'No Fly Zone' Over Chicago for NATO Summit

The FAA issued a "temporary flight restriction" for a portion of Chicago airspace from May 19 to May 21, during the NATO Summit to be held in the city. Airspace will be limited largely to government aircraft and regularly-scheduled commercial flights.

Other aircraft (including privately-owned drones and even model rockets) will not be allowed into the no-fly zone, and the FAA warns that aircraft violating the order could even be shot down. Only law enforcement planes and commercial flights will be allowed into the 'inner core' of the zone. The exact location has not been announced, and is subject to change, anyway. "[T]his advisory may change with little or no notice. Pilots are advised to check… frequently for possible changes prior to operations in the area," the FAA advises.

Will there be missiles, like in London? No word yet, though the upcoming NATO and G-8 summits have already given Mayor Rahm Emanuel the chance for a power grab, increasing city restrictions on protests and expanding his spending power for the summits.

Comments

[Tim]

The "supermoon" will get them.

[sarcasmic]

aircraft violating the order could be shut down

Shut down or shot down?

[Suki]

Either way it is a bad ending.

[DJF]

So during an average day its not important to protect Chicago from terrorists planes but when NATO shows up they need more protection. So much for the claim that NATO is there to protect us, its really about protecting NATO.

The US should have left NATO when the Soviet Union collapses, now because it lost the job of protecting the US from the Soviets it has morphed into a traveling bureaucracy whose job is to come up with justifications for its over priced 'defense'.

[o3]

needs moar olympics too

[WTF]

NATO protects the Europeans from having to bear the full cost of their own defense.

[Brendan]

Not only that, but they need protection from private planes which apparently have been used by terrorists multiple times before, but not from commercial planes which, well...

Same with tour helicopters, model rockets, etc. Police helicopters? OK. Private tour 2 miles away? Not OK.

[Suki]

That is just the cover for making it a chemtrail-free zone.

[darius404]

I'd bet that if you painted up a drone or remote controlled model with some sort of law enforcement agency's colors and symbol, you could still sneak it into their "no fly zone." I bet most of the personnel wouldn't bat an eye.

[db]

I don't think the air traffic control system works the way you think it works.

[darius404]

I was thinking of something a bit smaller and lower than a plane. Thanks for the advice, though.

[Bardas Phocas]

This will turn into a quagmire.
The US should declare victory and withdraw from Chicago.
How many must die in this ObamaBidenHalliburton-War?

Have we won in Lbyia yet?

[Aresen]

The US should declare victory and withdraw from Chicago.

I believe the Chicagoans have already won.

[NotSure]

They should build some permanent base in the middle of no where, all the these pompous leaders and their brown nosers can have their gatherings there and feel safer. Why should these a-holes get to push everyone aside wherever they go and at the same time claim they are "protecting us".

[sarcasmic]

Why should these a-holes get to push everyone aside wherever they go

Because that's the point of having power. Power is an end, not a means.

[NeonCat]

I thought that's what Brussels already was. Why does NATO need to have a convention in Chicago?

[Pip]

Why does NATO need to have a convention in Chicago?

[Suki]

Because Colombian hookers got too much press.

[DJF]

They are right now building a brand new billion dollar plus headquarters. It has huge glass walls so once its built they will probably want more money to make it safe from terrorists

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/new.....llion.html

[DJF]

Here is a video showing the new billioin dollar headquarters where they will spend trillions of tax payer dollars.

http://youtu.be/6ucU_8BblwU

Hopefully this will follow Parkinsons law where the building a a perfect headquarters building means that the orginization is near collapse

Chapter six.

http://www.american-buddha.com.....TION_BLOCK

[The Other Kevin]

My thoughts, too. Have these meetings at Camp David or some place that is already secure. Or better yet, teleconference like everyone else does.

I don't really get their logic - inconvenience everyone in the city, spend a ton of money on security, deal with protesters and the damage they inflict... The only "benefit" is that the mayor and prez get to brag that the cool kids came to their house.

[sarcasmic]

I don't really get their logic

It's pretty simple.

What's the point of having the power to inconvenience people, have tons of other peoples' money spent on your security, and get protesters all riled up, and not use it?

[thom]

One of my earliest libertarian moments came in 1996, standing outside in a rainstorm, in downtown Minneapolis, during rush-hour, with thousands of other wet people, ordered to stay where I was, for about an hour, to make way for Bill Clinton's limousine. If ever there was a "fuck these guys" moment it was then, yet people tend to act as though it is a privilege to be so inconvenienced.

[nicole]

Yes, you should see me fuming behind the wheel when I get stuck on Lakeshore Drive because of the motorcade. Last time the president was in town I got it both going and coming--and of course, if you're not at the front of stopped traffic, you have no idea why until you see the helicopters. The cost in wasted time is completely insane. I am not looking forward to this weekend.

[Scarcity]

Why TF did Obama DRIVE from O'Hare to Hyde Park last time he was in town? I have a picture of the Kennedy (main interstate through downtown) taken from the Randolph Street overpass at evening rush hour without a car in sight. Wouldn't it have been a shitton easier to take a helicopter?

[Scarcity]

In case that wasn't perfectly clear, they CLOSED one of the busiest stretches of interstate highway in the country at rush hour in order for His Highness to pass.

[nicole]

Yes. They also closed LSD from Chicago to McFetridge. It was fun times sitting out by Oak St., wondering why the hell the Chicago light kept turning green and no one was moving.

[nicole]

Not sure where you would put a helicopter, really, but I don't know why he doesn't use Midway. Maybe they don't think a straight shot down Garfield/55th St. would be very presidential, hahaha.

[Scarcity]

Re: where to land a helicopter in Hyde Park - Surely the UofC Hospital has a helipad they could spare for a few minutes?

[nicole]

Ah, good point. Wonder if they'd let him walk home from there, lol.

[thom]

The Secret Service always makes sure there is a place to land a helicopter near the President in case they need to get him the hell out of wherever he is.

[mattcid]

Air Force One is a lot of plane for little Midway. 737s go shooting off the end of the runways in bad weather.

[nicole]

Gah. I mean next weekend. And the flight I'll be taking on the 21 should be fun too.

[l0b0t]

Yup! When the POTUS brought his wife to NYC for a date night the motorcade traveled North up the West Side Highway. I was leaving a very stressful, unpleasant job (shooting a Japanese bottled water commercial with Beyonce) at Chelsea Piers (West 59th street) heading South to Battery Park City (a distance of about 1.5 miles). NYPD was not allowing any traffic to turn off of the West Side Hwy; everyone was shunted through the Battery Tunnel into Red Hook, Brooklyn. It took 4 fucking hours to reach the Manhattan side of the tunnel, then another 3 hours to loop back across the Brooklyn Bridge to lower Manhattan and get to Battery Park.

[sarcasmic]

My stepson's father (a cop) was bragging to me the other weekend about how he worked a detail for a recent Obama visit, and seemed puzzled that I wasn't impressed.

I'm thinking to myself "You gave up a weekend with your son so you could get overtime for inconveniencing thousands of people in the name of one asshole politician. Fuck you."

Unlike Homer Simpson I can think things and not say them out loud.

[anon]

If anyone is crazy enough to want to kill a president of the United States, he can do it. All he must be prepared to do is give his life for the president's.

- JFK

No amount of security can prevent the assassination of anyone. It's just abusing the power because it's there.

[Bardas Phocas]

Also there is the need for high-end hookers. No international get together can occur without expensive hookers. Sure you could ship them out to the boonies but it's a logistical nightmare getting all these people to list all their weird requirements and fetishes.
That's why they have to have it in a big city where all those services are already in place.

Otherwise, I say they all have to be at this hotel from the James Bond movie.
http://blog.luxuryproperty.com/atacama-chile/

[fried wylie]

but it's a logistical nightmare

*starts designing software solution*

[Brett L]

Best hotel on Tatooine.

[Spoonman.]

I think they had one of these meetings (might not have been NATO) in Iqaluit once. I guess the international bureaucracy decided Iqaluit isn't fun enough.

[Scarcity]

They did at least move the G8 to Camp David or somewhere like that. They were supposed to descend on Chicago back-to-back.

[Drake]

We have lots of permanent bases in the middle of nowhere. Twentynine Palms, Fort Irwin, Malstrom Air Force Base, etc...

Apparently barracks aren't good enough for Generals and bureaucrats.

[Fist of Etiquette]

They should have the summit on an actual airship. Or in space. Or on a ship in the North Atlantic.

Come to think of it, that's where they should have Chicago.

[Soc Indv Sparky]

You know who else was based in a satellite?

[Mensan]

The Justice League of America.

[Brandon]

Magneto?

[T]

including privately-owned drones and even model rockets

If I lived in Chicago, I would be so tempted to randomly launch medium power rockets into the no-fly zone.

[Brandon]

You'd just be justifying their behavior in their minds.

[Gray Ghost]

From the linked advisory, it looks like they're putting in the 10 nm restriction that's normally around wherever the President visits, e.g., the expanded restricted area around Camp David. A bit of a PITA when it's over a major city, but what can you do? The doughnut between 10 and 30 nm out seems to be a version of Class B airspace: you can fly in it, but you've got to be on a flight plan (VFR or IFR), be in contact with ATC, etc. AOPA has a slightly more informative take here.

[Trespassers W]

10 nm restriction

That's really narrow. They should make it a few centimeters at least, maybe even meters.

[Tonio]

LOL, I thought the same thing. I think he means nautical miles.

[fried wylie]

so, not referring to the dichoric laser shielding NATO wants installed, then?

[Randian]

A bit of a PITA when it's over a major city, but what can you do?

Not having the Summit in Chicago would help.

[BakedPenguin]

...given Mayor Rahm Emanuel the chance for a power grab...

Rahm Emanuel grab power? That's unpossible. Next you'll tell me he's a corrupt authoritarian thug with a complete disregard for basic human rights.

[Jerryskids]

The mayor of Chicago has always had all the power. Just remember, the police are not here to create disorder, they're here to preserve disorder.

[Pip]

Here in Minneapolis, the fucking cop station downtown is about two blocks from the I-94 exit. Tons of commuters every morning. Some days, you can breeze right in. Other mornings, the traffic is backed up for a mile. The difference? On the backed up days the fucking pigs have a horse trailer parked in front of their pig shop in a 30-minute loading zone. It causes the buses to wait in the second lane, which tuns a four-lane, main artery into two lanes. And these fucking pigs will leave it there for weeks. FUCKING WEEKS in a 30-minute loading zone. Hey Dunphy, tell me they are just following procedures. Fucking pigs.

[mybarber]

NATO has out lived it's purpose.They are a relic looking for a job.It's mostly American might anyway.Plus ,the thinking these few people are so important we can not fuction with out them make me ill .If they need so much protection have the meeting at area 51 in the desert.Jack O'neill can host.

[sarcasmic]

They are a relic looking for a job.

They've got a job. They give an appearance that the "international community" approves by contributing a dozen soldiers to what would otherwise be a unilateral American military attack.

[albo]

I'm betting Emanuel sits on a throne made of the bones of his enemies while sipping spiced wine from the skull of Mayor Daley.

[Pip]

'm betting Emanuel sits on a throne made of the bones of his enemies while sipping spiced wine from the skull of Mayor Daley Jimmy Hoffa.

[Restoras]

I encourage Chi-town Reasonoids to build and launch Estes rockets during said summit. Would be awesome to see one shot down.

[Trespassers W]

GAH YOU SCOOPED ME.

Oh well, here was my intended post anyway:

goes to estes.com, adds to shopping cart

I had already been thinking of launching some model rockets off my deck this summer. Bad idea?

[Tonio]

No, please don't. Model rocketry has suffered enough problems due to post 9/11 security hysteria.

[fried wylie]

Seriously, don't cause Estes to get Gibson'd.

[sarcasmic]

I remember as a kid in the 80s taking a model rocket in a carry on on a flight. They did notice it on the x-ray. After showing them the parachute and that there was no motor, they let me through.

I shudder to think what would happen to someone who tried that today.

[anon]

Mine always got stuck in trees. Damn North Carolina...

[RFID]

Use a streamer and not a parachute. Parachute is unnecessary unless you have one of the larger models and are basically tree magnets. Should cut down your tree-climbing.

[Brandon]

I tried a helicopter one once. It sucked. The blades deployed, and then broke off when the rocket slammed full speed into the ground anyway.

[anon]

Those things travel pretty fast and are very small. I doubt any country has the capability to detect & destroy one. 🙁

[anon]

The sad face is because I'd like to shoot model rockets up just to see them exploded.

Not that this feat couldn't be accomplished anyways.

[sarcasmic]

Fireworks would be cool. Set up some big ass mortars with some sort of timed fuse so you could be way the fuck somewhere else when they went off.

[Brett L]

OT: sharks with frickin' laser beams

[Soc Indv Sparky]

I think the detachable drones stuck to its sides are way cooler than the laser.

[Aresen]

Al Queda will sneak in disguised as an Asian Carp and bite their toes off.

[Rich]

On February 25, 1991 the Warsaw Pact was declared disbanded at a meeting of defense and foreign ministers from Pact countries meeting in Hungary.

One can hope.

[Pip]

"Warsaw Pact"

Named after Warsaw, Poland.

Greatest. Irony. Ever.

[brec]

Haven't read the whole thread but...

For those not aware TFRs -- Temporary Flight Restrictions -- are common. There are usually a few actually temporary ones at any given time: anywhere the President or VP goes, major sporting events, wildfire fighting areas, etc. There are permanent ones at Disneyland, and in the Washington DC area, etc.

Here's the current list.

[db]

NATO's gonna be real surprised when Kim Jong Un's diesel submarine surfaces off lakeshore drive and launches a volley.

[Death Rock and Skull]

I'm digging out my rockets. The Yankee and the Patriot in honor of America. I hope your propellants have not absorbed significant moisture in the basement. I'm so sorry I had to get bored with you, but that's the way it had to be. Rocket day is going to be sweet.