Who merits a VIP TFR?

G-Man

G-Man

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Just enjoyed a cool tour of the Denver ARTCC this afternoon.
An unanswered question came up: Who merits a VIP TFR?

The host controller said "Only people who get their own call sign."

I think that means the President and Vice-President - Air Force One and Air Force Two (or other branches of the military). Who else?
Does the Secretary of State get a TFR? Other Cabinet members?

(I'm curious about this as a function of government - let's please skip any politically-oriented remarks.)
 
G-Man said:
Just enjoyed a cool tour of the Denver ARTCC this afternoon.
An unanswered question came up: Who merits a VIP TFR?

The host controller said "Only people who get their own call sign."

I think that means the President and Vice-President - Air Force One and Air Force Two (or other branches of the military). Who else?
Does the Secretary of State get a TFR? Other Cabinet members?

(I'm curious about this as a function of government - let's please skip any politically-oriented remarks.)
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Any current Democrat....:yes:...........................:D
 
G-Man said:
I think that means the President and Vice-President - Air Force One and Air Force Two (or other branches of the military).
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Correct.
Who else?
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Visiting heads of state or equivalent, and major party Presidential nominees. Prior to the nominating convention, Presidential candidates may if Secret Services feels there is enough of a threat to that particular candidate.
Does the Secretary of State get a TFR?
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No.
Other Cabinet members?
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No.
 
Thanks for your helpful response, Cap'n Ron.
 
The pope got one.

Hey, George Washington has been dead for 200 years and there's still a p-area over his house :)
 
G-Man said:
Just enjoyed a cool tour of the Denver ARTCC this afternoon.
An unanswered question came up: Who merits a VIP TFR?

The host controller said "Only people who get their own call sign."

I think that means the President and Vice-President - Air Force One and Air Force Two (or other branches of the military). Who else?
Does the Secretary of State get a TFR? Other Cabinet members?

(I'm curious about this as a function of government - let's please skip any politically-oriented remarks.)
Click to expand...

Nobody merits a VIP TFR. Your question would be better asked as, "Who gets a VIP TFR?"
 
I forgot the ex-Presidents, who get one even smaller than the current Vice President (1500-1 vs 3000-3, as the permanent 1500-1 over VP Biden's house in Delaware expands to 3000-3 when he's there). And just to clarify "foreign head of state or equivalent," that means both the Prime Minister and Queen of Great Britain get one when visiting here. Not sure how that works with the Prime Minister and President of Israel (the President being essentially a figurehead position there while the PM is the real power position), but guessing it would be the same.
 
Ron Levy said:
Not sure how that works with the Prime Minister and President of Israel (the President being essentially a figurehead position there while the PM is the real power position), but guessing it would be the same.
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"Essentially a figurehead position" sounds a lot like the Queen (who is not just the Queen of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, but also of Canada, Australia, New Zealand--and let's not forget Tuvalu).
 
Ron Levy said:
I forgot the ex-Presidents, who get one even smaller than the current Vice President (1500-1 vs 3000-3, as the permanent 1500-1 over VP Biden's house in Delaware expands to 3000-3 when he's there). ...
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There is still a small P-49 over President Bush's Crawford home. When Mr Bush was in office the P-49 there was huge, and strictly enforced by F-16s and Apaches. It was fun to listen to 121.5 when the Crawford TFR was active!
 
I saw the VIP TFR surrounding Santa Barbara earlier today and I was going to post this! You beat me to it :lol:

Does anybody know who's visiting KSBA?
 
Everskyward said:
I remember the pope getting one, for multiple days. That was way back before 9/11 in the late 1980s or early 1990s.
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Yep, I was bopping along with a class B clearance up through Balitmore and tower says they have to vector me for a TFR downtown. I remembered who was in town and responded "080 Vectors for the Pope."
 
Here's part of a 1969 Los Angeles Sectional, showing the prohibited area over President Nixon's Western White House. P-25 only went up to 4,000' MSL, and the adjacent R-2533 topped out at 2,000'. Those were the days.

(Not for use in navigation. :D )

P-25.jpg
 
Ron Levy said:
I forgot the ex-Presidents, who get one even smaller than the current Vice President (1500-1 vs 3000-3, as the permanent 1500-1 over VP Biden's house in Delaware expands to 3000-3 when he's there). And just to clarify "foreign head of state or equivalent," that means both the Prime Minister and Queen of Great Britain get one when visiting here. Not sure how that works with the Prime Minister and President of Israel (the President being essentially a figurehead position there while the PM is the real power position), but guessing it would be the same.
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Do these folks even get a TFR when they are home in their own countries? I thought the US was the only "TFR crazy" govt...
 
Look over Dallas, TX - just to the NE of Love Field and you'll see the TFR for Bush 43's house.
 
dans2992 said:
Do these folks even get a TFR when they are home in their own countries? I thought the US was the only "TFR crazy" govt...
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Certainly the UK Royal Family used to have "purple airspace" protecting wherever they were, and "purple airways" protected while they were airborne. A summary is here (from a random google search). Looks like they don't do it anymore, mostly to prevent publicising their movements...
 
mcmanigle said:
Certainly the UK Royal Family used to have "purple airspace" protecting wherever they were, and "purple airways" protected while they were airborne. A summary is here (from a random google search). Looks like they don't do it anymore, mostly to prevent publicising their movements...
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I'm a Brit and indifferent to our Royal Family....can take em or leave em....
However a few months ago I was stood on a railway station platform about to board a train back home, and suddenly a bit of a commotion on the platform and I see some security guys walking with our Queen, she boarded the same train I was getting on, the only concession she was given or her "people" had insisted on was the carriage she occupied was free of any other passengers. But yep she travelled with us commoners all the same.
 
Ron, help me, I may have created a false memory. When we were flying out of Upper Heyford I do seem to remember something about 'purple airspace' that would be declared when the Royals were flying or milling about on the ground somewhere. IIRC these were sort of like TFRs, but much smaller, maybe 3nm circles.

I also have this memory of the Royals using the callsign 'Kittyhawk' when they were flying.
 
Xscaliber said:
I'm a Brit and indifferent to our Royal Family....can take em or leave em....
...
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Doesn't your PM usually travel on British Airways when he visits the U.S.A?

As far as I know, there is no "British One" airplane.
 
JimNtexas said:
Doesn't your PM usually travel on British Airways when he visits the U.S.A?

As far as I know, there is no "British One" airplane.
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Yes our PM does fly on a schedule British Airways service.....although he would like it if he could have a "British One" aircraft at his disposal.... But hopefully that is something that all of us UK tax payers will manage to resist ever happening.

Our Government wastes enough of tax payers money without the extravagance of having a personal aircraft at their disposal for their jollies around the world !
 
JimNtexas said:
Ron, help me, I may have created a false memory. When we were flying out of Upper Heyford I do seem to remember something about 'purple airspace' that would be declared when the Royals were flying or milling about on the ground somewhere. IIRC these were sort of like TFRs, but much smaller, maybe 3nm circles.

I also have this memory of the Royals using the callsign 'Kittyhawk' when they were flying.
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Correct on all counts. Purple airways for their route, purple airspace around the airport where they took off or landed. Nobody else allowed in the corridor or circle. Dunno if it's still that way.
 
Xscaliber said:
Yes our PM does fly on a schedule British Airways service.....although he would like it if he could have a "British One" aircraft at his disposal.... But hopefully that is something that all of us UK tax payers will manage to resist ever happening.

Our Government wastes enough of tax payers money without the extravagance of having a personal aircraft at their disposal for their jollies around the world !
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I wish we had more leaders with that less-developed sense of self importance. Or maybe we just need to stop indulging them. Even out cabinet secretaries don't fly commercial.
 
mcmanigle said:
Certainly the UK Royal Family used to have "purple airspace" protecting wherever they were, and "purple airways" protected while they were airborne. A summary is here (from a random google search). Looks like they don't do it anymore, mostly to prevent publicising their movements...
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They have been dealing with terrorism for a lot longer than the US and figured out at some point that telling the bad guys in advance where your high-value targets are located is a bad idea. We advertise the location of the target with concentric rings that appear 3 days before the event :sigh: .
 
Lindberg said:
I wish we had more leaders with that less-developed sense of self importance. Or maybe we just need to stop indulging them. Even out cabinet secretaries don't fly commercial.
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Keep in mind, you are comparing the current US career politicos to a place that considers putting the line-of-succession "into harm's way" to be an excellent character-building exercise.
 
warthog1984 said:
Keep in mind, you are comparing the current US career politicos to a place that considers putting the line-of-succession "into harm's way" to be an excellent character-building exercise.
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I'm all for mandatory "character building" for any politician who votes to send anyone to war who hasn't already served a combat tour of duty in a shooting area. Front lines, and they don't get to take their security detail with them.
 
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