Martha's Vineyard TFR Sometime Thursday

Martha’s Vineyard TFR Sometime Thursday

Editorial Staff

Tuesday, August 17, 2010 at 12:00 AM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

Presidential travel will impose a 10-day Temporary Flight Restriction (TFR) around Martha's Vineyard, disrupting General Aviation operations.
A floatplane pilot in Seattle inadvertently blundered into a TFR for the president's visit, triggering a rapid military response with F-15s that caused sonic booms.
The incident highlights the critical importance for pilots to always check NOTAMs to avoid unintentional TFR violations, which can lead to significant consequences.

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The President is going on vacation, and that means 10 days of disruption for the busy GA operations around Martha’s Vineyard. Temporary flight restrictions (PDF) go into effect Thursday but, as of late Tuesday, the FAA didn’t know exactly when. The agency is warning pilots to check NOTAMs before flying in the area at any time beginning Thursday. That’s advice a floatplane pilot flying in the Seattle area could apparently have used Tuesday as he blundered into a TFR around Boeing Field for the president’s whistlestop visit to the city. The Associated Press quoted Laura Joseph, a passenger on a Cessna 180 flown by Lee Daily, as saying the pilot was unaware of the TFR and landed at a seaplane base on Lake Washington that was within the TFR. While TFR violations go largely unnoticed these days, everyone in Greater Seattle heard about this one.

For reasons that aren’t clear, it was a couple of Guard F-15s from Portland that were dispatched to deal with the potential threat and they were in a hurry. Two sonic booms rattled windows and jangled nerves about 1:38 p.m. local time. FAA and military officials were quick to explain the situation. Daily and Joseph were interviewed by the Secret Service and released.