More Ranting About the ADIZ
Time for my periodic rant about the ADIZ, that lovely defense zone that descended like a pall over Washington, DC area airspace after large jets on IFR flight plans were hijacked by criminal terrorists and crashed into various locations, only one of which being near Washington, DC. As has been demonstrated time and time again, the ADIZ has done nothing but cost pilots enormous sums of money and license suspensions for inadvertently skirting a corner of it. Even the occasional confused idiot who causes worldwide news by causing the Secret Service to tell people to "run for their lives" has turned out to be about as much actual threat as my pointing this out to you. However, since the government ordered public testimony about the ineffectiveness of the ADIZ stricken from the public record, perhaps THEY think talking about it is a threat, but last I checked the First Amendment was still in place.
Today's rant comes from spending an hour flying patterns in the 1/2 my Piper Arrow III, a sweet little plane that I don't spend enough time in. It was a beautiful day outside, scattered clouds, 65 degrees, and enough wind to make life fun. As I drove through the gate, I couldn't help but notice that the ramp was sadly empty of aircraft.
Before 9/11, I would have had to dodge many parked aircraft, wait for several more to pass by, and possibly even drive on the grass to get to the hangar. Not today. One business jet was sitting on the ramp getting service, but that's about it.
After preflight, I filed the trusty ADIZ flight plan, letting them know we were doing pattern practice (we being the royal me, AND Paul the always happy flight instructor) in 15 minutes. It took me awhile, but I remembered which side of the aircraft has the door, where to park my butt, where to plug in the headset, and sort of how to work the radios again. As we taxied to the runway, there was nobody in line in front of us. Pre 9/11, the pattern would have been FULL of airplanes, and we would have opted to go to Carroll County or even Frederick to avoid the Gaithersburg Zoo. Again, not today. No go arounds caused by people dawdling on the runway. No 360s for spacing. No crazy procedures to avoid pattern crashers. Also, maybe one flight instructor on duty.
Back in the "old days" it was common for fights to break out on frequency, 7 or so flight instructors with students in the pattern, a couple of first solos, and some all around fun had by all. People trembled with fear at the idea of the Gaithersburg pattern. If you learned to fly at Gaithersburg, you would likely become confused by a towered airport, since it just didn't make sense to space airplanes so far apart when two could land on the same runway at the same time. Imagine them telling you to hold short when you know you can pull out in front of that airplane on short final and be off the ground before you could say "cleared for take off"
So what's the problem today? Why have most businesses packed up and left good ole Montgomery County Airpark? After all, it's not THAT difficult to file a flight plan and get a squawk code, then get released to leave. Coming back in may or may not be much trouble. Why would so many people (and their money, and the jobs that money generates) leave the airport?
I think that some of the reason is the type of pilot that often flew out of Montgomery. Many were pilots who simply wanted to punch holes in the sky, taking a short trip for a nice lunch, meandering wherever they chose, not asking permission, or having to talk to controllers. To that type of pilot, the freedom of a sunny day and a full tank of gas is utterly ruined by having to decide beforehand where you are going, when you are going, how long it will take you, and not deviating from that path for fear of significant reprisals. That type of pilot either stopped flying completely, or left for another airport. Then, of course, there's the price of aviation gas, now about 4.50 per gallon at the airport. Many cloud chasers just can't, or choose not to afford those types of prices, especially combined with the decrease in convenience level of just flying around for fun.
It's sad that the "freedom of flying" has been replaced by miniature economic melt downs in ADIZ bound airports. Especially since the is no demonstrable upside to the inconvenience. I'm one of the few who actually misses the sound of small aircraft engines flying directly over my house down the North/South VFR flyway.
Perhaps someday sanity will return.