most of eastern Massachussetts airspace closed in July

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)