CAA: GA News, "Private planes able to traverse small gap between Nort Carolina no-fly zones"

["Stephen Irwin" <stepheni@xxxxxxxxx>]

Thursday, November 1, 2001 

Private planes able to traverse small gap between no-fly zones
Airports in Rock Hill,Gastonia are effectively closed until Wednesday
By RICHARD RUBIN 
The Charlotte (NC) Observer


Charlotte/Douglas International Airport reopened to private-plane
traffic Wednesday after officials determined that planes could arrive
and depart while barely avoiding the no-fly zones surrounding the area's
two nuclear power plants.

In response to Attorney General John Ashcroft's Monday warning about
potential new terrorist attacks, the FAA on Tuesday banned small
noncommercial planes from flying below 18,000 feet within 10 nautical
miles of a nuclear plant until Nov. 7. The rules do not affect
commercial airline flights.

The ban temporarily closed Charlotte/Douglas and two smaller airports to
corporate and privately owned planes.

However, exact coordinates show that Charlotte/Douglas is outside the
10-mile radius.

"In between the two circles, there's a little way we can duck them in
there," said Howard Rainey, operations manager at the Charlotte/Douglas
control tower.

Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Christopher White said the
security provision was a response to the nonspecific state of alert and
not based on information that the plants are a likely target now.

Pilots who venture into the no-fly zones would receive oral warnings
from air traffic controllers, White said. Military fighter planes could
intercept those who disobey, he said.

Immediately after the FAA's announcement, several planes in the air were
diverted from Charlotte/Douglas to other local airports. Others were
apparently stranded in Charlotte.

But by 7 a.m. Wednesday, tower officials obtained the more accurate map.
The circles drawn from the exact coordinates of Duke Energy's McGuire
and Catawba plants cover many of the typical approaches to
Charlotte/Douglas, but they leave a small gap.

To get to Charlotte/Douglas without entering the restricted area, the
small planes must come from the east or southeast, then turn toward the
north as they head to the runway.

The gap on the airport's west side is too narrow for planes to maneuver,
Rainey said.

About 130 general aviation flights come in and out of Charlotte/Douglas
on an average day, Rainey said.

The radii surrounding the power plants still enclose two of the region's
smaller airports, essentially closing Gastonia Municipal Airport and
Rock Hill-York County Municipal Airport.

"For all practical purposes, it shuts down their operations," said
Gastonia's Assistant City Manager Larry Wood. "If you can't fly in or
out, you can't get a plane in there to be worked on or to buy fuel."

Flights at Lincoln County's regional airport are limited because the
radius clips the end of the lone runway, officials said. But some
airports outside the 10-mile zone - in Concord and Monroe - saw
increased traffic as a result, officials said.

At Concord Regional Airport, Wednesday was just as busy as a NASCAR race
day, said Dick Lewis, assistant director of aviation. And based on his
conversations with pilots, Lewis expects even more in the near future.
Concord's proximity to the McGuire plant, however, means that no
takeoffs may go directly west.

Increased fuel sales from planes using alternative airports could help
them recoup some of the losses they suffered during the month after the
Sept. 11 attacks, as the FAA gradually rolled back its initial grounding
of all general aviation flights.

At Monroe Municipal Airport, which normally has 50 flights daily, 12
additional airplanes came because of the restrictions at other airports,
said Nancy Lakeman, general manager of Piedmont Hawthorne Aviation,
which runs the airport.

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