On 09 Oct 2003 15:31:10 GMT, (TMartin831) wrote:

10/09 (MSNBC) -- A lack of funds has left a pair of sleek Blackhawk
helicopters that are assigned the much-ballyhooed task of guarding the
skies over the nation’s capital unable to provide the round-the-clock
coverage their commander says they should, MSNBC.com has learned.
http://www.msnbc.com/news/974021.asp?0cv=CB10

As a local pilot and airplane owner in the DC area, let me assure you
that this was never a problem BEFORE 9/11 and it still isn't.

The article lacks perspective too. You could fly a business jet at
20,000' over the National Mall LEGALLY. It would be even easier to do
a lawn dart maneuver with one of those.

The customs service patrols over DC are nothing less than harassment
of general aviation, pure and simple. Three very popular local
airports have effectively been shut down indefinitely because those
idiotic ******s in Homeland Security don't understand the real threat
or how it can be countered.

Meanwhile, they have ****ed off every pilot who flies in this area and
are actually less secure for having done so. If I saw suspicious
activity on an airfield before these dumb regulations and notices went
in to effect, I might have reported it to the FBI or the FAA. Today,
I'm not so sure.

Let's not forget how the "20th hijacker" was discovered and
apprehended. Does this administration really want to **** off the
very people they need to keep such things from happening again?



Jake Brodsky,
PP ASEL IA, Cessna Cardinal N30946, Based @ FME
Amateur Radio Station AB3A