The now-illegal view of runway 33, the former GA runway now in the Washington “freeze.”

by Paul Bertorelli

Just because you’re paranoid, goes the tired old joke, doesn’t mean nobody’s out to get you. And from our recent navigation through the nation’s airspace – including the regulatory redoubt around Washington, D.C. – we’re becoming ever more convinced that they are out to get us. “They” in this case is the FAA, the TSA, the Air Force and various other branches of government.

Not that anyone has planned it this way, mind you. There’s no conspiracy. No one really wants it this way. It’s just typical bureaucratic bungling, lack of training and bouts of incompetence that has given us a system fraught with stumbles for even the well-prepared…