Last, but certainly not least, we are pleased to report to you that we have received confirmation from an informed and reliable source that the upcoming ADIZ redesign will NOT require pilots operating into or out of GAI to obtain an air traffic clearance. This possibility, leaked by air traffic controllers at the April 7 "Operation Raincheck" tour of the Potomac Tracon, sent shivers down our collective spines as we envisioned VFR pilots idling endlessly on the ground waiting for an IFR-like departure release.
The source confirmed that, pending final signoffs, the new ADIZ will be a 30-nm ring around the DCA Vortac and that pilots operating into or out of GAI will need to file the same ADIZ flight plan that they do now, and contact Clearance Delivery on the ground outbound or Potomac Approach in the air inbound to activate the flight plan and receive a unique transponder code.
What's new is that instead of hearing "transponder observed" or "beacon code observed" when checking in with Potomac Approach, pilots will hear "radar contact" and will be provided with what is commonly known as "flight following" services as defined in the FAR/AIM Pilot Controller Glossary as "radar monitoring." Radar monitoring is defined as “[t]he radar flight-following of aircraft, whose primary navigation is being performed by the pilot, to observe and note deviations from its authorized flight path, airway, or route.”
According to the source, air traffic controllers will be required to provide all VFR aircraft inside the ADIZ with traffic advisories and safety alerts but not the separation services that come with a Class B clearance. While it is still every pilot's responsibility to see and avoid other aircraft, this new measure seems to address one of the pilot community's principal early concerns with the ADIZ -- that VFR aircraft inside the ADIZ are placed at a higher risk of mid-air collision than those outside the ADIZ.
When asked how the FAA and the controllers at the Tracon plan to handle this increased workload and responsibility, the source said that the FAA is in the process of redrawing the Chesapeake sector airspace so that some controllers will only handle VFR/ADIZ traffic and others will only handle IFR traffic. Additional stations would be created to handle Clearance Delivery calls, and new frequencies will be added to contact Potomac Approach from the air when approaching the ADIZ. Additionally, controllers will have performance standards for VFR/ADIZ traffic just as they now are held accountable for the handling of IFR traffic. We do not know any specifics beyond this general plan of action.
Many of us have wondered whether GAI might be offered a "cut-out" or "corridor" for ingress and egress similar to that which is proposed for Leesburg Airport in Virginia. Apparently that this is not going to happen unless GAI gets a control tower or some other to-be-determined on-site human monitoring. The MCRA has expressed an interest in pursuing this option, but it is still too early to know what we might get or when we might get it.
The new procedures will be issued via Notam in advance of the final FAA rule, so that any operational kinks can be worked out before the final rule is issued. This revised Notam is expected to be issued within the next few months, and will be charted.
We hope that this email provides you with some relief that our situation at GAI may not be as grave as we have thought. However, please know that MCAA will continue to follow this issue very closely and keep you, our members, informed.
Fly safely,
Your MCAA Board of Directors/
