Pilots frustrated by flight restrictions

Jace Radke

Friday, Oct. 5, 2001 | 9:46 a.m.

Marcum Endicott has flown airplanes for six years. Eighteen months ago he achieved a dream when he bought his own plane, a Cessna 150.

The plane has been getting plenty of use lately, but not by Endicott.

Although he has been allowing an instructor and a student pilot to use the aircraft, Federal Aviation Administration restrictions put into place after terrorists slammed jetliners into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on Sept. 11 prevent Endicott from taking off.

"They can fly, but I'm grounded," Endicott said. "It's very frustrating to know that a student can go up, but a qualified pilot has to sit down here because the FAA won't let us fly."

Though airspace has always been limited around major airports, before Sept. 11 it was graduated by altitude. Private pilots could fly low to get out of airspace needed by commercial aircraft that were either taking off or landing.

After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, however, the FAA clamped down on private flights in the lower altitudes around major airports, effectively grounding about 85 percent of the nation's private pilots, according to Phil Boyer, president of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association.

The grounded pilots fly under visual flight rules, or VFR. When flying VFR, pilots navigate using visual reference points on the ground and are not required to file flight plans with their state's flight service center.

As it stands, only private pilots trained to fly aircraft under instrument flight rules, or IFR, can take off from inside the restricted airspace, as long as they remain below certain elevations.

Endicott's frustration is shared by more than 41,000 private pilots and plane owners who have been grounded because their aircraft are parked in areas that fall within the newly expanded restricted airspace. The restricted areas surround the nation's 30 major airports and the cities in which they are located, including McCarran International Airport and Las Vegas, an FAA spokesman said.

The North Las Vegas Airport, Henderson Executive Airport and Boulder City Airport all fall within the airspace that is restricted because of the presence of McCarran and Nellis Air Force Base. The restricted area extends across most of the Las Vegas Valley and Lake Mead.

FAA officials say the restrictions were put in place because of concerns over security. General aviation airports do not have anywhere near the security present at commercial airports, and pilots need only show identification -- such as a driver's license -- to take to the air.

And because VFR pilots aren't required to file flight plans, the FAA has decided to keep them grounded.

About 15 percent of private pilots are rated to fly IFR, which requires them to be capable of operating an aircraft on instruments when there is no visibility.

Becoming an IFR-rated pilot requires 40 hours of classroom instruction, West Air Aviation flight training school owner John Giles said.

"In many cases these pilots learned to fly because it was their dream, and now all they can do is sit on the ground and look up," Giles said.

Boyer and his association, which represents 375,000 general aviation pilots, are lobbying the Senate and Congress to lift the stricter rules.

Ironically, while VFR pilots such as Endicott remain grounded, students have been cleared by the FAA to fly as part of their flight lessons.

"That has got to be the most frustrating part," Endicott said. "Students can go up with an instructor. Maybe I should hire an instructor to go up with me just so I can fly."

Endicott pays about $300 a month for parking, insurance and the payment on his plane.

Some pilots have hired IFR-rated pilots to fly their planes to the Overton or Jean airports -- which are not under restricted airspace -- to get some air time.

"We had a guy who paid one of my instructors to fly him and his plane to Overton," Giles said. "The guy was able to fly once he got to Overton, but then he had to pay the instructor to fly the aircraft back to North Las Vegas."

Airplane renters are feeling a pinch, because much of their customer base has been grounded. Giles, who rents airplanes as well as operating his flight school, says business has been tough.

"We've got five planes that we rent out and don't use for training," Giles said. "Those have just been sitting here."

Fred Zimmerman, another grounded VFR pilot at North Las Vegas Airport, said all that he can do he is wait.

"The FAA has left this open ended, and no one is really saying anything," Zimmerman said. "It seems like they are piecing everything back together, and spoon-feeding everyone until they can get everything going. We're last on the list, but with Reagan National (in Washington) opening back up I hope that we'll be flying soon."