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.
