Foreign airliners won't face extra restrictions on 9/11 By Daniel Reed, USA TODAY Bush administration officials on Thursday backed way from a proposal to ban foreign carriers from flying over huge swaths of territory around New York City, Washington and Somerset County, Pa., on Sept. 11. The idea came out of a multi-agency planning committee that is developing security plans for memorial services at the Sept. 11 crash sites, administration and FAA officials said. As originally proposed, the administration's plan would keep foreign airliners, and some private aircraft, more than 30 nautical miles from the three crash sites. That would prevent foreign carriers from taking off or landing at New York's John F. Kennedy International, Newark International and Washington's Dulles International airports, three of the busiest international gateway airports in the nation. That ban would have applied during peak international arrival and departure times on Sept. 11 and, in some cases, on Sept. 12. The idea was championed, administration officials said, by committee members from the Defense Department and intelligence agency representatives. Their concerns did not take into consideration U.S. obligations under international air service treaties or the delays, cancellations and other effects such a move could have on the overall air transportation system, the administration officials said. Representatives of several foreign airlines and the general aviation community learned of the proposal earlier this week and quickly began working to derail it. The result: An administration official said Thursday that "We do not anticipate that foreign carriers will face any restrictions that will be any different to what would be applied to domestic carriers, if there are any at all." Gordon Johndroe, a spokesman for the White House's Office of Homeland Security, said a final decision is likely today. He added that the government has "no information indicating any specific threat to any of the commemorative events planned this Sept. 11." Warren Morningstar, a spokesman for the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, said his group understands the need for restriction on small planes over the memorial sites, but it is seeking "a reasonable compromise that would include a smaller restricted area." The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site: Roj (Roger James) *************************************************** escape email mailto:ejames@escape.ca Trinbago site: http://www.tntisland.com CBC Website http://www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ The Trinbago Site of the Week: (MBH) http://maracasbay.com/ (Maracas Bay Hotel) courtesy of Roj Trinbago Website & TnT Web Directory Roj's Trinbago Website: http://www.tntisland.com TnT Web Directory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************