underway before the first Blackhawk or F-16 could be scrambled. And they could do most of it well within the rules that have been established for operations within the ADIZ.
How can I say this? Well, let's take a look. I fly out of Gaithersburg, Maryland. Let's use Washington National Airport as a landmark, since it's approximately the same distance from Gaithersburg Airport as the White House or the Capitol (and because I can get an accurate flight plan for it :-)). Gaithersburg Airpark is 19.9 nautical miles from DCA and takes 10 minutes to fly there, including time to climb to altitude, turn onto the course, time to descend, and land at DCA.
So there is our would be terrorist, happily doing his duty as a good pilot citizen, calling Flight Services and filing an ADIZ flight plan. Let's say our buddy is ... oh, let's say pattern practice around GAI. Our would-be terrorist would call Potomac Clearance before take off to receive the code to put into his transponder, and he would then not have to speak to Potomac Approach, and would happily be able to fly in circles for awhile.
The Evil Terrorist climbs to an altitude of 3000 feet, which would take approximately 2 minutes. That would give him 8 minutes to get to DCA. Then... he could likely shave 1 minute off of arrival time by dive bombing into his target as opposed to gently descending for a landing. That leaves us 7 minutes. File that 7 minutes away for a minute or two.
So here's our Evil Terrorist happily flying in a few circles around Gaithersburg with a pretty little green tag with his squawk code on everyone's happy little radar screen. He then turns south and heads for his target. The controllers see this, then question "hmmm, what is this person doing?" They then make some calls. "November 1234 Terrorist, what are your intentions?" The terrorist could possibly get some more milage out of making a few calls back, feigning confusion. This would eat up perhaps another 2 minutes, leaving 5 by the time the controllers became suspicious enough to call Homeland Security. They call Homeland Security, and likely eat another 1 minute trying to get to the appropriate person with the appropriate authority to do something. That leaves 4 minutes.
Four minutes for pilots to be located at their facilities (assuming they are standing by 24/7 which of course they might be. Nobody has told Psycho Sensei one way or another :-)) then grab their flight stuff, run out to their Blackhawk or F-16, quick preflight, spook up, and take off. Then they must locate the target, which is another few radio calls, visualize it, then attempt intercept procedures. Could all this be done in that 4 minutes? Could they then get authority and make the choice to target and shoot down the aircraft? Could they even be in the air and locate the offending aircraft in that time? Highly doubtful.
The Band Aid Approach
Almost immediately after 9/11, in speaking to people from the NYC area as well as around Washington, most of them said they would "feel much better" if airplanes were kept away from their areas. It would just give them a bit more "peace of mind." It is also likely that a significant number of people would have more "peace of mind" if people of Middle Eastern descent were not allowed near them, or near any vulnerable buildings. The constitution thus far prohibits the one extreme, but not the other.
The "feel good" approach to airspace restrictions extends to the Secret Service whenever the President moves anywhere. Special "pop up" no-fly zones appear with little or no warning, and pilots caught up in it, even if they did not exist when they took off, and popped up without warning during their flight, likely will lose their licenses at least for a time. It made everyone but the pilots "feel good."
That "good feeling" is now in serious jeopardy. The media is showing more and more accidental incursions of the airspace. The result could either prohibit general aviation in the DC area completely, or the powers that be could come to their senses and realize what a waste the whole ADIZ program has become, and scrap it. I very much fear the former, however.
What the ADIZ Has Done for Business
There are 23 airports located within the Washington/Baltimore ADIZ. Before 9/11/01, those airports were bustling communities, with many aircraft related businesses including mechanics, avionics shops, fixed based operators, many flight instructors, pilot shops, restaurants, and other businesses. If you went to the airport to fly, especially during the weekends, you could expect a relatively long wait while trying to get out, and would have to learn how to blend into a busy pattern, and land without "stepping on" anyone else. Business owners could expect significant business both from transient aircraft owners from other areas, as well as those based at their airport. Flight instructors would deliberately bring students to places like the "Montgomery Zoo" which is what we used to call the weekend follies, in order to teach them how to cope with high work loads and busy patterns.
For the past two Sundays, I drove up to Montgomery County Airpark to commit some aviation. I have to admit that I have been deterred from flying by the ADIZ procedures, and the fact that if you make a mistake you can be shot down. Consequently, I haven't don't much flying since 9/11/01, which is a shame since I truly do enjoy it. The first thing that I noticed was that my old airport had become a ghost town. Many of the businesses were gone. Just plain gone. Many of the tie downs were empty. Many of the hangars were empty. The restaurant closed early. Nobody was at the Unicom. The whole airport was a mere shadow of itself.
From what I've heard, the Frederick airport up the road and out of the ADIZ has become the "new zoo." It certainly wasn't anywhere near zoo like at Montgomery, where I spent hours doing pattern practice while only sharing the pattern for brief periods of time.
So Who Has Suffered Most?
While it would be easy to throw a "pity party" here about the poor pilots who are now royally inconvenienced by the ADIZ, that isn't the main point. To me, the point is that this band aid measure has done a lot more harm than good. It has harmed the pilots, it has harmed the business owners who earned their livings and paid their employees through general aviation dollars, it has harmed the air traffic controllers with the increased loads, the Flight Service Stations who now have to file flight plans for every flight into or out of the ADIZ, and it has harmed the individuals who believe that they are somehow protected because this zone exists. And it has definitely hurt the pilots who have blundered into the area and had suspensions or lost licenses.
Most of all, however, I think the biggest loser here has been the constitution. The idea that an entire industry can be decimated to make another segment of society "feel good" is a very frightening precedent. And where does it stop? Which segment of business or industry is next?
Time to Stop the Madness
If incursion after incursion have taught us anything, it is that there will always be incursions. These incursions will continue to cost us money, cost pilots their licenses, and cause the occasional crazed evacuations complete with "run for your life" from the screaming terror of a tiny aircraft. And it will continue to be of no practical use whatsoever. It's time to drop the pretense and concentrate on REAL terrorist prevention.