The North American air defense identification zone (ADIZ) is an area around the territories of the United States and Canada comprising airspace over land or water in which the ready identification, location, and control of civil aircraft is required in the interest of national security. This ADIZ is jointly administered by the civilian air traffic control authorities and the militaries of both nations, under the auspices of the North American Aerospace Defense Command or NORAD. The FAA handles the requests of international aircraft and Transport Canada handles Canadian requests. Any aircraft flying in these zones without authorization may be identified as a threat and treated as an enemy aircraft, potentially leading to interception by fighter aircraft.
An aircraft entering an ADIZ is required to radio its planned course, destination, and any additional details about its trip through the ADIZ to a higher authority, typically an air traffic controller. The aircraft must also be equipped with a radar transponder.
Read more about Air Defense Identification Zone: History, United States, Canada, Guam, Washington D.C.
Famous quotes containing the words air, defense and/or zone:
“What is lawful is not binding only on some and not binding on others. Lawfulness extends everywhere, through the wide-ruling air and the boundless light of the sky.”
—Empedocles 484–424 B.C., Greek philosopher. The Presocratics, p. 142, ed. Philip Wheelwright, The Bobbs-Merrill Co., Inc. (1960)
“For there is no defense for a man who, in the excess of his wealth, has kicked the great altar of Justice out of sight.”
—Aeschylus (525–456 B.C.)
“In the zone of perdition where my youth went as if to complete its education, one would have said that the portents of an imminent collapse of the whole edifice of civilization had made an appointment.”
—Guy Debord (b. 1931)