About FAA!?

Question

What does "fair game for interception "mean???

Here goes the sentence: Any blip that fails to provide information has not registered a flight pan with the FAA and may be fair game for interception.

Answer 1

The text you are referring to is more than 20 years old, right? (Jun 1987).

It is some reporters language and not standard FAA wordings. So I guess it just implies that an unidentified contact may be intercepted by US military aircrafts on the assumption that it is tresspassing.

Answer 2

"Fair Game," is an idiom used in the US, meaning something that is okay to deal with, or shoot or whatever.  I think it comes from hunting, as animals are often called game by hunters, and fair means it's legal and ethical to hunt that animal.  Fair game in this context means it would be reasonable to intercept the aircraft and see if it's a friend or foe.  

Hope that helps you.

Answer 3

I am assuming you are from the U.S. - so here it goes.

Federal Aviation Administration: the division of the Department of Transportation that inspects and rates civilian aircraft and pilots, enforces the rules of air safety, and installs and maintains air-navigation and traffic-control facilities.

Answer 4

While not all aircraft in all airspace are required to have a transponder, when flying though certain class airspace and specifically an ADIZ (Air Defence Identifiation Zone) like the one around Washington, DC, you need to have a transponder on with a unique code.  Basically, ATC will assign it to you and provides ATC with your aircraft type, route of flt, altitude, etc...  If you are not "squawking" this identifier, your radar returns up on the ATC screen, but there is no associated data with it but speed.  As a result, the military may launch jets or helecopters to fly close to your aircraft to identify altitude, aircraft type and any potentially hostile intentions.

Answer 5

More of the article is needed to determine the complete context of what the author means. If it's some newspaper article regarding aviation, then all bets are off. What the reporter thinks he 's saying and what the truth is, are two different things entirely.