Subject: [NEXTEL-1] AOPA, NBAA Blast FAA For New D.C. ADIZ Transponder NOTAM

From: NEXTEL-1
Date: Wed, 30 Jun 2004 18:15:03 -0400

AOPA, NBAA Blast FAA For New D.C. ADIZ Transponder NOTAM
By David Collogan
06/28/2004 09:14:50 AM

The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association and the National Business
Aviation Association criticized FAA last week for issuing new
regulations that require pilots to immediately leave the Washington Air
Defense Identification Zone if their aircraft experiences a transponder
failure.

The new requirement, issued June 18, follows a series of events June 9
that centered around a communications breakdown between FAA and national
security officials. FAA air traffic controllers had been in contact with
a Beech King Air 100 operated by the State of Kentucky that was carrying
Gov. Ernie Fletcher (R) to former President Ronald Reagan's memorial
ceremonies in Washington, D.C. The transponder in the King Air was
transmitting intermittently, but FAA controllers and the crew were in
radio contact and the flight had been issued a waiver permitting it to
land at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA).

However, as the aircraft was nearing Washington, security officials at
the National Capital Regional Command Center (NCRCC) did not see a data
tag for the King Air on their radar system, just an unidentified target.
NCRCC officials contacted FAA's Potomac TRACON to inquire about the
unidentified aircraft, but FAA officials - who had manually entered a
transponder data tag for the King Air - said they had no unidentified
aircraft on their radar screens. During the brief period of confusion -
five to seven minutes, according to an FAA spokesman - over the identity
of the King Air, security officials ordered military aircraft to
intercept the King Air and police ordered the emergency evacuation of
the U.S. Capitol because of fears that the aircraft was in the control
of terrorists (BA, June 14/270).

The matter was quickly sorted out and the King Air was permitted to land
at DCA, but the communication breakdown between the federal agencies
drew considerable attention and criticism. On June 18, FAA Administrator
Marion Blakey outlined a number of changes implemented since 9/11. They
include establishment of a "Domestic Events Network, a 24/7
teleconference that allows information to be shared instantly among
major FAA ATC facilities, NORAD, TSA, Secret Service, FBI and Customs."
FAA also is working on making data from all the agency's long-range
radars available to NORAD and the NCRCC.

The agency also issued a Notice To Airmen that requires pilots to
immediately exit the Washington Air Defense Identification Zone if they
experience a transponder failure. AOPA President Phil Boyer called that
NOTAM "a classic example of how since the tragedy of 9/11, general
aviation is made the scapegoat for failures within a system that was set
up for failure."
Boyer characterized the June 9 interaction between FAA and the NCRCC as
"a classic communication screwup," noting that the Kentucky State Police
King Air flight crew "did everything right. They notified the FAA's
Washington Center that their transponder had stopped working. FAA
controllers then manually entered the flight data in the computer
display tagging the target and cleared the aircraft to continue toward
DCA." But because officials at the NCRCC were not receiving the
transponder information on their radar system, the interceptors were
scrambled and the Capitol was evacuated.

"We spend $20 million on a command center, yet we can't get the FAA and
security agencies to share the same radar data," said Boyer. "We spend
another $5 million to $6 million a year on additional staffing and
equipment to try to make the ADIZ work, and people won't share
information. And somehow this is all general aviation's fault."

Bob Blouin, senior vice president of operations for the National
Business Aviation Association, complained that "industry wasn't
consulted at all" by FAA officials before the NOTAM was issued. He
warned that without discussing the situation with the organizations
whose members will be most affected, FAA runs the risk of "unintended
consequences." If a pilot's aircraft transponder fails while in the ADIZ
and he literally follows the NOTAM's direction, he would be making an
abrupt turn that could put his aircraft in conflict with other air
traffic. Blouin noted that there are long-standing procedures for
dealing with transponder and radio failures. "Why are they lumping on
all these [other] procedures because of one breakdown in
communications." Instead of issuing knee-jerk NOTAMs, Blouin asked,
"Shouldn't the ATC people be talking to the security people?"

Find this article at:
http://www.aviationnow.com/avnow/news/channel_businessweekly_story.jsp?id==news/bla06284.xml

===================================================================================================================================================================
AOPA to security officials: Stop making GA the scapegoat!

Stop blaming general aviation pilots for government security
communication lapses.  That was the angry message AOPA President Phil
Boyer fired off to the FAA Monday following the Washington, D.C., Air
Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) notam issued late Friday.

"This notam is a classic example of how GA is made the scapegoat for
failures within a system that was set up for failure," Boyer wrote FAA
Deputy Administrator Robert Sturgell, the agency's primary security
contact. "It is an affront to the 400,000 members of AOPA. And the notam
doesn't address the obvious disconnect within the government agencies
working ADIZ security and FAA air traffic control."

The notam requires general aviation aircraft to immediately exit the
ADIZ via the most direct route should their transponder become
inoperative.

It was the FAA's response to the panic created June 9 when a
communication failure between the FAA and air defense officials tracking
a plane carrying Kentucky Gov.  Ernie Fletcher to Ronald Reagan's
funeral caused the evacuation of the U.S. Capitol.
And it was a classic communication screw up. The Kentucky State Police
King Air had an intermittent transponder. The flight crew had properly
notified ATC and had received proper clearance for their flight to
Reagan National Airport. Air traffic controllers knew about the
transponder problem but failed to notify the National Capital Region
Coordination Center — a $20 million command facility built specifically
after 9/11 to ensure aerial security in the airspace around the nation's
capital.

The King Air flight crew did everything right. They notified the FAA's
Washington Center that their transponder had stopped working. FAA
controllers then manually entered the flight data in the computer
display tagging the target and cleared the aircraft to continue toward
DCA.

But NCRCC security officials don't see the tagged tracon radar returns,
despite their new multimillion-dollar facility. They saw an
"unidentified" aircraft without a transponder heading near the Capitol
building and scrambled interception aircraft and ordered the panic
evacuation of the Capitol.

"We spend $20 million on a command center, yet we can't get the FAA and
security agencies to share the same radar data," said Boyer. "We spend
another $5 million to $6 million a year on additional staffing and
equipment to try to make the ADIZ work, and people won't share
information. And somehow this is all general aviation's fault. What's
wrong with this picture?"
As one AOPA member put it, "Not very well thought out, I believe. 'They'
need to fix the communications between ATC and the 'security forces'
rather than applying yet another permanent bandage to burden pilots in
the ADIZ."
June 22, 2004

http://www.aopa.org/whatsnew/newsitems/2004/040622adiz.html

The angry message AOPA President Phil Boyer fired off to the FAA Monday
http://www.aopa.org/whatsnew/newsitems/2004/040622adiz_letter.html

=======================================================================================================================================================================
Notice to Airman from the Federal Aviation Administration:
http://www.avweb.com/other/dctransponderduat.html

FDC 4/5555 ZDC SPECIAL NOTICE ...
EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE.
PURSUANT TO 14 CFR SECTION 99.7, SPECIAL SECURITY
INSTRUCTIONS, THE FOLLOWING PROCEDURES ARE IN EFFECT:
A.  ANY PERSON OPERATING AN AIRCRAFT WITHIN THE WASHINGTON, DC

METROPOLITAN AREA AIR DEFENSE IDENTIFICATION ZONE (DC ADIZ), IMMEDIATELY
UPON BECOMING AWARE OF AN INABILITY TO COMPLY WITH THE REQUIREMENT TO
CONTINUOUSLY TRANSMIT THE ATC ASSIGNED TRANSPONDER CODE, SHALL EXIT THE
DC ADIZ BY FLYING THE MOST DIRECT COURSE TO OUTSIDE THE LATERAL LIMITS
OF THE DC ADIZ.
B.  ANY PERSON OPERATING AN AIRCRAFT OUTSIDE THE DC ADIZ, IF AWARE

OF AN INABILITY TO COMPLY WITH THE REQUIREMENT TO CONTINUOUSLY TRANSMIT
THE ATC ASSIGNED TRANSPONDER CODE SHALL NOT ENTER THE DC ADIZ.
C.  AEROMEDICAL, LAW ENFORCEMENT, AND MILITARY AIRCRAFT ENGAGED IN

AN OPERATION THAT, IF TERMINATED WOULD JEOPARDIZE HUMAN LIFE, COMPROMISE
NATIONAL SECURITY, OR RESULT IN A SIGNIFICANT COMPROMISE TO LAW
ENFORCEMENT EFFORTS, ARE EXEMPT. UPON REQUEST, THE PILOT WILL BE
REQUIRED TO PROVIDE JUSTIFICATION AT THE COMPLETION OF THE FLIGHT.

=======================================================================================================================================================================

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