CAA: GA News, "Southern California pilots call no-fly zone a minor inconvenience"

["Stephen Irwin" <stepheni@xxxxxxxxx>]

Thursday, November 1, 2001

Pilots call no-fly zone a minor inconvenience
BY PHIL DIEHL 
The North County (CA) Times


The one-week no-fly zone around the San Onofre nuclear power plant may
be inconvenient, but it's a small price to pay to help keep the nation
safe from terrorists, pilots said Wednesday. 

"We're going to do whatever is necessary in the interest of national
security," said George McJimsey, owner of Pinnacle Aviation Academy at
Carlsbad's Palomar Airport. 

On Tuesday, the Federal Aviation Administration prohibited aircraft from
flying below 18,000 feet and within 10 miles of any nuclear power plant
in response to the FBI's warning of possible new terrorist attacks. Only
emergency medical, rescue, law enforcement and firefighting aircraft are
exempt. 

"That's a large area to fly around," McJimsey said. However, he said,
other parts of the country are affected more because they have airports
closer to nuclear power plants. 

San Onofre is about 17 miles north of the Oceanside city limits. 

The prohibition affects approach flight paths from the north into the
Carlsbad and Oceanside airports, McJimsey said, but both have alternate
approaches. 

"Aviation people are understanding of why the restriction went into
place and are cooperating with it," said Pat Williams, who manages
Oceanside municipal airport and owns the Sea Winds flight school there. 

"There are a few guys who fly to work around Hawthorne or LAX," said
longtime Oceanside pilot Joe Pellerin. "They will have to fly halfway to
Catalina to get around the power plant. 

"It takes them 10 minutes longer. It's not going to be that big a deal."


Another option is to go inland and up over Interstate 15, but that route
is longer, Pellerin said. Most private aircraft fly at about 10,000 or
10,500 feet elevation and are unlikely to take the time needed to fly
above 18,000 feet, he said. Commercial aircraft usually fly higher than
18,000 feet. 

Pellerin said he suspects the no-fly zone around San Onofre could
continue long after Tuesday. 

"The Taliban is not going away," he said. "Our lives have changed." 

FAA spokesman Jerry Snyder said Wednesday that those who fly into the
prohibited area can have their pilot's license lifted and may be fined
up to $25,000 per incident. 

All aircraft, whether commercial or private, are covered by the
prohibition, Snyder said. Only air-traffic controllers can approve any
exceptions. 

Agency officials will meet early next week to decide whether the
prohibition should be continued, he said. 

Although the FBI has said its warning of a possible terrorist attack
isn't related to a specific threat, the Miami Herald reported Wednesday
that federal agents were searching for six men who had been carrying
photographs and information about a nuclear power plant in Florida and
the Trans-Alaska oil pipeline. 

The suspects were stopped while traveling in two cars somewhere in the
Midwest. They carried Israeli passports, appeared to be from the Middle
East, and carried box-cutters and other "suspicious equipment,"
according to the report. 

A Justice Department official denied the report, saying "there's nothing
to that." 

The men who hijacked four jetliners Sept. 11 used box-cutters. Two of
the planes crashed into the World Trade Center, one crashed into the
Pentagon, and one went down in a field in Pennsylvania. 

San Onofre and all other U.S. nuclear plants have added security
measures since the East Coast terrorist attacks.

   Post your opinion on this story in the CAA General Aviation Forum
http://www.californiaaviation.org/cgi-bin/dcforum/dcboard.cgi?conf=DCConfID2

*****************************************