November 19, 2002 Dodging The President

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By Russ Niles, Newswriter

If you're flying in Texas, today, please heed this reminder that the president ... or someone else important ... is at his Crawford ranch overnight. The usual flight restrictions have been replaced by a TFR with a radius of 30 nautical miles and a ceiling of 18,000 feet. It's in effect from 5 p.m. local time today through noon Tuesday. All flights are banned within 10 nautical miles of the ranch. In the outer 20 miles, pilots must be on an active VFR or IFR flight plan with a discrete ATC-assigned transponder code and must be talking to ATC. And there'll be no moonlight sightseeing or training. All flights within the restricted area must be on their way to or from an airport. The FAA has also slightly modified the airspace restrictions around the president's other home. The 65th edition of the Baltimore-Washington terminal area chart (TAC) has been replaced with the Blue Dot edition, which contains the following advisory:  Temporary Flight Restrictions (TFR) around Thurmont, MD (P-40) that consists of 5NM radius at or below 12,500 ft MSL located on the FDK 351° radial at 14.8 miles (N 39 degrees 38 minutes 53 seconds, W 77 degrees 28 minutes 00 seconds).