AOPA denounces late notice for Thursday presidential TFRs in Philly, Detroit

Pilots flying in the Philadelphia or Detroit areas on Thursday need to beware of four separate presidential-movement temporary flight restrictions (TFRs) that, as of 5 p.m. local on Wednesday, had not yet been posted.

The President is visiting two sites in each of the cities, and all four locations will have a TFR centered above it. The effective times of the TFRs will overlap to allow protected movement between each location. In the case of Philadelphia, that means that an 80-nm-wide swath of some of the most heavily used airspace on the eastern seaboard will be impacted.

"A huge number of general aviation aircraft transit the Philadelphia area as they make their way through the Mid-Atlantic between Washington and New York," said AOPA Vice President of Regulatory Affairs Melissa Bailey. "And as it stands right now, pilots will be lucky if they get 12 hours' official notice.

"Detroit is going to be even worse," said Bailey. "The FAA doesn't expect to have those notams out until sometime tomorrow morning, meaning pilots may have less than six hours' notice. If the notams aren't out, preflight briefers can't warn pilots about the TFRs."

AOPA will send special alerts to all ePilot subscribers in the affected areas as soon as the notams are issued with coordinates, dimensions, and restrictions.

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