Short Final: POTUS TFR

In 2004, I was flying to Tampa Exec when George W. had a POTUS TFR centered at nearby Tampa International. The TFR had the usual no‑fly 10 NM inner ring. Depending on where you measure it from, the two airports are 10.1 NM apart. As near as I could tell beforehand, the don't‑you‑dare no‑fly ring extended to just about the far end of the runway I was planning to land on, Runway 23. The clouds and vis were well above the ILS minimums. ATC's final instruction: "Yeah, try real hard not to go missed."

Landed fine and all was well, until my taxi was later searched by very serious‑looking guys. Turned out that George W. and I were staying at the same hotel that night…

Scott Humphries

Houston, TX