C J Campbell wrote:

...The briefer told me that nine planes had been forced
down in Redmond, OR, the previous day...

...As instructed, I monitored 121.5. During the next 40 minutes or
so I heard at least half a dozen aircraft hailed on guard: one at Port
Townsend, one at Whidbey, one at Bremerton, one over Sultan, another over
Tiger Mountain doing circles at 1500 feet, and another over Crest Air Park...

...Guard was busier than ATC the whole time I was west of the Cascades. I was

shocked at the magnitude of the problem and so was my passenger, an
attorney. The system is broken, no doubt about it...

CJ, this raises a question that I have not heard addressed anywhere....

I have always assumed that if some hapless pilot gets snagged by a TFR, we all
would hear about it right away. Maybe on CNN (the pipeline patrol pilot who
flew over Bush's motorcade last week comes to mind), but even if it didn't make
the mainstream national media, I figured that surely every incident would be
all over the internet aviation groups, reported by AOPA, etc. But today's
experience and your observations about the frequncy with which violations seem
to be occurring recently makes me wonder. I doubt there's anything special
about pilots flying in the Northwest that makes them more prone to bust
presidential TFRs than pilots elsewhere. If the last 24 hours are any
indication, it sounds like a LOT more pilots are busting TFRs and getting
forced down than I have been hearing about.

Is anyone keeping track of how many people are getting swept up in these
presidential TFRs? (I mean, besides Ashcroft).

David H
Boeing Field (BFI), Seattle, WA
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