My favorite subject again!
I just love this - shoot down authority - extremely sensitive meeting at Camp David - any airplane going to/from surrounding airports will be considered a threat unless pointing away from Camp David.
Jeez, what country is this again?
The old 3-mile Prohibited airspace is no good.
The temporary 4-mile TFR airspace is no good.
The newer 5-mile TFR - no good.
The expanded 10-mile TFR is the bare minimum.
And now if your airplane points toward the center of Camp David on takeoff and landing at FDK, HGR and DMW - you are an active threat liable to be shot down.
You know I'm just about at the level of civil disobedience - the rules have become so restrictive as to be asinine. Maybe its about time that AOPA or some other group gets together and just creates a civil disobedience to make a point. I think we should get a group of pilots and their planes - like 100 or so - tell the media and the government that we are going to take off and circle Camp David at the 10-mile limit. No one to be hurt. Nothing other than showing them that law-abiding pilots know the rules, follow the rules and are not part of some huge terrorist conspiracy! But if the rules change every day just because some Homeland Security a$$hole needs to justify his job, it is just plain (plane) unacceptable.
I had plans for Monday and I'm not sure that I can get in or out of my airport safely without some trigger happy Air Force fighter jock about to blow my friggin Cherokee out of the air because I inadvertently pointed the nose east towards the airspace. It irks me to no end that I hold or have held six federal security clearances for everything from top secret documents to inner workings of Navy nuclear submarines but I can't fly my own airplane over farmland in Maryland because I'm a suspected terrorist for flying an airplane.
And I'm sure my dear readers out West couldn't give a flip because 300 square miles of my airspace is basically off limits for flying - but as an example - if I wanted to fly to New Jersey on Monday or the Eastern Shore of Delaware or Maryland - a trip that would take about an hour - will take me about 2 and half hours due to airspace that I would have to fly around AND I have to live in fear that while flying in the airspace left that my actions may be interpreted as hostile. I can't fly east, I can't fly south - I am totally boxed in.
Just sick and tired of having to play "Mother, may I" everytime I want to fly my own airplane. Next thing, I'll have to check my own personal gun out the Maryland public arsenal after receiving approval to actually own a gun. I'll have to call the State Police barracks for permission to drive my car on I-70 over the Catoctin mountains since I'm SO close to Camp David. And I'll probably have to start asking permission to flush my toilet in case I accidentally flush something toxic into the system.
About the funniest irony in this whole mess is that the FBI is draining ponds for "suspected Anthrax poisoning" about 10 miles from Camp David. If the security folks are so concerned about the "sensitive" meetings - don't you think they might be worried that the FBI would actually FIND some Anthrax upwind of Camp David?????
Rant over, switching to decaf. Sorry.
I just love this - shoot down authority - extremely sensitive meeting at Camp David - any airplane going to/from surrounding airports will be considered a threat unless pointing away from Camp David.
Jeez, what country is this again?
The old 3-mile Prohibited airspace is no good.
The temporary 4-mile TFR airspace is no good.
The newer 5-mile TFR - no good.
The expanded 10-mile TFR is the bare minimum.
And now if your airplane points toward the center of Camp David on takeoff and landing at FDK, HGR and DMW - you are an active threat liable to be shot down.
You know I'm just about at the level of civil disobedience - the rules have become so restrictive as to be asinine. Maybe its about time that AOPA or some other group gets together and just creates a civil disobedience to make a point. I think we should get a group of pilots and their planes - like 100 or so - tell the media and the government that we are going to take off and circle Camp David at the 10-mile limit. No one to be hurt. Nothing other than showing them that law-abiding pilots know the rules, follow the rules and are not part of some huge terrorist conspiracy! But if the rules change every day just because some Homeland Security a$$hole needs to justify his job, it is just plain (plane) unacceptable.
I had plans for Monday and I'm not sure that I can get in or out of my airport safely without some trigger happy Air Force fighter jock about to blow my friggin Cherokee out of the air because I inadvertently pointed the nose east towards the airspace. It irks me to no end that I hold or have held six federal security clearances for everything from top secret documents to inner workings of Navy nuclear submarines but I can't fly my own airplane over farmland in Maryland because I'm a suspected terrorist for flying an airplane.
And I'm sure my dear readers out West couldn't give a flip because 300 square miles of my airspace is basically off limits for flying - but as an example - if I wanted to fly to New Jersey on Monday or the Eastern Shore of Delaware or Maryland - a trip that would take about an hour - will take me about 2 and half hours due to airspace that I would have to fly around AND I have to live in fear that while flying in the airspace left that my actions may be interpreted as hostile. I can't fly east, I can't fly south - I am totally boxed in.
Just sick and tired of having to play "Mother, may I" everytime I want to fly my own airplane. Next thing, I'll have to check my own personal gun out the Maryland public arsenal after receiving approval to actually own a gun. I'll have to call the State Police barracks for permission to drive my car on I-70 over the Catoctin mountains since I'm SO close to Camp David. And I'll probably have to start asking permission to flush my toilet in case I accidentally flush something toxic into the system.
About the funniest irony in this whole mess is that the FBI is draining ponds for "suspected Anthrax poisoning" about 10 miles from Camp David. If the security folks are so concerned about the "sensitive" meetings - don't you think they might be worried that the FBI would actually FIND some Anthrax upwind of Camp David?????
Rant over, switching to decaf. Sorry.
