As a private pilot, I've been trying to follow the government's decisions on when and where light planes can fly since the terrorist attacks. We were grounded nationwide for a week following the attack. They then opened up the skies for VFR (visual flight rules) flying except in Class B airspace so long as no flight training was taking place.

Class B airspace is around the nation's busiest airports. Under normal conditions, it looks like an upside down wedding cake with the smallest tier going from the surface up to about 8,000 feet for about 10 miles around the airport. The next tier may go from 4,000 feet to 8,000 feet from 10 to 20 miles from the airport, meaning you can fly under the airspace. The third tier typically runs from 20-30 miles from the airport and may cover from 6,000 to 8,000 feet high. However, since Sept 11th, Class B airspace has been redefined to "Extended Class B" airspace, reaching from the surface up to 18,000 feet and extending the full 30 miles distance from the airport. Here's a diagram to illustrate what I'm talking about.

This presents some real problems. There are a lot of airports located within 30 miles of a major airport. Under the current rules, certified VFR pilots are still not allowed to fly in Class B airspace. However, they've lifted the restrictions on flight training so supervised student pilots can fly there, even solo. Let me see if I understand this - a student pilot can fly in the busiest airspace around the country but licensed pilots can't? Huh?

This isn't a trivial issue for pilots. There are currently 41,000 planes around the country that are trapped on airports that are now within the Extended Class B airspace and are not allowed to fly. I'd love to hear their reasoning for this one.

Here's the text to the Notice to Airmen (NOTAM). See if you can figure it out.

From , "Aircraft Owners and Pilots' Association Website"

FAA revises consolidated notam
But VFR flight by certificated pilots not permitted in enhanced Class B

Update: 9/29/01 10:10 AM, ET — The FAA has revised the consolidated notam that clarified a number of previous notams governing operations in the nation's airspace. Pilots should read the actual notam carefully, but in summary, virtually all operations are now permitted outside of enhanced Class B airspace [see graphic] and temporary flight restriction (TFR) areas. The revised notam is broken into three parts; VFR operations, IFR operations, and cross-border operations. The only significant change from the notam issued yesterday is to restore IFR Part 91 operations in the Boston enhanced Class B airspace.

The following operations are permitted outside of enhanced Class B airspace:

IFR/VFR operations (except for specific exclusions listed in the notam)
VFR flight training in non-turbojet aircraft of 12,500 lbs or less
VFR banner towing, airship, balloons, traffic watch, news reporting
VFR pipeline/powerline operations only permitted with assigned beacon code
Operations permitted inside enhanced Class B airspace:

IFR operations (except for the Washington, New York TFRs and Hawaii enhanced Class B).
VFR flight training in piston single- and multi-engine non-turbojet aircraft with a gross weight of 6,000 pounds or less (except for the Washington and New York TFRs and Boston enhanced Class B).
Supervised student solo flight (except in the Washington and New York TFRs).
VFR flight by certificated pilots inside enhanced Class B airspace is still prohibited — you read that correctly.

Note from AOPA President Boyer: "This is absurd! What this means is a student can fly solo, VFR in Class B airspace, but his/her highly trained and licensed CFI cannot! With all due respect to the problems our country's leadership faces, we cannot ignore the lunacy of these decisions affecting some 120,000 licensed pilots. Will the FAA set up a procedure to downgrade their hard-earned licenses to student certificates so they can fly again? It is time we call on our elected officials in Congress to "Free the GA 41,000" aircraft trapped in enhanced Class B airspace following their weekend recess. (AOPA Online will provide full information on the telephone and e-mail campaign beginning Monday.)