DCA To Reopen (Sort Of) To GA…

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Onerous Security Restrictions Set

GA will likely return to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) as early as this coming fall, but most of us won’t notice. According to The Washington Post, those who purport to guard the capital from airborne threats don’t want private aircraft landing there, and that’s reflected by the onerous security provisions that will be imposed. According to the Post, all private flights will have to have an “armed law enforcement officer” on board and passengers and luggage will have to undergo security screening at one of a dozen designated airports before making the final leg to DCA. Word of the TSA directive, which was to have come by way of an interim final rule, according to the Post, came as Congress gets ready to discuss no less than three committee bills aimed at restoring GA access to DCA. Many feared the long-sought access (politicians are among DCA’s frequent flyers) would be scuttled by recent incursions by private aircraft into restricted airspace around the capital, but TSA officials apparently saw the congressional writing on the wall. That doesn’t mean security officials have to like it, however. “Agencies involved in securing the airspace have significant issues with the return of general aviation to National Airport,” one unnamed official of an unnamed agency is quoted as saying by the Post.

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