The 11th anniversary of the attacks of September 11th, 2001, is here, and as is the case each year since then, it's a fitting time to reflect upon the lives lost and the sacrifices made — and still being made — in the battle against those who would bring down the American way of life.
The sad irony is — and I’m hardly the first to point this out — that in order to protect our freedom against terrorists, we’ve had to sacrifice some freedom. Americans generally accept an increased level of government intrusion into our lives — whether it’s full-body scan imaging at the airport or widespread government eavesdropping on our communications.
As pilots we’ve all sacrificed in the wake of 9/11. TFRs, an acronym that predated the attacks by many years, has become as common a part of our shared pilot vocabulary as IFR or ATC. The stifling permanent TFR in our nation’s capital reminds us that our airspace has changed for good, as has our government’s interest in what we’re up to when we go flying. If you’re on an IFR flight plan and you happen to ask ATC for a change in destination, perhaps because favorable winds get you a bit closer to home, they’ll ask you why you’re making the change. My immediate impulse when this happens is to tell them it’s none of their darned business, to just do their jobs and keep an eye on the traffic for me, but I just as quickly realize that it's not the contoller's fault. My change in plans is their business now. 9/11 made it their business.
There’s no doubt that the government has staked its territory here, even if they're often not very good at being protecting that terroritory. Violate a presidential TFR by even a few feet and you’re very likely to have F-16 company at your 9 O’clock. The feds are pretty good at telling us what they expect of us and very unlikely to cut us much slack if we fail to follow through on our end of the deal.
With this amped up vigilence and heightened state of regulations as background, it was a wonder to me that Senator James Inhofe had the guts to introduce legislation last year that asked for a fair shake from the FAA when pilots’ actions were questioned--Inhofe himself felt the wrath of the FAA after he mistakenly landed on a closed runway a few years ago. He's not alone. I’ve been the target of overzealous FAA enforcement for something that wasn’t even remotely a violation, that was, in fact, a sensible and conservative pilot action. The “federal investigation” was halted after a couple of nasty phone calls from an investigator, but the message was clear. They could do what they wanted my rights be damned. I salute Senator Inhofe for making his Pilots Bill of Rights the law of the land. The land of the free is far from free when our government--let's remember that the FAA works for us--isn't accountable to the people.
Sadly, that’s a lasting lesson of 9/11, that those in power will sometimes use tragedy, in this case an unimaginable tragedy, to grab more power at the expense of our rights. This is not a new phenomenon, but its effect has been more prevalent in the wake of the attacks of September 11th than ever before.
As pilots, we are put in a bad spot. Talk about the erosion of our freedom post-9/11 and we sound insensitive to the tragedy and the security needs of our country. If you ask me, I think we should see it in the opposite way: If we don’t stand up for our rights, we’re being insensitive to the very freedoms that were attacked 11 years ago, the freedoms we’re all dedicated to protecting in the first place.
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The reason Senator Inhofe was pursued by the FAA was not because of an unfortunate misunderstanding. It was because he displayed an appalling lack of sound judgment and reckless flying behavior in landing on a clearly marked, closed runway with vehicles and personnel scattered on it - rather than perform a go-around. He was rude to airport officials and stated, among other things, he was supposed to have "unlimited airspace." To this day, he remains unapologetic about the hazard to himself, his passengers, and the airport workers created by this reckless action. Instead, he chose to "blame the system" to deflect attention from his own poor airmanship.
It truly boggles my mind that prominent aviation organizations and magazines (save for a few lonely exceptions) have chosen to cheer Senator Inhofe and kiss his ring. They explain this away as a circumstance where the ends (The Pilot's Bill of Rights) justify the means. I simply do not agree. If magazines like 'Flying' and our alphabet groups want to have credibility when they speak about GA safety, then they ought to speak the truth about the Senator's selfish and unsafe flying conduct.
It's unfortunate that it took a senator one experience with the FAA to change he rights of pilots...when pilots have been suffering for decades by the abuse of power of the FAA. I was falsely accused of a violation and had to take the FAA to an NTSB trial . The chief counsel for the FAA was the trial lawyer against me. My accusers including the FAA inspectors lied and fabricated evidence and attempted to suborn perjury. I won my case...pursued them with the DOT Inspector General and sued two of the accusers in civil court. What needs to follow with the bill of rights is (what other Federal Orginizations already have) is an "office of professional responsibility. " Wherein FAA employees can be disciplined and fired for unethical conduct. I can say this with absolute clarity....the " Aviation Bar " (lawyers who practice in this field) have about the lowest degree of skill and professionalism. In my opinion they are the cause of the inequity and I am delighted that pilots can now take their cases into a real court with real procedures and real consequences to the FAA for presenting erroneous cases and unsubstantiated allegations against pilots.
With more and more airspace being controlled it is becoming very risky for GA pilots to fly VFR without potentially violating some type of controlled airspace. Many GA pilots believe that the ultimate goal of the government is a mandatory FAR for an IFR rating and filing an IFR flight plan to fly almost anywhere within the U.S.
@Stan3818 - you are 100% right on this one.
It horrifies me that 1/3 of the people read your post and concluded it wasn't a good comment. They must be terrific at ADM.
Inhofe is a black eye to aviation. There may be some good that came of the pilot's bill of rights.
You're right, the media should not brush over his abysmal flying and attitude towards safety.
