| As most of you are aware, the change in administration in Washington, D.C., will result in President Joe Biden traveling to his home in Wilmington DE, and his beach home in Rehoboth Beach DE, primarily on weekends. Whenever the President travels, Temporary Flight Restrictions (TFRs) are imposed, preventing the flying of any full-scale aircraft, model airplane, or drone inside a 30 nautical mile (NM) range of the President. These TFRs will impact AMA members and clubs in portions of AMA District II, District III, and District IV.
In a joint effort of the three affected AMA districts, we are launching the “Share Our Field” program to help ease the effects of Presidential TFRs on AMA members. The three AMA districts are jointly asking clubs outside the TFRs 30NM range, and up to 75NM from the TFR center, to voluntarily invite those AMA club members inside the TFRs to come out to enjoy flying at unaffected club fields. This is a wonderful opportunity for our fliers to not only help one another, but also build club and member camaraderie, expand your connections with fellow modelers, enjoy flying together, and perhaps gain another club member or two.
The following link is a map that depicts all of the clubs within 75NM from the TFR centers: https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1pFrHM3UUuj3lZ8wpzNj0zzTYHmaiPcTg&usp=sharing. If yours is missing please let us know.
You will notice in the above linked map and this PDF listing, there are a lot of clubs that can help with this program. We ask that if your club is able to share and invite AMA members to your field, to you 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, flyingboat44@verizon.net, is developing and maintaining a list of available fields for AMA members to use.
While this program will initially help ease the situation, AMA is actively working with government officials to modify the structure of the TFRs to be similar to that in the DC SFRA, with an inner and outer ring, that allows for restricted flight within the outer portions of the 30NM range. This will be a slow process to achieve, but we remain hopeful.
We will periodical update the “Share Our Field” information as updates occur. Look to our website, www.ama-d4.org, and Facebook page, for updated information. Please direct any invitations, comments, suggestions, to your district’s vice president or to Ray Stinchcomb.
Thank you for your consideration and the opportunity to help your fellow modelers!
Sincerely,
Eric Williams VP District II rcpilot@nycap.rr.com
Mark Radcliff VP District III mradcliff@suddenlink.net
Jay Marsh VP District IV jaymarsh@ama-d4.org
Ray Stinchcomb Coordinator flyingboat44@verizon.net |
