# Does Obama have a personal no-fly zone **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 20, 2013, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-obama-have-a-personal-no-fly-zone/664011 "2013-07-20T04:43:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2013, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-obama-have-a-personal-no-fly-zone/664011/1 "2013-07-20T04:43:48Z")
I asked a [question](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=207492) 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? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2013, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-obama-have-a-personal-no-fly-zone/664011/2 "2013-07-20T04:55:54Z")
[From here.](http://www.ksby.com/news/local-plane-entered-no-fly-zone-during-president-s-visit/) > [@](#): > > Private aircraft are typically not allowed to fly within 10 miles of any plane or helicopter carrying the president. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2013, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-obama-have-a-personal-no-fly-zone/664011/3 "2013-07-20T05:15:52Z")
George W. Bush [still has one](http://tfr.faa.gov/save_pages/detail_9_2934.html) around his house in Dallas, although it’s not as big. You can see the no-fly zones for presidential events [here](http://tfr.faa.gov/). 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. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2013, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-obama-have-a-personal-no-fly-zone/664011/4 "2013-07-20T06:03:19Z")
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? ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2013, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-obama-have-a-personal-no-fly-zone/664011/5 "2013-07-20T11:30:44Z")
private pilots have to get a special certification to fly in the area near central DC. That’s new since 9/11. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2013, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-obama-have-a-personal-no-fly-zone/664011/6 "2013-07-20T14:11:52Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > private pilots have to get a special certification to fly in the area near central DC. That’s new since 9/11. 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. > **[Center for Cooperative Research](https://formspal.com/cooperativeresearch/)** > > Center for Cooperative Research Introduction Objectives Application History of this project What people are saying Introduction The Center for Cooperative Research seeks to encourage grassroots participation and collaboration in the documentation of... At the bottom of the page, find this: > [@](#): > > September 11, 1994: Suicidal Man Attempts to Crash Small Airplane into White House > Frank Corder piloted this Cessna, which crashed into the White House lawn and skidded up to the side of the building. > > A suicidal and apparently apolitical pilot named Frank Corder steals a single-engine plane from an airport north of Baltimore, Maryland, and attempts to crash it into the White House. He crashes into a wall two stories below the presidential bedroom (President Clinton is not there at the time). Corder is killed on impact. [Time, 9/26/1994; New York Times, 10/3/2001] A Time magazine story shortly after the incident notes, “The unlikely incident confirmed all too publicly what security officials have long feared in private: the White House is vulnerable to sneak attack from the air. ‘For years I have thought a terrorist suicide pilot could readily divert his flight from an approach to Washington to blow up the White House,’ said Richard Helms, CIA director from 1966 to 1972.” The article further notes that an attack of this type had been a concern since 1974, when a disgruntled US Army private staged an unauthorized helicopter landing on the South Lawn. Special communications lines were established between the Secret Service and Washington’s National Airport control tower to the Secret Service operations center, but the line is ineffective in this case because no flight controller pays attention to the flight in time. [Time, 9/26/1994] Truly weird coincidence on date. Technically, according to Wikipedia, it was 1:49AM on the 12th. ---
**Author:** ![moriah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@moriah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moriah)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2013, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-obama-have-a-personal-no-fly-zone/664011/7 "2013-07-21T04:56:47Z")
[![](https://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f346/zombie_guy/Private/obama_kills_fly_zpsc55fc4b3.gif) ](https://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f346/zombie_guy/Private/obama_kills_fly_zpsc55fc4b3.gif) [URL=“[Photobucket | Make your memories fun!](http://s50.photobucket.com/user/zombie_guy/media/Private/obama_kills_fly_zpsc55fc4b3.gif.html)”] ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2013, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-obama-have-a-personal-no-fly-zone/664011/8 "2013-07-21T06:44:17Z")
> [@moriah](#): > > [http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f346/zombie\_guy/Private/obama\_kills\_fly\_zpsc55fc4b3.gif](http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f346/zombie_guy/Private/obama_kills_fly_zpsc55fc4b3.gif) > > [URL=“[Photo Storage](http://s50.photobucket.com/user/zombie_guy/media/Private/obama_kills_fly_zpsc55fc4b3.gif.html)”] 😃 ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2013, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-obama-have-a-personal-no-fly-zone/664011/9 "2013-07-21T07:06:16Z")
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. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/NoFDHYIXgBM/maxresdefault.jpg "Live ATC - Cessna Fly's Through Obama TFR") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoFDHYIXgBM)