More Layers On Mar-a-Lago TFRs

There are a couple of new wrinkles for the hundreds of private aircraft who use Palm Beach International Airport after Monday. When the presidential TFR is in effect (10nm inner ring, 30nm outer ring) for President Trump's trips home, operators will have to register passenger and crew information through its eSecure Flight system before they'll be allowed to go to Palm Beach or leave from any of the four FBOs there. That's in addition to registering for prescreening at one of the five designated gateway airports of White Plains, Teterboro, Dulles, Orlando and Fort Lauderdale at least 24 hours before arrival at the prescreening airport. According to NBAA, TSA says having all the manifest information in advance will make the screening at the gateway airports go more smoothly.


This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://www.avweb.com/aviation-news/more-layers-on-mar-a-lago-tfrs

Does Palm Beach fall within the inner 10-mile ring or the outer 30-mile ring? If the latter, this seems very excessive. I don’t even have to register passengers and crew to fly into the DC FRZ.

Ask the folks who run Van Sant airport across the river from Trumps Bedminster NJ home. TFRs will probably do them in. It’s about the nicest GA airport in the US too. Very sad.

" …but it’s difficult to mitigate and abet the effects…"

‘Mitigate’ means to ease the effects of something; to make it less unpleasant, painful.

‘Abet’ means to facilitate or encourage something.

I can see how it would be difficult to accomplish both at the same time.

Wouldn’t it be simpler, and less disruptive, to ring Mar-a-Lago with SAM’s? Defend against real threats; don’t try to prevent all possible ones.

During the previous Trump administration, every time he was in Palm Beach the airport was ringed with school buses so that the airport was not easily seen from outside the perimeter fence. Until all the aviation alphabet groups quit going along with these restrictions and start complaining loudly, the government will keep adding more restrictions until someone finally says stop! That includes NBAA and AOPA! Even better GA operators should just stop using the airport entirely. With 4 FBO’s on the field there can’t possibly be enough business for all four with the inevitable reduction in flights there that will happen anyway.

You don’t get it. USSS doesn’t care what anyone else says or wants. They will do whatever it takes to satisfy themselves that the President remains safe. And since the JFK assassination, not even the President can change that.

That’s true that the president can’t change secret service, but Congress can!

Congress is going to limit USSS authority to protect the President? Talk about political suicide!

If the USSS disrupted road traffic and street businesses like they do for aviation, they sure would limit things. But of course, all of us rich GA pilots with our Gulfstreams deserve to be disrupted, so none of these TFRs will improve.

One day up in the tower while one of the presidents was on the airport, the USSS guy up in the tower with his bag of whatevers said, you know if someone wants to kill him bad enough and doesn’t mind getting killed also, there’s nothing we can really do to stop it. Probably true. They just make it more difficult.

I live 3 miles from Joe Biden’s house, and USSS has been doing just that for the last four years.

They’ve all been getting worse.

Honestly this presidential TFR system needs reform. The 30NM exclusion zone is ridiculous, flight schools and charter operations at airports outside of the 10NM zone but within the 30NM zone should be able to maintain operations. As it stands those airports that don’t have TSA facilities (most small airports) are completely dead for the duration of these often week plus long TFRs. The fact we found out last time around that an RC field 20NM away from the TFR center gets shut down by it too is borderline hilarious. Where’s the threat? Is someone using UAS with ill intent is going to do it from a public venue primarily used by a bunch of nosey old retired men to fly RC airplanes? If you’ve created your own RC weapon are you going to launch it from the local AMA club 20 miles away or from the closest bad neighborhood you can find to your target? Give me a break.

100% agree.
I’ve always said that the irony of the presidential TFRs is that they draw a giant bullseye around the very person they’re supposed to protect. All they have really been shown to do is get some innocent-though-clueless pilots in trouble. Even well-intentioned pilots have gotten in trouble over them due to miscommunications with ATC.

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