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06/25/2003 Archived Entry: "Interesting factoid from the WaPo letters column..."
Interesting factoid from the WaPo letters column...
How many people knew that The Imperial President upped the no-fly zone around Air Force One? Show of hands? No one? Well, this guy's a pilot, and he's pretty upset about it.
Until recently, the standard radius of a "presidential movement" temporary flight restriction (TFR) was 10 nautical miles. The Secret Service and the Defense Department have increased it to 30 nautical miles. Thus the number of square miles covered by each TFR has increased from 314 to 2,827.When the president went to Maine for Father's Day weekend, the TFR affected at least 450 aircraft based at more than a dozen airports that collectively have more than 200,000 operations a year. Affected airports included Pease International, just north of Boston, and Bangor International. The TFR basically cut off the coastal corridor to general aviation traffic.
More than 20 airports are within the TFR for the president's ranch in Texas. Many of these are private strips owned by neighbors of Mr. Bush who use light aircraft to manage their livestock. If a 30-nautical-mile TFR becomes common around Camp David, it will essentially shut down Frederick Municipal Airport, the second busiest in Maryland.
I guess the message here is that Bush not only thinks he owns the country, but the goddam sky above it as well.
Replies: 2 people speak up
The whole TFR thing has been annoying since President Coke Spoon took office. He's the only president to be so consistently a scaredy-cat of his fellow countryment since ... forever. I guess that the WH rationalizes "fear" with some kind of "security". He's a coward and the TFR's are just another manifestation of his cowardice.
Posted by Jo Fish @ 06/25/2003 10:50 AM NY
The corporate media squaking heads like Hannity, Rush, and Boortz (himself a General Aviation pilot) continue to waste public airtime with the story of President Bill Clinton holding up LA Airport for two hours to get a haircut on Air Force One. I heard this story on Boortz again just last month. Not surprisingly the GOP shills are all silent on Georgie Boy?s Chicken Little routine.
Posted by John Doppler @ 06/26/2003 08:26 AM NY
