Now that Donald Trump has been elected president, his primary residence — Trump Tower in midtown — has effectively become a national-security site. To that end, the FAA has added some new rules to the sky over New York City to guard against any potential acts of terror using an airplane. The agency issued an administrative directive called a “Notice to Airmen” banning pilots from flying within two nautical miles of the geographical point located at 40º45’54” north, 73º58’25” west — that being the southeastern corner of Central Park, four blocks north of Trump Tower. The directive originally was for Election Night, but now that Trump is on his way to the White House, it has been extended until Inauguration Day on January 20. After that, Trump will be protected by an existing exclusion zone around 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
These zones, called TFRs (for “Temporary Flight Restriction”) came into widespread use after 9/11, and are enacted to protect nuclear power stations, big sporting events, and other things that terrorists might want to fly into. This particular one is especially lamentable to recreational pilots because it effectively shuts down for two months the popular flight-seeing corridors over the Hudson and East rivers.
