More Airspace Open to Private Planes

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Monday October 22 11:43 AM ET

More Airspace Open to Private Planes

By JONATHAN D. SALANT, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Federal Aviation Administration (news - web sites) is opening the skies over 12 more cities to all private planes, leaving only Washington, New York and Boston with limits on the small aircraft.

The action allows pilots in the 12 cities to resume flying under what are known as visual flight rules, in which the pilot is low enough in the sky in good weather to navigate by landmarks on the ground and is not required to file a flight plan, according to the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association. Away from the major airports, pilots usually don't talk to controllers. Around 90 percent of all private planes fly under visual flight rules.

On Monday, the airspace over Atlanta, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami and San Francisco reopened to all private planes.

Other metropolitan areas will be reopened over the next two days beginning at 7 a.m. EDT each day. On Tuesday, Denver, Detroit, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and San Diego will reopen and on Wednesday, Chicago and Orlando, Fla.

``This is very good news for general aviation pilots,'' AOPA spokesman Warren Morningstar said. ``We're going to continue to work to see if we can get the remaining restrictions modified consistent with our national security concerns.''

In Boston, New York and Washington, pilots must continue to file flight plans with the Federal Aviation Administration. In those cases, air traffic controllers are responsible for keeping pilots away from other planes. All private plane flights are banned within 20 miles of Kennedy Airport in New York and Reagan National Airport near Washington. Seventeen small airports in those areas remain closed.

The ban also continues on foreign-owned private planes, unless they are registered in Canada or Mexico, flying into the United States. And news helicopters and blimps still can't fly within 30 metropolitan areas.

Private planes flying under visual flight rules must have transponders, which allow air traffic controllers to track the aircraft, or must obtain a waiver from the FAA. While flying within 23 miles of 30 major airports, including the 12 in the metropolitan areas opening to all private planes this week, the pilots also must monitor a specific radio frequency.

-- (security@being.loosened), October 23, 2001

Answers

Coast Guard Office Sprayed by Plane

By Jason Straziuso Associated Press Writer Tuesday, Oct. 23, 2001; 12:20 p.m. EDT

JACKSON, Miss. –– A tiny Coast Guard post was dusted with white granules sprayed from a small plane, the second such incident in the state in four days, authorities said.

The latest incident happened Monday afternoon at the Shore Side Detachment office in Natchez.

A Coast Guard member who was standing outside is being given antibiotics as a precaution, said Petty Officer 3rd Class Joan Farris in New Orleans.

"As far as they know it was a small white plane," Farris said Tuesday. "They are not sure if it was a crop duster."

Farris said local, state and federal authorities were notified, and a sample of the granules was taken to a state laboratory for testing.

Crop dusters in the region are fertilizing fields with small white pellets this time of year, State Agricultural Aviation Board member Bern Prewitt said Tuesday.

Meanwhile, authorities were awaiting final test results for a Mississippi River towboat and crew that was sprayed with an unknown substance by a crop duster Friday near Rosedale.

Initial tests for chemical and biological agents were negative, and the 11 crew members and towboat were released from quarantine late Sunday.

"It was definitely a criminal act, whether it was a hazardous substance or not," said Bob O'Brien, commanding officer of the Coast Guard's Marine Safety Office in Memphis, Tenn.

While witnesses said the plane near Rosedale was a crop duster, authorities would not give specifics about its color and design for comparison with the plane involved in Monday's incident. Natchez is in southwest Mississippi, 170 miles south of Rosedale.

Federal and state authorities searched crop dusters' flight records for clues to the planes' identities. The FBI is investigating but spokeswoman Deborah Madden said her office could not comment.

Crop duster pilots were shocked and angered by the incidents.

"We're here to help the farmer. We're not here to hurt people," said Karen Brunetti of Shelby Air Service.

"I talked to a couple of my friends who have flying services, and they're just bumfuzzled," said Jimmy Ervin, who owns another flying service. "They can't believe anyone would do that."

-- (easy@to.attack), October 23, 2001.


Airplane sprays Coast Guard station . By Joan Gandy The Natchez Democrat

Published Tuesday, October 23, 2001 12:38 AM CDT

NATCHEZ - Federal, state and local officials are investigating an incident being treated as a threat against the U.S. Coast Guard station south of Natchez.

A single-engine airplane at approximately 2:15 p.m. Monday sprayed a white substance on the U.S. Coast Guard just north of the Natchez-Adams County Port, a Coast Guard spokesman said.

Lt. Dale Folsom of the Memphis office said three people were inside the facility and one was outdoors when the incident occurred.

"They're all being treated locally as a precaution, but they did not exhibit any signs of harm," said Folsom, deputy group commander for Group Lower Mississippi River.

Because of widespread fear of terrorists' use of anthrax in the weeks following the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, authorities throughout the United States are reacting quickly to any incident that could involve the virus, recently surfacing as a white substance of different grades.

Jack Houghton, Natchez Regional Medical Center administrator, confirmed that several patients were brought to the emergency room Monday afternoon.

"One patient has been hospitalized as a precaution and the others have been discharged," he said. "We took all the necessary precautions to protect the patients and our medical staff." Houghton would not comment further on treatment or say whether the patients received Cipro, the primary antibiotic used to treat anthrax.

However, George Souderes, Adams County civil defense director, speaking from the emergency room at about 7:15 p.m., said he was waiting to be treated with Cipro "as standard medical procedure."

Souderes was at the Coast Guard site following the incident and collected samples of the substance. "I turned those over to the DEQ. It is white and a fine small granule."

The samples were taken immediately to the Mississippi Department of Health laboratory in Jackson, Souderes said. "It will be 10 to 12 hours before they know anything."

The spraying incident is the second in three days to occur on the lower Mississippi.

On Friday a crop-dusting plane sprayed a towboat and a pleasure boat with an unknown substance near Rosedale. The towboat crew has been treated with Cipro, a Bolivar County Emergency Management Agency spokesman said.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has been called to lead the Natchez investigation, Folsom said. Other federal and state agencies will be involved, including the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Environmental Quality.

"We're calling in federal authorities to investigate one, what the powder was, and two, whether there is a danger," he said. "They will be looking for the airplane that dropped the powder."

Calls to the FBI spokesman in Jackson and to the DEQ in Jackson were not returned Monday night. Airports in Natchez and in Concordia Parish acknowledged that the FBI had contacted them to ask questions about the airplane.

"The FBI called and asked whether a plane took off or landed that had 'N 90' as part of its number," said Jennifer Essary of Natchez-Adams County Airport operations. "We don't have anyone on the field with that number."

Raymond Cowan, manager of the Concordia Airport in Vidalia, La., said he had received a call from the FBI, also, but did not want to comment on it. He did confirm that the plane in question had not been at his airport.

Pat Murphy, director of the Natchez-Adams County Port, said he knew of no one at the port who saw the incident when it happened.

"This is not the time to play games. We hope it's a hoax," Murphy said. "Apparently a plane flew over and dropped something, we just don't know what it was yet."

Reggie Chandler, crane operator at Natchez-Adams County Port, said crop-dusting planes are not an unusual sight in the port area.

"I see crop dusters all the time out here, but I haven't seen one spraying anything today." Folsom said.

Coast Guard members who were at the Natchez facility were not able to say for sure that the plane was a crop duster.

"Our hope is that it will turn out to be a benign substance and we can go on about our daily routine," Folsom said.

"I would say to the public that they should continue to be aware of any suspicious act and report it immediately to local law officials," he said.

-- Trigger Happy Henry (ready@to.shoot), October 23, 2001.


Boswell,

Because our government is loosening the restrictions, leaving the skies wide open for more attacks, me and the good ol' boys network are intensifying our defense. I know that you do not fly foolishly, but spread the word among your flyer friends, we are going back to DEFCON 1. This means that we are prepared to shoot anything that appears to be flying below 500 ft. if we see the slightest trace of powder or smoke coming from it. Except of course, dusters that are flying only over their crops. Thanks, and take care buddy.

PS: We have also heard rumors that the terrorists may attempt to use ultralights, so we will automatically shoot those. Needless to say, this is not a good time to go sightseeing.

-- Trigger Happy Henry (defending@our.nation), October 23, 2001.


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