Randy, a commercial pilot in Massachusetts, writes: What’s up with these morons who keep busting Presidential TFRs? It seems like I read about this happening way too often. And then it always gets played up in the general media and it makes the rest of us pilots look bad!
I couldn’t find any stats on the frequency of violations of Presidential airspace, but you are correct that they seem to be a waaaaaaay more common occurrence than you’d expect.
But is it correct to say that anyone who busts Presidential airspace is a moron?
At first blush, you might think so, as surely no one but a complete moron would buzz the White House in a light GA airplane. Right?
But — for my non-pilot and student pilot readers — here’s the deal: When it comes to the secure airspace that surrounds it, the White House might as well be an Airstream travel trailer. Right. The president takes his airspace with him on the road, in the form of a highly restrictive Temporary Flight Restriction, the TFR Randy was talking about.
I think it’s the mobility of this airspace that’s a big part of the issue. Pilots, being people, are creatures of habit. We adjust to our airspace existing under a given set of rules, and out of habit — even though we “know” otherwise — expect it to always be the same.
On top of that, as the name suggests, these “no-fly zones” are transient in nature, not there one day, suddenly in effect, then gone the next. Airspace that’s normally free and open to all is suddenly restricted.
So those linked factors — transience and mobility — are one part of the problem.
The size of a Presidential TFR is another big part of the problem. Literally. You’ll often see in training materials that the president’s TFR usually has an outer ring of 30 nautical miles and an inner core of 10 miles.
But here’s the thing: Those are the measurements of the radii. The diameter of the outer ring is a whopping 60 nautical miles, which takes a HUGE bite out of the local airspace. For comparison, the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs was only 5-1/4 nautical miles across.
Just sayin’…
In fact, Presidential TFRs are so large, it would take a typical training airplane almost three-quarters of an hour to fly all the way through one. During which time, of course, it would be intercepted by fighter jets. Fully armed and ready for action fighter jets, which begs the question: How can a pilot miss something so big?
Converting those measurements to statute miles, a Presidential TFR covers 3,253 square miles. That’s bigger than the states of Rhode Island and Delaware combined, which between them have 33 airports. And a Presidential TFR takes a goodly chunk out of larger states, as well.
And that, actually, is the problem. The Presidential TFRs are just too big. They reach out so far and away from the action that they intrude into a lot of people’s aeronautical backyards.
So let’s think about what’s going on in those backyards.
Let’s face it: a whole lot of GA flying is pancake patrol and the like. Happy weekend warriors getting in a little air time for their souls. People taking off from a sleepy little local airport and flying to another sleepy little airport nearby, with no particular plan or pre-planning, ignorant of the fact that the President of the United States is paying a visit to a factory in the big city over the horizon.
Which is not an excuse for violating a TFR. Just an explanation for it.
There’s a difference.
Now, for my pilot readers who don’t want to get an up close and personal look at one of those wicked-cool armed fighter jets, there are a couple of good ways to stay alert to TFRs that, frankly, don’t take a lot of effort, and are fully compatible with the dubious process for flying without plan or pre-planning.
The first is to be a member of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA), which you should be anyway. Being a pilot and not belonging to AOPA is like being a retired person and not belonging to AARP.
Aside from supporting the organization that keeps your right to fly alive, another benefit of belonging to AOPA is that it is great about sending out email notifications of upcoming Presidential TFRs (technically called VIP TFRs) in your aeronautical neighborhood.
I actually don’t know how big an area AOPA uses, but I get notifications of upcoming TFRs that more than cover my pancakesque missions.
Another way to protect yourself is by using some sort of EFB app. Even if you don’t use one to navigate when you fly cross country, you should have one open and active when you fly, even for the simplest, shortest flights, and be sure to have the TFR layer turned on. This will alert you to all TFRs, not just the Presidential variety.
This feature has saved my bacon more than once when TFRs — as they do — popped up along my route of flight.
And, as a last ditch protection, it never hurts to monitor 121.5 in flight, which we’re supposed to do, anyway.
That’s because if — despite your best due diligence or potentially moronic lack thereof — you somehow violate a Presidential TFR this is the frequency those intercepting jets will try to contact you on.
I’m often amazed at how hard it is for the authorities to contact the pilots of airplanes that stumble into the President’s traveling airspace. That’s probably more unforgivable than the transgression itself. Lucky for those folks, the Air Force pilots don’t have itchy trigger fingers.
But is this really the province of morons? A moron is defined as someone with a lack of intelligence. I don’t think that’s the case here.
We’re not really dealing with a lack of intelligence in these cases, more a lack of proper focus. A lack of paying proper attention. Of being ignorant of the fact a TFR is in effect, possibly due its transient and random nature, combined with its sheer size bringing local impact to bear from distant events.
All of which doesn’t make a pilot a moron, so much as an ignoramus. Not that that’s an excuse.
But it’s your explanation.
Tfrs let anybody in the world, that is the least bit of knowledge about aviation know where they can intercept the president in flight or at landing locations. That is the most stupid useless eyewash ever, thought they were supposed to be protecting him not painting a bullseye, anybody with a brain can see that. Also no small plane was used to target casualties, it was an airliner because they want to inflict max damage. This has been going on for plus twenty years enough is enough.
I keep my AOPA Protection services paid up.
Busting a TFR is like landing gear up.
There are two kinds of pilots.
Those that have and those that will.
The TFR has long outlived the artificial usefulness that it never had to begin with.
I suppose we still have one over the MOUSE in FL.
Haven’t looked in a while.
Gov’t never gives up it the authority to harass its citizens once it gets it.
TFRs will go away when Hell freezes over.
Flying in central New Jersey, we have been besieged with Presidential TFRs since 2016. First Bedminster, NJ in the summer time, and now Wilmington, DE, Rehobeth Beach DE, and occasionally Philadelphia. (I have never forgotten the day when all three locations had TFRs up.) All of these serve to limit local airspace or shut down operations at our airport completely. I expect the TFRs to increase everywhere as elections approach in 2024. I have legally flown through an active TFR and its a process. As the article points out, the area and times shift. Now, I never leave the ground without an online preflight briefing.
Presidential TFRs are way too big and an unnecessary leftover from 9/11. But unfortunately “for security reasons” has become a universal excuse for all kinds of inexcusable rules, regulations and policies.
While our Southern border is wide open for all kinds of bad, America-hating actors to come in and do whatever they please (the Biden-bunch even gives them taxpayers’ money to do it with), ordinary Americans doing ordinary, everyday activities are turned into criminals in the name of “security reasons”. As an example, pilots living out here in the middle of nowhere are grounded while Biden hobnobs for a week with his billionaire-friends living two mountain ranges away. And Heaven help them if they don’t get a detailed weather briefing and miss the TFR before they do a 20-minute flight in 200-mile visibility.
But it isn’t just that. There are just waaay too many TFRs. Disney’s over-priced theme parks get their own permanent TFRs. Whenever there is a college football game there is a TFR. Whenever there is a wildfire somewhere there is a TFR – which often stays in place long after the last smell of smoke has disappeared.
But you’d better not question it – it is for security reasons! The whole security theater is simply out of control and we can only hope that the next President will do something about it.
TFRs need to go away. They have no purpose other than provide a means for government to harass citizens,
I’m retired and NOT a members of AARP. (A very liberal political organization)
Does that mean I should CANCEL my AOPA membership?
William, You brought it up in the article, not me.
Thank you, came here to say the same thing. Will never belong to AARP, as I don’t support its goals or methods.
Does anyone have a photo of the Coast Guard helicopters that have the digital signs on the fuselage that read out: “You have been Intercepted” – A friend in a Piper Cub was intercepted recently and this was the first I had heard of the helo sign. I’m told that everyone was courteous but the interrogations were very tedious and repetitive lasting over 5 hours.
Situational awareness. If you live around the White House and associated conglomeration, or just passing through, you know it’s a highly mobile area.
Travel warranting TFRs is generally well publicized on the 6:00 o’clock news, besides NOTAMs.
A featureless 20 mile square of restricted airspace in the desert 60 miles from Fallon is a hell of a lot harder to find. But even my obsolete unsupported1995 Garmin 195 shows that!…lol
TFRs article. Interesting story, but a few things are sorely lacking.
1. Why didn’t you put in the source for getting TFRs directly from FAA? I will leave it to you to follow up with that source.
2. So what should you do if you do break a TFR? File the NASA report ASAP. The procedure is simple, and this will help in the event of any future action by FAA or the Secret Service. Explain this procedure in a follow up story.
3. File your FAA Compliance report. Along with the NASA Report, better safe than sorry.
4. You can’t, and shouldn’t rely solely on the AOPA notification. I just broke a TFR for Rehoboth, Delaware, and it happened on the same weekend that there was a TFR for the President in nearby Dover, Delaware. The President has a home in Rehoboth, DE, and I can’t tell you how many times Rehoboth has had a TFR in the past 2 1/2 year.
I was shocked at the number of comments I received after I personally broke a TFR. And the key comment I got was, “Join the Club!”.
Thanks, and hope you do a follow up story.
Happy Holiday Season to all.
John Chirtea, AOPA 1978031
Although I respect most of Mr. Dubois articles, this one disappoints me a little. Although quite a bit of what is said in the article is true, I find the language a bit harsh.
I think it is true that most TFR busting events are a result of pilots not doing its homework and knowing they were there in the first place. But there is a flip side of this coin too:
I have lived and flown in Florida for almost 40 years. If you live here, particularly near large cities, you will have experience the joy of VIP TFR popping up all over the place on almost a daily basis during election year. Not to say the disaster that Trump’s beach address presented to the GA industry around Palm Beach when he was president. Not expecting anything else since it is what it is but what I am getting too is that I have seen some of these TFR pop up unannounced, even not shown in the FAA TFR web site and at times there was no way for you to know they were there. And since Florida is narrow and riddled with No-No airspaces many many pilots would bust the TFRs even though they did their due diligence.
Many years ago, I saw an instance in Miami were we had a VIP TFR and people had to patiently wait before taking off from our popular towered airport until it was turned off. When the time came that it was over, people called Flight Service to ensure it was confirmed off (these were the days the internet was not as wide spread as today). With TFR over confirmed people got clearance from tower to take off. Sadly, someone change his/her mind and decided to turn on the TFR again. So a good number of pilots were in the air when it was turned on and many were just cleared by tower to take off right into an active TFR. I knew 32 pilots that lost their license for a few months during that event. These are the ones I knew, I imagine there were a lot more. I was told that even the FAA employees were embarrassed when telling people their license was being suspended as they found it to be unfair but could do nothing about it (busting a VIP TFR is an automatic suspension, or was back then).
Who I questioned why were they busted if the FSS told them it was over and tower cleared them to take off right into it the answer from the FAA was that, yup, they can do that and it is your responsibility to not be there period.
Yes, this was a long time ago, and I have since been told that towered airports will now indicate in their ATIS that a TFR is nearby but form a legal standpoint they make it clear they are really not responsible for letting you know. And if you think this is a thing of past, I have seen many TFR here in FL pop up unannounced and story of pilots being in the air, even talking to ATC (not IFR), that are not told about them (happened to me once but luckily I did not get int it, just flew near it).
So to me calling pilots that bust TFRs names that question their intelligence or diligence is a little unfair. Granted that if you bust the Washington TFR for no good reason you deserve to get in trouble but there is nothing “Temporary” about that one (why not just call it “Prohibited” area?).
And if you think checking your popular EFB is your way out of trouble, good luck.
Happy 2024!