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Chopper ban
may not fly
By LOU HATTER
Rappahannock News Staff Writer
Washington’s Planning Commission has recommended a proposed ordinance to regulate helicopter overflights of the town to the Town Council for passage.
The ordinance would prohibit any overflights at altitudes lower than 300 feet, or landings by helicopters within the town limits. Exceptions are made for medical evacuation, law enforcement, utility line inspections and emergency landings.
Any violators would be subject to fines of $1,000, and a jail term of up to 30 days, for each incident. Any landowner who permits overflights or landings in violation of the ordinance would be subject to a fine of between $100 and $300, and a jail term of up to 30 days.
The ordinance also provides that the helicopter may be impounded by the Sheriffs Department until a collateral bond to ensure the violator’s appearance in court is posted!
The ordinance, which was first proposed severalyears ago but not adopted, resurfaced after several recent helicopter landings on the vacant field behind the Washington Post Office by customers arriving for dinner at The Inn at Little Washington.
But the ordinance may fly in the face of federal regulations governing air traffic, according to Fred Farrar, a spokesman at the Federal Aviation Administration in Washington, D.C. Told of the proposed restrictions, Mr. Farrar replied, “I’m not a lawyer, but I would doubt that a town has the power to do that. The federal government has pre-eminence in that.”
There are minimum altitude restrictions for fixedwing aircraft, Mr. Farrar explained, which require an alSee
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