There's a large three lobed Class B airspace around Washington, Dulles and Baltimore.

Then there's the special rules area (sfc to 17,999) centered on the government center. Entering this area without clearance would have been what caused all the excitement.

The president's bike ride probably resulted in a temporary restriction to the east of the Class B area. I don't know how much room there was between that area and the Class B area. Might have complicated using the VORs to the east of the Class B airspace. Other than a couple of narrow corridors, unpressurized planes maight have found it necessary to fly past the west lobe of the Class B or east over Deleware.

I'm wondering if the wayward pilots were trying to fly under the Class B between Washington and Baltimore, then turn South towards Richmond VA once past the lower section of the Class B area (& special rules area). There's a corridor there where the Class B is 2,500 to 10,000. The 139 radial from the Fredrick MD VOR would lead nicely down the corridor. A little sloppy handwriting, misread the "3" as a "5" and you would end up a little SW of the Reagan National / Pentagon area.

Robert

Near KORF

• RE: DC Special Rule Area incursion,Ben_Chiu, 18:26z, 05-12-05
  • RE: DC Special Rule Area incursion,RobertVA, 01:55z, 05-13-05
    • RE: DC Special Rule Area incursion,andor, 00:51z, 05-15-05
    • RE: DC Special Rule Area incursion,Ben_Chiu, 18:37z, 05-27-05
      • RE: DC Special Rule Area incursion,vgbaron, 15:59z, 06-01-05
        • RE: DC Special Rule Area incursion,Ben_Chiu, 22:24z, 06-21-05

From one of the reports that I've seen, these guys were trying to navigate this complex airspace using pilotage (no NAVAIDS) and got lost. What's interesting is one of the F-16's following them fired some flares at them to get them to change direction. We've always joked about how a C152 would do against an F-16 (of course we know if Andy was at the stick, there'd be no contest!). I wish there was some video of the whole incident to see.

Ben

Flying through that narrow corridor without radio of GPS navigation is a pretty daring concept. Using the combination of a twelve year old terminal area chart and the FS 2004 map (for the special rules boundary) there doesn't seem to be any prominent waterways or highways running the length of the corridor. A couple of modest size reservoirs might be useable to mark the north edge of the NW entrance to the corridor. Suburban (W18) and a closed strip (not shown as such in FS, but near or at intersection INKOE) might be useable to mark the boundaries near the center. I don't see anything that looks prominent near the SE end.

They couldn't have been very observant to get within ten miles of the government center though. The Capital Beltway (a WIDE limited access highway) keeps pretty close to a ten-mile radius around the government center in the Maryland suburbs of Washington. FS 2004 is showing the special rules area as a fifteen-mile radius with a few flat sections.

Robert

Near KORF

No problem out here Ben, Robert. Our difficulty is to find a road to follow VFR. With regard to military aircraft they keep well away from 152,s... sort of unwritten law
Andy

Well, the FAA has taken action.

http://www.aopa.org/whatsnew/newsitems/2005/050523faa.html

What do you guys think? Fair, too harsh, or not harsh enough?

Ben

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I think it's a fair decision. IMHO it was his responsibility to be familiar with everything pertaining to his flight. To fly in a more "southerly than anticipated" direction without being aware of what restrictions were in the southerly direction is a major error. If he was in the middle of Kansas he might have assumed there would be no restrictions but in DC?

I also think he should receive a fine. Who pays the cost of scrambling the military a/c? The taxpayers - you and I.

Just MHO,
Vic

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Looks like the pilot got his suspension reduced to 10 months.

http://www.aopa.org/whatsnew/newsitems/2005/050615adiz.html

Ben

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