Frontier Airlines grounded one of its captains and first officers after they inadvertently flew their Boeing 737 into prohibited airspace above the White House seconds after taking off from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) last month. While the FAA’s plans for the crew were not immediately apparent, it was close to the 100th time over the past decade that an aircraft using DCA has busted the prohibited area above the White House, according to information obtained by the Associated Press.
You might think that the penalties would be severe for violating a no-fly zone above the White House and Capitol. However, until September 11 the majority of pilots who inadvertently flew into this area were greeted a few days later with a “warning notice” in their mailbox, according to the FAA’s enforcement database from 1992 through September 1 last year, obtained by the AP under the Freedom of Information Act.
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