most of eastern Massachussetts airspace closed in July

Paul Tomblin wrote:

In a previous article, (Christopher C. Stacy) said:
basically saying, "Boston is closed this week, all businesses
should shut down and everyone please just stay out of the city."

I can't wait to see what having the RNC convention in New York City is
going to do to *that* city's traffic. I bet after this year, cities will
stop competing for who gets to host the conventions, and starts telling
them to hold the conventions in rural Iowa or something.


As to "or something," how about somewhere in Iraq?

(Christopher C. Stacy) writes:

The Democratic National Convention is coming to Boston in July.

The Boston Globe today reported that the FAA is going to restrict
all air traffic within 30 nm of Boston: no private aircraft will
be allowed to operate in the airspace. The main thrust of the
story was that this restriction included all the helicopters
used by the traffic reporting services and television news.

Way too much hand-wringing about this. It's not going to be a 30-mile TFR,
it's a 10-mile one with procedures out to 30 miles.

Logan will be closed to all but commercial traffic, yes. No GA, no
"charters". I believe that certain charters (such as travel wholesalers
who charter entire jets for scheduled service) will still operate.

The IMPORTANT INFO that seemed to be missing from other postings, and from
the Globe story was this link from the FAA, talking about how GA IFR
flights were going to operate from airports within the 30-mile ring.

http://www.faa.gov/NTAP/NTAP04JUN10/SP04023.htm

It says:

The Federal Aviation Administration, Air Traffic Control System Command
Center (ATCSCC), will utilize a Special Traffic Management Program (STMP)
for this event. Slot reservations will be required for all domestic,
non-scheduled IFR arrivals to the following airports during the date and
times indicated:

Laurence G. Hanscom Fld.
BED

Beverly Muni
BVY

Lawrence Muni
LWM

Norwood Mem
OWD

My opinion? The process will likely be very similar to what happened
during the G8 Summit in Georgia.

See http://www.faa.gov/Newsroom/Airspace...ntent=Affected

for what the FAA said about operations during the G8.

I imagine VFR ops at these four airports will be much like how things
happened when the Boston airspace opened back up for VFR operations just
after 9/11.

One thing - because GA is excluded from Logan, these four airports are
going to be much more crowded, as they're the new destinations for all the
traffic banned from Logan.

So - don't sweat it TOO MUCH if you're based within the 30-mile ring.

-Jack Cunniff
(at OWD)

That FAA link specifically says that the special IFR arrival procedures are
due to the higher than normal anticipated volume of flights, it has nothing
to do with security.

"Jack Cunniff" wrote in message
...
(Christopher C. Stacy) writes:

The Democratic National Convention is coming to Boston in July.

The Boston Globe today reported that the FAA is going to restrict
all air traffic within 30 nm of Boston: no private aircraft will
be allowed to operate in the airspace. The main thrust of the
story was that this restriction included all the helicopters
used by the traffic reporting services and television news.

Way too much hand-wringing about this. It's not going to be a 30-mile TFR,
it's a 10-mile one with procedures out to 30 miles.

Logan will be closed to all but commercial traffic, yes. No GA, no
"charters". I believe that certain charters (such as travel wholesalers
who charter entire jets for scheduled service) will still operate.

The IMPORTANT INFO that seemed to be missing from other postings, and from
the Globe story was this link from the FAA, talking about how GA IFR
flights were going to operate from airports within the 30-mile ring.

http://www.faa.gov/NTAP/NTAP04JUN10/SP04023.htm

It says:

The Federal Aviation Administration, Air Traffic Control System Command
Center (ATCSCC), will utilize a Special Traffic Management Program (STMP)
for this event. Slot reservations will be required for all domestic,
non-scheduled IFR arrivals to the following airports during the date and
times indicated:

Laurence G. Hanscom Fld.
BED

Beverly Muni
BVY

Lawrence Muni
LWM

Norwood Mem
OWD

My opinion? The process will likely be very similar to what happened
during the G8 Summit in Georgia.

See http://www.faa.gov/Newsroom/Airspace...ntent=Affected

for what the FAA said about operations during the G8.

I imagine VFR ops at these four airports will be much like how things
happened when the Boston airspace opened back up for VFR operations just
after 9/11.

One thing - because GA is excluded from Logan, these four airports are
going to be much more crowded, as they're the new destinations for all the
traffic banned from Logan.

So - don't sweat it TOO MUCH if you're based within the 30-mile ring.

-Jack Cunniff
(at OWD)

Jeremy Lew wrote:

That FAA link specifically says that the special IFR arrival procedures
are due to the higher than normal anticipated volume of flights, it has
nothing to do with security.

The URL

http://www.faa.gov/NTAP/NTAP04JUN10/SP04023.htm

indicates that special rules are in effect for IFR traffic. It says nothing
about VFR traffic, as far as I can tell. That is, the information at that
URL has no bearing on traffic reporting as such. Presumably, any VFR
restrictions are described elsewhere.

- Andrew

On Thu, 17 Jun 2004 17:04:45 +0000 (UTC), Jack Cunniff ("Jack") writes:
Jack Logan will be closed to all but commercial traffic, yes. No GA

I am specifically concerned with the traffic/news helicopter service.

(I'm concerned about the larger issues, but am trying to draw
a boundary around one specific aspect of the restriction that
seems blatantly obviously detrimental to the public interest,
regardless of national security or airman politics or anything.)

On Thu, 17 Jun 2004 14:22:12 -0400, Jeremy Lew ("Jeremy") writes:
Jeremy That FAA link specifically says that the special IFR arrival
Jeremy procedures are due to the higher than normal anticipated
Jeremy volume of flights, it has nothing to do with security.

I think that's almost certainly bull****. I mean, is is that there
are going to be so many more scheduled airliners coming in all week
that they're going to be unable to avoid a couple of helicopters?
Or is it the onrush of zillions of GA planes coming to fly over the
city in order to view... nothing that's outside? And bear in mind
that in order to begin to create the hypothetical problematic situation,
all these mysterious random aircraft inundating the area from parts
unknown would have to be ignoring the permanent class B Boston airspace.

I assumed they meant that they expect a lot delegates to be
arriving/departing on GA flights.

"Christopher C. Stacy" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 17 Jun 2004 17:04:45 +0000 (UTC), Jack Cunniff ("Jack")
writes:
Jack Logan will be closed to all but commercial traffic, yes. No GA

I am specifically concerned with the traffic/news helicopter service.

(I'm concerned about the larger issues, but am trying to draw
a boundary around one specific aspect of the restriction that
seems blatantly obviously detrimental to the public interest,
regardless of national security or airman politics or anything.)

On Thu, 17 Jun 2004 14:22:12 -0400, Jeremy Lew ("Jeremy") writes:
Jeremy That FAA link specifically says that the special IFR arrival
Jeremy procedures are due to the higher than normal anticipated
Jeremy volume of flights, it has nothing to do with security.

I think that's almost certainly bull****. I mean, is is that there
are going to be so many more scheduled airliners coming in all week
that they're going to be unable to avoid a couple of helicopters?
Or is it the onrush of zillions of GA planes coming to fly over the
city in order to view... nothing that's outside? And bear in mind
that in order to begin to create the hypothetical problematic situation,
all these mysterious random aircraft inundating the area from parts
unknown would have to be ignoring the permanent class B Boston airspace.

On Thu, 17 Jun 2004 17:11:24 -0400, Jeremy Lew ("Jeremy") writes:
Jeremy I assumed they meant that they expect a lot delegates to be
Jeremy arriving/departing on GA flights.

So many that ATC and all the areas airports can't seperate them
from exactly four helicopter aircraft within 30 nm of Boston?
Besides, it seems more likely that most conventioneers will be
arriving on scheduled airliners. (If they were going to use GA
flights, they won't be able to do that now under the proposed TFR,
so that makes no sense in addressing the motivation.)

It's bull****, I tell you.

(Christopher C. Stacy) wrote in message ...
The Democratic National Convention is coming to Boston in July.

The Boston Globe today reported that the FAA is going to restrict
all air traffic within 30 nm of Boston: no private aircraft will
be allowed to operate in the airspace. The main thrust of the
story was that this restriction included all the helicopters
used by the traffic reporting services and television news.

You see, ground traffic is being restricted into Boston as well,
including all the major roads and highways being closed in all
directions for dozens of miles around, the public transit system
being shut down in many places, and the mayor and other officials
basically saying, "Boston is closed this week, all businesses
should shut down and everyone please just stay out of the city."

Tell me about it! I work in Cambridge and use public transportation
through cities like Malden,Medford,Somerville which as you know are
just outside the DMZ (Democractic Mess Zone). Those areas are already
clusterf*cks every weekday during rush hour; I don't want to even
imagine all those thousands of additional cars being pre-empted off
93.

Of course, the local town officials are getting into it now, saying
they'll shut down their local roads if they don't get assistance
(additional police, etc.). Everyone's just getting way to caught up in
the 'process' and 'turf' and 'wagging their authority' and over what?
Basically, a party is all it is...

Oh, then there's the probability of having to take a shuttle from BOS
to DCA or IAD for a meeting?!!??? I guess the last nail in the coffin
would be some weather that week as well, as if the choke points aren't
enough already.

Nothing like this has ever been done here,

Gee, I wonder why. What's the old saying? Just because you can doesn't
mean you should....

and all the road closings and traffic re-routing to go around Boston
is going to be a terrible mess.

I think it's time to just WALK up to NH that week. I don't wanna be
anywhere near this...