I agree with both Flylo AND Avbug!!!
TFR's are not a joke - they are a specific regulation found in our set of aviation rules provided to protect people inside the "temporary" area. It is incumbent (obligatory) upon me to read the NOTAMS and stay out of this area.
HOWEVER, the new TSA/HSA/FAA cooperative have created semi-permanent TFR's and are abusing the regulation in the name of "security". This cheapens or diminishes the effect of the TFR. There are now so many TFR's that it has numbed us to the fact that an important TFR exists. Last summer, the FAA ignored a ton of forest fire TFR violations over the Shenandoah because there were so many people violating the Camp David and Wash DC security TFR's. This is the equivalent of GM creating "daytime running lights" on their cars. Have you seen a fire truck lately? Yep, there are literally hundreds of lights flashing and blinking - why? - because people became so accustomed to lights on the highway that they simply don't "notice" the fire trucks coming at them.
So both authors are right. A TFR does nothing in the way of National Security. A bad guy will not follow the letter of the law and will find a way to deliver his terrorist message. A TFR is very important to firefighters, medical rescuers and the police on very limited and specific missions that require the TFR rule to be active. The President has his own TFR rule 91.141, but 91.137 is a very important rule.
I have to fly in and around the Washington ADIZ and near the sides of both the Washington TFR and the ever changing Camp David TFR around the already steadfast Prohibited Area (P-40)!!
As to the terrorists and the fear of terrorism and the mayhem it produces. Well let's see. An idiot steals a Bonanza, packs it full of explosives, flys to downtown DC and maybe takes out a building the size of a McDonald's Restaurant. The police and media go into a panic - how can this happen, etc, etc. People fear little planes and shut us down for a period of time. Or, we let the Secret Service and Homeland Security put all these administrative rules in that prevent people from using their airplanes. In the Washington DC area, nobody flys any more. My plane sits for days and days. Why? Too much hassle to go flying. Where I'm situated I can basically fly east and west but my North and South corridors are shut down by TFR's, ADIZ, Restricted Areas (that are now always hot). So I'm not flying. So did good people living in a "free" society win or did the terrorists? Right now, the terrorists have the advantage and my airplane has been devalued.
So flylo, you are right all these new "security" TFR's are a joke. We need to rescind them so that avbug can be safe fighting fires! Peace.
TFR's are not a joke - they are a specific regulation found in our set of aviation rules provided to protect people inside the "temporary" area. It is incumbent (obligatory) upon me to read the NOTAMS and stay out of this area.
HOWEVER, the new TSA/HSA/FAA cooperative have created semi-permanent TFR's and are abusing the regulation in the name of "security". This cheapens or diminishes the effect of the TFR. There are now so many TFR's that it has numbed us to the fact that an important TFR exists. Last summer, the FAA ignored a ton of forest fire TFR violations over the Shenandoah because there were so many people violating the Camp David and Wash DC security TFR's. This is the equivalent of GM creating "daytime running lights" on their cars. Have you seen a fire truck lately? Yep, there are literally hundreds of lights flashing and blinking - why? - because people became so accustomed to lights on the highway that they simply don't "notice" the fire trucks coming at them.
So both authors are right. A TFR does nothing in the way of National Security. A bad guy will not follow the letter of the law and will find a way to deliver his terrorist message. A TFR is very important to firefighters, medical rescuers and the police on very limited and specific missions that require the TFR rule to be active. The President has his own TFR rule 91.141, but 91.137 is a very important rule.
I have to fly in and around the Washington ADIZ and near the sides of both the Washington TFR and the ever changing Camp David TFR around the already steadfast Prohibited Area (P-40)!!
As to the terrorists and the fear of terrorism and the mayhem it produces. Well let's see. An idiot steals a Bonanza, packs it full of explosives, flys to downtown DC and maybe takes out a building the size of a McDonald's Restaurant. The police and media go into a panic - how can this happen, etc, etc. People fear little planes and shut us down for a period of time. Or, we let the Secret Service and Homeland Security put all these administrative rules in that prevent people from using their airplanes. In the Washington DC area, nobody flys any more. My plane sits for days and days. Why? Too much hassle to go flying. Where I'm situated I can basically fly east and west but my North and South corridors are shut down by TFR's, ADIZ, Restricted Areas (that are now always hot). So I'm not flying. So did good people living in a "free" society win or did the terrorists? Right now, the terrorists have the advantage and my airplane has been devalued.
So flylo, you are right all these new "security" TFR's are a joke. We need to rescind them so that avbug can be safe fighting fires! Peace.
