Federal government closes privately owned airport

How can this happen in America, the home of the free?

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http://www.avweb.com/eletter/archive...ll.html#190897

TSA Closes D.C.-Area Airport...

Potomac Airfield "Not In Compliance"

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) on Tuesday informed Potomac Airfield -- one of three small GA airports
in the Washington area that operate under special post-9/11 security regulations -- that its security program has been
suspended, effectively closing down operations. "The airport was told it is not in compliance with its approved security
plan," TSA spokesman Darrin Kayser told AVweb yesterday. "We had told them they were not meeting certain criteria, and
then did a spot check over the weekend, and found they are still not in compliance." Exactly what those measures are
that were supposed to be followed, or what the transgressions were, the TSA will not discuss. "Planes utilizing this
airfield, which is a part of the Maryland Three group [Potomac Airfield, College Park Airport, and Washington
Executive/Hyde Field], fly in close proximity to many key assets and critical infrastructure in the DC metropolitan
area," the TSA said on Tuesday, in a news release announcing the closure of the field.



In February 2005, the TSA assumed management of a program that allowed the three airports to continue operations under a
rule that was created specifically for them, due to their location within the Washington, D.C., Flight Restricted Zone
(FRZ), which extends to approximately a 15-mile radius from the Washington Monument. (The FRZ is separate and distinct
from the Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) that extends at its widest point to 90 miles and is currently being
considered in an FAA rulemaking.) The rule also grants access to pilots not based at the Maryland Three airports if they
comply with the TSA-mandated security requirements and procedures. The TSA said it routinely monitors these airports to
ensure compliance through regular inspections and communications with the airport security coordinator. Operations at
College Park and Washington Executive/Hyde Field are not impacted by the suspension of the Potomac Airfield security
plan.





....Airfield Owner Defiant...

David Wartofsky, owner of Potomac Airfield, told AVweb yesterday that he is working to get the situation rectified. He
says the security procedures he has put into place at Potomac are not exactly those prescribed by the TSA plan, but in
fact are enhanced. "It's like if they told you to use 25-watt light bulbs and instead I put in 100 watts," he said.
"It's not what is in the plan, but it meets and exceeds what is in the plan." He also said that he's been caught in a
Catch-22 because the TSA says the only approved procedures are the ones they sign off on, but then the agency won't sign
off on any of his requests for revisions to enhance the procedures. Wartofsky added that he is working through the White
House and Congress to try to get clarification of whether the TSA has the authority to dictate to him what is acceptable
for what he says is a "private security plan" that he has implemented in addition to the plan required by the TSA.
"There's no precedent for all this weirdness," Wartofsky said. Kayser, of the TSA office, said: "Security for the
national capital region is a shared responsibility. We must take steps to work together."





....And 90 Airplanes Grounded

About 90 airplanes are on the ground at the airport and about 400 pilots have passed the necessary security procedures
to operate there. A plan is in place to allow those airplanes to be flown off the field tomorrow, Saturday and Sunday.
(Hopefully, nobody had other plans.) Wartofsky said he is hopeful that a mutually agreeable solution to the problem can
be reached soon and the airport will be back in operation. "The agency will continue to work with the Potomac Airfield
staff on the issues surrounding the suspension," the TSA said in its news release. Pilots in need of more information
from the TSA regarding Potomac Airfield, including aircraft relocation plans, should contact TSA program manager Dirk
Ahle at (571) 227-1898. The toll-free hotline for GA pilots is (866) GA-SECUR.