Presidential TFR will tie up Crawford, Texas, airspace into the New Year

The FAA has issued a notice to airmen (notam) establishing a large temporary flight restriction (TFR) around President Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas over the upcoming holiday.

Pilots should be extremely cautious, as the coordinates for the expanded TFR have changed and shifted the restricted airspace by approximately 3,000 feet to the east-southeast of the graphical depiction on the current sectional.

As with the previous restriction, the TFR will have a radius of 30 nautical miles and extend from the surface up to 18,000 feet. It will be in place from 1200 local on December 26, 2002, through 0900 local on January 5, 2003.

The Crawford notam expands the existing P-49 prohibited area to a 10-nm radius.

Between 10 and 30 nm of Crawford ranch, the notam requires that pilots must be on an active VFR or IFR flight plan with a discrete ATC-assigned transponder code and must be communicating with ATC. In addition, the only flights permitted within this area will be for the purposes of ingress and egress. Pilots must proceed directly to or from their departure or destination airports.

AOPA warns pilots that this restricted airspace will be actively enforced by the military, and violators will be intercepted and forced down.

Fourteen public-use and more than 20 private airports are impacted by the Crawford TFR.

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