Treating DCA like it's some magical airport with no-pee rules, diversions, and standing orders to shoot down passenger aircraft isn't just 'stupid', it's asinine.

The people who come up with these asinine policies ought to be deported.

So I take it you have no further knowledge of the procedure. 'Nuff said.

Prove it, smug one.

Any inSecurity diversion to IAD is the result of asinine, knee-jerk fools' policies designed once again to blow smoke up the collective rear of the public.

Passwords, fighter jets on alert to shoot down passenger aircraft, no-pee rules, and government theft of permium cabin seats are all disgusting examples of the colossal waste of money that is squandered on the inSecurity of DCA.

We'd be better off taking the sum of money wasted on this idiocy and lighting it on fire. At least a small portion of the energy issues this nation is also facing could be eliminated in the resulting released potential energy.

I disagree with just about everything the US government has done in response to 9/11, but I have to say that the DCA rules seem pretty harmless relative to the potential benefit.

Examining the DCA approach procedures when landing to the south, or the missed approach prcedures when landing to the north, one notices that it's almost impossible to distinguish a malicious aircraft from a benign one, due to the proximity of those flight paths to very sensitive areas.

So, why only DCA? Why not every flight in the US? How about every flight leaving and entering the US? If you think about it, a BOS-LGA shuttle can all of a sudden "keep going". By the time the threat is realized and fighter jets scramble, the pilot can just aim for the ground. It doesn't matter where it hits in the Northeast corridor, the end result will be pretty much the same.

I'm not forgetting it - if that's the case then why don't they have passwords for all airports? How is this any different for a flight that is scheduled to go to IAD, but instead of landing there makes a sudden turn towards DC? I don't know about you but I don't think fighter jets can scramble that quickly.

I'm with you Spiff. These rules get dumber by the minute.

Don't get upset over this. Regulations require enough fuel to go from departure to intended destination, shoot an instrument approach, fly to the filed alternate airport, shoot another approach, and then 45 more minutes. That is the *bare* minimum; pilots usually want more than that. It is likely that the delay and diverting to IAD cut into this reserve such that another flight (which has the same fuel requirements) would require additional fuel.

It's called Washington DC. The seat of our nation's government and home to the President. That's the LAST place you'd want a terrorist to strike. Can you imagine what would've happened had a plane hit Capitol Hill or the White House on 9/11?


I bet they can.


Is that the best you can come up with?


Wait... who's blowing smoke?

You don't know the full extent of the policy, you're just bashing the government assuming you do. You know what they say when you assume. I'm really glad you're not making the rules, or else I'd be mouthing off on FT about fools not protecting the vital heart of the nation pumping in DC.

It's a password between pilots and the FAA. It's not an infringement on your individual liberties.

Ah, the frustrations of idiotic, senseless, window-dressing security. Let's see, what commercial airports are within a half-hour of National that have mainline jet service? Dulles, BWI, Philly, Richmond, maybe Harrisburg, Pittsburg is a half hour on a good day with a tailwind, probably a few others. You dont squat for the first and last half hour on flights into and out of those airports, do you?

Sorry, I used to fly in and out of National 1-2 times per week in the mid-late 90's and even though I use Dulles almost exclusively now, I still get riled up about the lunacy of security at National.

Wow! Your condescending comments have totally changed my perception of this whole inSecurity charade. Thank you so much!! I will never again question the Fatherland's Gestapo tactics nor pronounce these disgusting practices to be filthy, un-American policies that were thought out by ...-clowns.

Thank you again for lifting the scales from my eyes.

Spiff, in all sincerity, I wouldn't be posting condescending comments if you weren't either.

The power of your argument is dramatically weakened (in my opinion), when you use name-calling (not in reference to me) and jejune one-liners. Calling the people in the government 'fools' and 'assclowns', adding the prefix 'in' to Security (how witty!), and really not responding to any of my questions doesn't make your point any stronger.

Again, I fail to see how an undisclosed password between pilots and the FAA is "designed once again to blow smoke up the collective rear of the public", as it's not supposed to be public knowledge.

You can bring up the other rules regarding DCA, but that's not the point of this post. I am only talking about the password.

The DCA restrictions reflected a serious absence of adult-level thinking in October, 2001, and they remain unbelievably stupid today.

The no-pee rule for 30 minutes after takeoff from DCA or for the last 30 minutes before landing at DCA? What kind of nonsense is this? Sounds like my kids' elementary school principal may have been consulted.

The "extra-special-secure" gates at airports where DCA-bound flights originate? Did a middle-school class think this one up?

The super-top-secret password? This is just silly.

I agree with Spiff. The ...-clowns responsible should be deported.

To repeat what I've already said: Unless you know exactly how this procedure works, I think it's a bit presumptuous to deem it 'silly'. We know Spiff doesn't... but do you have any further knowledge of this procedure save what has been posted in this thread? For all we know the password changes by the hour, the minute, the flight, the number of clouds in the sky... we have no idea. Oh, that's right, the FAA has a website which is updated on the hour... www.dcapassword.gov. It makes sense for them to publicize this procedure.


Wow. Such mature language really makes your point even stronger and more valid. Funny how we permit calling people not participating on FT names but it's a no-no to refer to other posters as such. If you cannot make your point without resorting to name-calling it speaks volumes of your argument.

Thank heavens our politicians up on Capitol Hill don't usually resort to such puerile language. Just because in your opinion most of the rules related to DCA are 'silly' doesn't make them all silly, especially the ones of which you have no knowledge. The only thing that's silly here are the hissy fits of some posters over rules of which they know nothing.

Tismfu,

Your responses were dead on. I didn't see any logical reasons why the procedure should be labeled as "stupid" when it is fairly obvious the few individuals making such claim have no clue how the process works. They don't know how often the password is changed, how it's communicated to the pilots, whether or not each aircraft is given a separate password, when it must be relayed to the control tower, etc. Unless you have that information (and more) then it's premature to comment or dismiss such a process.

No matter what the government does, there are people who will complain. And if the government does nothing, people will complain. You can't please everyone, especially not those who make it their life mission to play devil's advocate. While everyone is in agreement that terrorism can't always be prevented, there are simple things that can be done to make it much more difficult (but not necessarily impossible) for terrorist to accomplish their mission. I don't see how a password requirement to land at the airport of our nation's capital is such a stupid idea? What's stupid is the pilot screwing it up (but we are all human so I wouldn't take it out on him/her either).