It’s been a minute or two, but one of the show planes at EAA’s AirVenture fly-in one year was an immaculate Fairchild radial-engine single. I was admiring it one day and read the description, noting the pilot and airplane were based at the Smoketown Airport (S37) in Smoketown, Pennsylvania, near Lancaster. To many, that airport probably doesn’t ring a bell. But any pilot living in the Washington, D.C., area during the 2000s, as I was, is very familiar with it. Smoketown is/was the base airport for a particular Cessna 150.
In the aftermath of the September 2001 terrorist attacks, many in Washington were extremely concerned about someone crashing a small airplane into their office building. The Capitol was considered a prime terrorist target, among others. In their “We have to do something. This is something” mode, the powers that be created the Special Flight Rules Area and the Flight Restricted Zone around the city.
One day a few years after, an alert was issued for a non-responsive airplane approaching from the north. Some government buildings, including on Capitol Hill, were evacuated as a precaution. Instead, it turned out to be a couple of guys out flying around in a Cessna 150. The world returned to normal. And then, a couple of years later, it happened again, including the evacuations, but with a couple of different guys aboard. But it was the same airplane! And it was from Smoketown.
Later that same AirVenture, I wandered by that Fairchild again and found the owner/pilot. I asked him if he knew about the Smoketown 150, and he slowly, guardedly started to smile—he knew what I was talking about. My only real question for him was this: Could I paint a couple of Capitol-building silhouettes under the pilot’s window? Alas, it wasn’t his 150 and, given the way he was backing away from me, I was pretty sure he didn’t want anything to do with the idea. Can’t say I blame him, either.
In the aftermath of this year’s AirVenture, and with the coming political season, I was reminded of those events. Which makes this a perfect opportunity to remind readers that temporary flight restrictions (TFRs) are likely to proliferate throughout the U.S. over the next few months.
I know we all call Flight Service to ask about TFRs near us every time we fly, right? Now is a good time to make doing so a standard procedure, certainly at least until mid-November.
