THERE IS A SOLUTION TO THE PTFR PROBLEM
A petition has been created to urge Congress to adopt the ‘Maryland 3’ rules to allow affected airports to operate during recurring Presidential Flight Restrictions. See PTFR.AERO
A website, PTFR.AERO, has been created to encourage pilots to support Congressional action to allow flight operations at airports that are presently closed during recurring Presidential visits outside of Washington.
Recurring Presidential Temporary Flight Restrictions (PTFRs) are imposed on local airspace by U.S. Homeland Security whenever any U.S. President makes repeated visits to a location away from Washington or Camp David, MD. Some of these visits are not "temporary". They can last for weeks. Recurring PTFRs have been highly disruptive to airports in Martha's Vineyard, MA, Northern New Jersey and Lantana, FL. Airports within the ten-mile radius of the Presidential residence are closed to all general aviation traffic. The economic cost of this restricted airspace to the affected regions is huge. Recurring flight restrictions impose a hardship on private pilots, airport owners and companies that rely on aircraft to conduct their business. Within the thirty-mile PTFR radius, aviation businesses such as crop dusting and skydiving are completely shut down. Proposed legislation might compensate airport owners for lost revenue during the closed periods, but nothing is proposed to compensate the many more businesses who rely on their aircraft that are based at closed airports.
In 2012, three public use general aviation airports in the Washington DC area were closed to all flight operations after September 11, 2001. After some years of closure and inactivity, those airport owners petitioned Congress and obtained relief from flight restrictions. Congress implemented rules that enabled pilots to be qualified to fly in restricted areas in much the same manner that TSA has enacted as 'Trusted Traveler' rules for airline passengers. The program allows screened pilots to be given a PIN code so that they may operate in and out of the inner ring of the TFR under a filed flight plan.
Those same 'Maryland 3' privileges should be adopted at airports within the ten-mile radius when recurring VIP visits close them to personal and business aviation. This successful program is in place right now and has allowed College Park, Potomac Airfield and Hyde Field to survive and continue flight operations despite their close proximity to the Capitol and the White House.
The PTFR solution already exists. Nothing needs to be invented. This proposal will not hamper Homeland Security's important job of protecting the President while allowing the law-abiding public to use aircraft and airports.
PTFR.AERO has been created to educate and encourage the public to participate in a petition to Congress to remedy the situation.
The sponsors of the website are New Jersey Aviation Association (njaa.aero) and Mid-Atlantic Aviation Coalition (www.NJaviation.com)
Contact: PTFRinformation@gmail.com
