Does Obama have a personal no-fly zone

Factual Questions
1

I asked a question here in 2003 regarding how then-President Bush seemed to have a personal no-fly zone wherever he went when he was president. My question at the time was in relation to a fundraiser he’d attended in Seattle and how an airplane had violated that no-fly zone, and my surprise that the President’s presence somewhere seemed to create a virtual a no-fly zone, and really how that worked. I’m still unclear when and if Bush had that magic zone around around him at that time. I still don’t know the particulars.

So: does Obama have a no-fly zone that travels with him when he’s not in the White House? How did this work when Bush was president? How does it work now?

2

From here.

3

George W. Bush still has one around his house in Dallas, although it’s not as big.

You can see the no-fly zones for presidential events here. There aren’t any that look like they’re for Obama right now (although there is a 45 minute one on Sunday that I assume is for Biden since it’s in Delaware; he also has a small one around his house if you scroll down to the bottom), but last year there were a lot because the president was outside of DC campaigning so much.

4

If a president (Obama now, but whatever current president) shows up at my doorstep to say Hi! – am I (and he) in a no-fly zone?

5

private pilots have to get a special certification to fly in the area near central DC. That’s new since 9/11.

6

The link higher up takes you to FAA NOTAMs. The FAA can publish a NOTAM about an area that is off limit to the flying public for a variety of reasons> Notice a lot of those are around military bases; if they are doing flight tests, drills, parachute jumps, etc. they don’t want the risk of running into a passing Cessna. They may also want people with cameras not to fly over certain sites.

I recall during major flooding many years ago the Canadian DOT posted NOTAMs to prevent too many sightseeing aircraft flying low over the area where helicopters may be doing search and rescue, for example.

Permanent no-fly zones also exist, but they can be marked on flight maps.

It’s no surprise that the SS asks the FAA to ban overflights when the POTUS or VP are at a publicly announced open location. What did you expect? And it is a pilot’s obligation to be aware of all published NOTAMs for his flight area.

At the bottom of the page, find this:

Truly weird coincidence on date.

Technically, according to Wikipedia, it was 1:49AM on the 12th.

7

[URL=“Photobucket | Make your memories fun!”]

8

:smiley:

9

Temporary flight restrictions (i.e. Obama’s no-fly zone) are announced in advance, though I’m not a pilot so I have no idea exactly how far in advance they are issued.

Here’s air traffic control audio of what happens when a Cessna pilot accidentally flies into Obama’s TFR.