It appears that NOAA, the FAA, and WSDOT Aviation have arrived at an agreement that will not impact arrivals and departures at Copalis ( S16 ).

The wildlife sanctuaries along the West Coast are strange birds ( pun intended ). They have airspace above them that is regulated by NOAA who can access fines for busting their airspace. I still don't see how this fits with the regulatory authority given to the FAA.

In any case here is the accommodation:

http://olympiccoast.noaa.gov/protect/wi ... light.html

The key phrase here is: To be in compliance, pilots traveling north from Copalis Airport and flying along the shoreline should ascend to 2,000' as soon as it is safe and practicable.


That is at the pilot's discretion. At some point we will need to turn inland, but depending on the ceiling it is up to us to determine where this point is. Be reasonable and NOAA will have no reason to complain or reopen the issue.

More info at: http://olympiccoast.noaa.gov/protect/wi ... light.html

Cheers,

Tom

There's been some talk on another site (pnf) about this. Not only has NOAA taken jurisdiction over airspace from the FAA, they have also apparently adopted a guilty-until-prove-innocent policy in that if reported for flying below 2,000', you must prove that 1) you didn't fly too low, and/or 2) that you didn't disturb the wildlife. How you prove a negative like that last one is beyond me, but then again I'm just a dumbass pilot.