You can expect restrictions on the ground as President Trump's motorcade rolls through Utica tomorrow, but what do airplane and drone pilots have to deal with in the air while Trump is doing his thing?

photo: Keith James
photo: Keith James
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In the photo of an aeronautical map above you can see a series of yellow circles which indicate temporary flight restrictions (TFRs) that are inactive as of the writing of this post. The two bigger circles are there to buffer the inner circles which surround points of interest like Fort Drum, Griffiss, or Claudia Tenney's fundraiser location. At appointed times tomorrow (scroll down for exact times,) each inactive TFR will turn red, but what exactly are pilots restricted from doing when the TFRs go active? Read the exact wording below (truncated for clarity:)

A. All aircraft operations within the inner cores are prohibited except for: Approved law enforcement, military aircraft directly supporting the United States Secret Service and the office of the President of the United States, approved air ambulance flights, and regularly scheduled commercial passenger and all-cargo carriers operating under TSA-Approved standard security programs/procedures. All emergency/life saving flight (medical/law enforcement/firefighting) operations must coordinate with Air Traffic Control (ATC) prior to their departure to avoid potential delays.
B. All aircraft operating within the outer rings are limited to aircraft arriving or departing local airfields, and workload permitting, ATC may authorize transit operations. Aircraft may not loiter.
C. The following operations are not authorized within this TFR: flight training, practice instrument approaches, aerobatic flight, glider operations, parachute operations, ultralight, hang gliding, balloon operations, agriculture/crop dusting, animal population control flight operations, banner towing operations, sightseeing operations, maintenance test flights, model aircraft operations, model rocketry, unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), and utility and pipeline survey operations.

So, basically this isn't the time to take the plane up for a spin and if you own a drone, ground it! But when exactly does all of this go down? Here are the times to keep in mind: The Fort Drum TFRs will be active from apx. noon-4p and the Utica ones will be active from apx. 330-7p. Those times are subject to change and vary somewhat between each circle... Check HERE for Utica and HERE for Fort Drum to verify on the day of. Below are photos without the aeronautical stuff, so you can get a better idea of where not to operate your drones.

Photo: Keith James
Photo: Keith James
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Photo: Keith James
Photo: Keith James
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Photo: Keith James
Photo: Keith James
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Photo: Keith James
Photo: Keith James
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