Sat, Mar 22, 2003
As we warned you, things were beginning (again) to
look bad in Chicago... one of the most aviation-unfriendly locales
in North America.
TSA officials have apparently started warning the GA community
that a temporary flight restriction (TFR) over downtown Chicago
will be issued within the next few hours. The TFR is expected to be
similar to the TFR issued briefly in January last year, covering
the downtown area but permitting normal flight operations along the
lakefront and around Meigs Field airport. This approach was sought
by AOPA once it was clear a TFR was going to be put in place.
Aero-bashing Chicago Mayor Richard Daley has reportedly
been demanding that Chicago get the "the same thing as Mickey and
Minnie," referring to the ill-conceived TFRs over Disney World and
Disneyland issued earlier this week. He had been turned down by
FAA, but he pushed the demand up to Homeland Security Secretary Tom
Ridge. The Illinois governor and many members of the Illinois
congressional delegation fell in behind Daley.
AOPA President Phil Boyer has sent letters to Daley and other
politicians seeking airspace restrictions suggesting that they be
careful about what they ask for. Boyer warned the politicians,
"Be careful what you ask for."
"In the absence of a credible threat, it is inappropriate for
the federal government to institute arbitrary airspace restrictions
or allow the closing of vital general aviation airports," Boyer
wrote. "You should consider the negative effects of media
attention that is generated by airspace restrictions put
in place during this time of war and heightened concerns over
terrorist threats.
"Tourist and business travelers will interpret the restrictions
to mean that there is an imminent threat of a terrorist act and
will cancel plans to visit your city. For example after a
restriction was put into place for Orlando, Florida-based Walt
Disney World, an Associated Press story states that, 'Not everyone
is convinced Disney World is safe.'"
ANN: We might add that it might behoove
aviators the world over to rethink any plans to visit the Chicago
area... if Chicago's myopic powers-that-be so want to isolate the
aviation world, we should also isolate our dollars and business
from Chicago and take them elsewhere. ANN's Editor-In-Chief was
scheduling a trip that would have originally taken him through
Chicago next month. Instead, he has canceled it, and all Chicago
area activities that might have meant spending money there, and
decided to conduct his trip through Milwaukee, instead.
Boycott Chicago.
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