[JYO] Washington, D.C., area TFR changes still under review

From AOPA...

Washington, D.C., area TFR changes still under review
AOPA believes CAP flights are "least objectionable"

June 28 — Late Friday evening, federal authorities were still considering 
whether any changes should be made to the 15-nm temporary flight restriction 
(TFR) around Washington, D.C., during the Fourth of July holiday, or possibly 
for a longer period. AOPA supports the actions reported by CNN.com, that the 
Department of Defense plans to increase combat air patrols over several U.S. 
cities during the Independence Day holidays. They stated that the Pentagon 
and the FAA have taken joint steps to reduce the response time of the 
fighters tasked to protect the nation's capital.

 "As I said when interviewed by CNN earlier this week, the combat air patrol 
is the least objectionable of the measures the government is considering," 
said AOPA President Phil Boyer. "It allows general aviation to keep flying 
and seems to give the general public a much greater feeling of security. 
Expanding the TFR would be ridiculous. The FAA could greatly aid VFR 
navigation throughout the entire country by maintaining graphical depictions 
of the nations' TFRs on the Internet. While AOPA maintains such a service, it 
is not the official government source."

 The CNN.com report quotes unnamed Pentagon sources as saying the Defense 
Department considered and rejected three other options, including expanding 
the Washington TFR, to protect the White House. This fits with what AOPA has 
learned; that as of Friday afternoon, the FAA was not in the process of 
drafting any notams that would expand the "no-fly" zone centered on the 
Washington Monument.

 "While this is encouraging, frankly, we are frustrated that pilots still 
don't know what is going to happen and it is affecting their plans for the 
long Independence Day weekend," Boyer said. "My hope is the government will 
decide CAPs are sufficient and let pilots know. Until that time, nothing is 
assured. Any developments that AOPA learns over the weekend will be 
communicated immediately to pilots via our Web site."

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