9/11, Seven Years Later...

By Paul Lowe

September 11, 2008
Regulations, Security

With today’s dedication of the country’s first major September 11 memorial at the Pentagon, Americans are recalling the events of that fateful day when airliners were turned into weapons of mass destruction. Although general aviation had nothing to do with the tragic events of 9/11, many of the security measures instituted in the aftermath of the attacks that affect GA operations remain in effect.

Temporary flight restrictions (TFR) over Disneyland in California and Disney World in Florida continue. The air defense identification zone (ADIZ) put in place around Washington, D.C., in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq in 2003 also remains in place and likely has become a permanent part of the Washington sectional.

To the dismay of Washington-area pilots, the FAA is going to require any pilot flying VFR within a 60-nm radius of Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) to have completed “special awareness” training. According to the FAA, this training will reduce the number of unauthorized flights into ADIZ airspace.

TFRs, which were seldom issued before 9/11, now pop up frequently. And despite the “reopening” of DCA to business aviation almost three years ago, operations have not risen above a trickle compared with what they were before the terrorists struck.

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