Inbound Washington D.C.

Many Americans don't realize that small General Aviation (GA) planes can and often do land at every large public airport in the United States with the exception of one... Reagan National in Washington, D.C.

From Dulles to Dallas, JFK to LAX, large airports, combined with small GA airports serve General Aviation and the public at large.  Even if you have never been to a small GA airport there is a good chance the person flying you home for Thanksgiving trained at one.

The Coast Guard, Air Force, Army and even the Navy (just one) have air bases open to General Aviation so why is Regan National closed?

Just prior to the US invasion of Iraq in 2003 the FAA temporarily closed a huge chunk of airspace around Washington D.C. as a precaution.  In 2006 the FAA issued a Notice proposing the temporary rules become  permanent and subsequently over 20,000 responses were received, of which the vast majority were in opposition to making the temporary rules permanent.

There were two public hearings and every speaker, expert and common pilot alike was opposed, yet without Congressional approval the air space around D.C. was essentially shut down permanently to GA traffic, aka the flying public.  Originally the closure involved over 11,000 square miles impacting 33 General Aviation airports but the FAA later reduced this to roughly 2,800 square miles impacting just four airports consisting of three in Maryland called the "Maryland Three" and Reagan National.

If you take an online course, submit to a federal background check, get fingerprinted at Reagan National, report in person to the FAA field office at BWI and meet with one the Maryland Three security officers you will likely be assigned a special code and phone number to use when filing a flight plan into the Maryland Three.  However, Reagan National still remains off limits.

There was a time when pictures like the one above were common place.  Our Capital was open to the public on the ground and sky.  Many pilots for years have argued the Washington DC Special Flight Rules Area (SFRA) is unnecessary  That it's harmful to the economy of small airports and aviation-related businesses in the greater Washington D.C. area.  Pilots involved in law enforcement have described the SFRA as a "major, unnecessary burden on pilots and air traffic controllers with almost no increased security benefits."

Why, if experts believe there is little or no increase in security do we, the people tolerate yet another erosion of our supposedly free society?  I would argue that this erosion of our freedom goes beyond the ability of pilots to fly into Reagan National.  We as a nation are continually giving up rights and feedoms when our government and leaders convince us it's for our own good, our own safety.

The safety argument closing Reagan National is false and yet Congress fails to act.  Being lulled by a false sense of security carries it's own risk as much as the continued erosion of our rights, afforded to us by the free society we think we live in.  As Benjamin Franklin said “Those who surrender freedom for security will not have, nor do they deserve, either one.”

Senate Democrats Plan Climate Change Filibuster

I'm one of those pesky scientists (by education) that say the 33% increase in atmospheric C02 is due to man, the Earth is warming and sea levels are rising.   But I also point out man's CO2 contribution represents just a tiny 1 in 10,000 increase when correctly compared to the entire atmosphere.

The Earth isn't Venus and if someone can explain how a $1 dollar increase in a $10,000 budget is responsible for increased temperatures and sea levels over the last 100 years, I would be greatly interested. FYI, PFM doesn't work for me.

Basic math, like knowing what three gases make up 99.96% of the atmosphere, seem beyond nearly everyone I talk with.

My suggestion? Let's do something productive and help China and India build and retrofit their coal fired electrical plants with state of the art scrubbers. :-)

PS  78.082687 + 20.945648 + .933984 = 99.962319

Ignoring the Cost of Offshore Drilling

This Sunday's edition of the Pilot’s Opinion section pointed out federal law prevents Virginia from earning oil royalties from off shore wells.  The writers conclude Virginia shouldn’t allow drilling and risk ruining our beaches if there is no economic benefit for the Commonwealth.

Most of us drive cars, heat, cool and light our homes.  We take warm showers, wash our dishes, listen to the radio, surf the web and watch TV  - thanks to fossil fuels.  Only 13% of our power is renewable compared to 63% for Canada.  With the US ban on coastal drilling combined with the powerful environmental movement, you would think offshore wind would naturally be very popular but unfortunately it costs three times as much and evidently there is no “real” political will to make this happen.

We all want clean energy but few are taking a stand.  We have natural seepage off the coast of California, that scientist say can be reduced by drilling - but the politics aren’t right.  Experts say that you can’t safely drill in coastal waters but it's done all over the world.  If the practice is so environmentally unfriendly why do we accept oil shipped from Nigeria and offshore Angola?  Until the North Dakota Bakken's come on line, nearly the entire East Coast runs on Nigerian and Angolan light sweet crude which begs the question, why is OK to drill off the coast of Africa but not America?  The off shore drilling moratorium continues, not because it’s can’t be done safely, but because there are no royalties for the state?

What is wrong with America?  The last GDP numbers indicate America is growing an anemic 2.4% annually and the national debt will top $18,000,000,000,00 by the end of 2014.  How much longer can we hobble along with the belief we can’t safely produce our own energy at home and that somehow it’s better for the environment to drill in someone else's back yard and then ship it here?

Last September Dominion Virginia Power won a huge a $1.6 million lease to build the first wind farm off the coast of Virginia with a project start not until 2023.  Without support from Federal and State government this wind farm is dead before the first piling is driven.  Pile on the Navy's objections, environmental group opposition and you can bet Virginia will never see anything but an offshore test sit.  The last serious wind company in Virginia gave up and moved to the coast of Spain.

For starters let’s get the basic seismic testing done and see what we are dealing with.  Next, if it’s natural gas lets drill ASAP.  If it’s methane hydrates, let’s talk to Japan and figure how they figured out how to mine their huge deposits of methane hydrates.  If it’s oil lets take our time and figure out how to get at it in the safest way possible.

Unless you want to leave your car in the garage, wake up to a freezing home, give up air conditioning, toss out all your appliances, unplug from the net and turn off your TV, it’s time to wake up and smell the orderless gas we exhale, that's necessary for all green plants on the planet.  When the President ran I believed him when he repeatedly said our energy policy would be "all of the above."  Let’s make wind and solar a national priority by developing our offshore resources and use the royalties to develop and subsidize renewable energy in the states who are risking their shorelines.