a VIP TFR experience

NoHeat

NoHeat

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Jul 27, 2009
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Iowa City, IA
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It's the season for VIP TFRs here in Iowa. We had one today, and it was the first one that I had to deal with on a flying day.

Some things worked really well, especially in providing info to pilots:
  • AOPA sent me an email a few days ago notifying me of the TFR
  • Skyvector showed the TFRs on their chart several days in advance, also.
  • I phoned WXBRIEF this morning two hours before the TFR began, and when I said I wanted an abbreviated briefing for a flight from Cedar Rapids the briefer departed from her usual script to mention the TFR first. Then she mentioned it again at the end of the briefing.
  • While airborne, my Garmin handheld with XM showed yellow circles where the TFR was going to be.

There was one thing, though, that I could have done without. On my return -- it was nearly an hour after AF1 was gone and the TFR ended - I was cleared by the tower for landing. Just after touching down, I heard the tower tell the Cessna behind me to go around, and my TCAS Skywatch immediately announced "Traffic - Traffic". I wondered if the Cessna had somehow caught up with me, so as I was slowing down on the runway I glanced over my shoulder and saw not a Cessna, but a helicopter following me from above, flying parallel to the runway. It was close - much closer to the runway and me than traffic should be while landing. It was a military or national guard helicopter. After it was done buzzing me, it circled the airport at low altitude, passing over runways the whole time I was still at the airport. I'm not sure what the chopper was guarding since AF1 was already gone, but it was definitely not much interested in aviation safety.
 
Secret Service keeps a helo in the air about 30 min to an hour after departure of AF1. And there are many other things flying around that you don't see.
 
Thanks, I did not know that.

I wonder why they don't issue a NOTAM for that. Not having any experience with this, I had thought that if the TFR ends at 2:30 PM, I should be able to enter that airspace around 3:00 and then land without any unusual hazard.
 
murphey said:
Secret Service keeps a helo in the air about 30 min to an hour after departure of AF1. And there are many other things flying around that you don't see.
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Why do they do this?
 
Last time Obummer was in town I only found out because of an alert from my employer.
 
The TFR ends when it ends. Then its over - there is no carryover effect.
 
You can't rely on Flight Circus. They moved up the DNC notice with just over an hour notice (1 hour 8 minutes to be exact). A pilot who called in seven minutes before the amendment (and 1:20 before he took off) got busted.
 
flyingron said:
You can't rely on Flight Circus. They moved up the DNC notice with just over an hour notice (1 hour 8 minutes to be exact). A pilot who called in seven minutes before the amendment (and 1:20 before he took off) got busted.
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That sucks......:yes:
 
flyingron said:
You can't rely on Flight Circus. They moved up the DNC notice with just over an hour notice (1 hour 8 minutes to be exact). A pilot who called in seven minutes before the amendment (and 1:20 before he took off) got busted.
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Any idea what the enforcement was on him? It seems to me like it would make sense to "bust" him to be a model for others, but it would also make sense for the FSDO to be a little understanding that yes, he DID become familiar with all the information pertaining to the flight. The powers that be just messed things up.
 
jpower said:
Any idea what the enforcement was on him? It seems to me like it would make sense to "bust" him to be a model for others, but it would also make sense for the FSDO to be a little understanding that yes, he DID become familiar with all the information pertaining to the flight. The powers that be just messed things up.
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The FAA once busted a guy over a NOTAM issued 8 minutes before he took off. Now that particular guy was already on that FSDO's "bad boy" list, and he really should have seen there were people working on the far end of the runway from which he took off, but that's precedent. And this guy FRon mentioned took off not 8, but 80 minutes after the NOTAM was issued. Further, that other case was pre-Internet, and today we have iPads and smart cell phones, which further reduce one's excuses. Finally, the USSS has imposed a zero-tolerance policy on violations of Presidential TFR's. Add it all up, and you can see that one had better be darn careful on this issue.
 
The best ever is the nearly no-notice Presidential TFR. Have had those a bunch of times in the last year at NTU, and it makes for fantastic times when your flight schedule goes to hell because of a ramp freeze.
 
35 AoA said:
The best ever is the nearly no-notice Presidential TFR. Have had those a bunch of times in the last year at NTU, and it makes for fantastic times when your flight schedule goes to hell because of a ramp freeze.
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So if you folks bust a TFR, who intercepts you? The Air Force? :rofl:
 
jpower said:
Any idea what the enforcement was on him? It seems to me like it would make sense to "bust" him to be a model for others, but it would also make sense for the FSDO to be a little understanding that yes, he DID become familiar with all the information pertaining to the flight. The powers that be just messed things up.
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Actually Homeland Security understood how he got caught up in this however the FAA is investigating now and he's really worried.
 
Ron Levy said:
So if you folks bust a TFR, who intercepts you? The Air Force? :rofl:
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I'm based out of Lee in Annapolis inside the sfra and we actually had the customs chopper nose to nose with a navy chopper here. It was amusing.
 
jtheune said:
I'm based out of Lee in Annapolis inside the sfra and we actually had the customs chopper nose to nose with a navy chopper here. It was amusing.
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Who won?

:D
 
Ron Levy said:
So if you folks bust a TFR, who intercepts you? The Air Force? :rofl:
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Yeah but we can just play off our lack of funding and say things like "sorry we dont have computers/phones to check TFR's....maybe if we had eleventy-billion flat screen TV's we would have known" :)
 
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