Chemical Weapons

Kevin Robert Dean qualiall at union.org.za
Sun Sep 22 19:16:27 PDT 2002


Something I'm sure you all knew, but I don't know why I was surprised that there are chem weapons facilites in the good ol' US of A.

The odd thing is that the FAA gives a map telling pilots what to avoid...I'm sure most people didn't even know where the Chemical Weapons plants were in the US...now they do...KRD (also testing out new email address which won't fill us quite as fast as Yahoo)

Senate to consider enhanced TFR enforcement over weapons storage facilities Sept. 20 — Senators Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) and Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) have introduced legislation that would require enhanced enforcement of temporary flight restriction areas (TFRs) over chemical weapons storage depots in seven states.

"The issue is not enforcement but information," said AOPA President Phil Boyer. "The way to prevent TFR incursions is for FAA to give pilots reliable, graphical information on TFR locations. Flight service should be able to tell pilots 100% of the time that a proposed route will take them close to a TFR. And maps of all TFRs should be available from FAA on the Internet."

The legislation, an amendment to the Homeland Security bill, would direct the FAA to strictly enforce TFRs over Department of Defense chemical weapons storage depots. DOD would be required to consider maintaining combat air patrols over the facilities and to tell FAA whether the TFR is large enough to give the military enough time to identify and intercept aircraft near the facility.

AOPA Legislative Affairs staff has met with Sen. Bayh's staff and has been in touch with Senator Shelby to have changes made to the amendment that would help pilots know where the TFRs are so that avoiding them is made easier. No date has been scheduled for a vote on this amendment.

Chemical weapons storage depots are located in Oregon, Utah, Colorado, Arkansas, Alabama, Kentucky, and Indiana. See AOPA's notams and TFR page for the specific locations.

02-3-138x --- Sent from UnionMail Service [http://mail.union.org.za]



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