When the President of the United States travels, the FAA and United States Secret Service issue a Temporary Flight Restriction (TFR), preventing the flying of any full-scale aircraft, model airplane, or drone inside a 30-nautical-mile (NM) radius of the President. As a result, whenever President Joe Biden travels to his home in Wilmington, Delaware, or his vacation home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, a 30NM TFR will be issued, which will impact AMA members and clubs in portions of AMA Districts II, III, and IV.
In a joint effort by the three impacted AMA districts, “Share Our Field,” a program that will help ease the effects of Presidential TFRs on impacted AMA members, has been launched. The three AMA districts are jointly asking clubs located outside the TFR 30NM range, and up to 75NM from the TFR center, to voluntarily invite those AMA club members inside the TFR to enjoy flying at unaffected club fields. This is a wonderful opportunity for our members to not only help one another, but also build club and member camaraderie, expand connections with fellow modelers, enjoy flying together, and perhaps gain another club member or two.
Click here for a map that depicts all of the clubs within 75NM from the TFR centers. You will notice in the linked map and this PDF listing that there are several clubs that can help with this program. We ask that if your club is able to share and invite AMA members to your field, please let us know so we can add your club to our list of the available “Share Our Field” participants. Of course, host clubs are free to set their own particular guidelines, club visitation rules, and field rules for visiting members. Because the TFRs originate in District IV, Ray Stinchcomb, the District IV Government Relations Coordinator, is developing and maintaining a list of available fields for AMA members to use.
Although this program will initially help ease the TFR situation, AMA is actively working with government officials to modify the structure of the TFRs to be similar to that in the Washington, D.C., special flight rules area (SFRA), with an inner and outer ring, that allows for restricted flight within the outer portions of the 30NM range. This will be slow to accomplish, but we remain hopeful.
The “Share Our Field” information will be periodically updated. Look to AMA District IV’s website at www.ama-d4.org, and Facebook page, for updated information. Please direct any invitations, comments, or suggestions to your district vice president (listed below) or to Ray Stinchcomb.
District II VP – Eric Williams
District III VP – Mark Radcliff
District IV VP – Jay Marsh
For any further questions or comments, contact the Government Affairs department at (765) 287-1256 or amagov@modelaircraft.org.
To remain current with the most recent government-related news, regularly visit the AMA’s Government Affairs blog.