Republican National Convention - Event and TFRs this week!

[Timothy Boger 942264]

Good afternoon!

 

Tonight (8/31) ZMP will be hosting an event to simulate the Republican National Convention TFRs. This event will run beginning at 1800 Central / 23z. Please join us by flying into either MSP or STP!

 

Also, we will be simming the TFRs this week as per the real world hours. There are three stages of the restrictions.

 

-No TFR: Duh, no restrictions. No TFR will be in place in the hours Midnight to 9am daily Monday-Thursday

 

-3nm: A 3 nautical mile radius around the Xcel Energy Center, at 44.5638N/093.0643W. No traffic other than military and emergency aircraft, as well as scheduled transport category and TSA-cleared aircraft, will be allowed in this area up to but not including FL180. This includes St. Paul Downtown / KSTP. This TFR will be in place 900 - 1600 local time on Monday and 900 - 1200 local time Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.

 

-10nm/30nm TFR - Within 10nm of the convention: No traffic other than military and emergency aircraft, as well as scheduled transport category and TSA-cleared aircraft, will be allowed in this area up to but not including FL180. This includes Minneapolis/St. Paul Int'l / KMSP as well as KSTP and KSGS. Within a 30NM radius of the convention, only traffic arriving or departing local fields will be allowed unless traffic levels permit transit operations. All aircraft must be on a VFR or IFR flight plan and be squawking a discrete squawk code in altitude mode while in the outer ring. This TFR is in place 1600 - 0000 on Monday and 1200 - 2400 local Tuesday through Thursday.

 

Aircraft requesting TSA-access that are not scheduled airline operations (we will use our judgement or we will ask you...we're not going to be extremely difficult about this) will need to land at a "Gateway Airport" and be under a ground hold for a minimum of 10 minutes before continuing to their destination of MSP, STP, or SGS. The Gateway Airports in use will be RST (Rochester, MN), EAU (Eau Claire, WI) and STC (St. Cloud, MN).

 

Thanks, and see you there!

[Timothy Boger 942264]

Sorry for not mentioning this. This is a purely voluntary TFR, don't want to scare you guys away!

[Paul Heaney 879309]

So much for keeping the Politics out of VATSIM

[Alex Vainer 929287]

I think it's a great idea.

[Harold Rutila 974112]

Great concept, but very difficult to enforce (ZDV had the DNC a week ago). Good luck!

[Timothy Boger 942264]

Right, Paul, I hear ya. Again, I've rethought this today and we're definitely not going to MAKE anybody do this. I don't want to scare anybody away by some dumb rule.

[Lakhbir Singh 936840]

Right, Paul, I hear ya. Again, I've rethought this today and we're definitely not going to MAKE anybody do this. I don't want to scare anybody away by some dumb rule.

 

 

so why post it in the first place?

[Timothy Boger 942264]

What do you mean? I put it up partially to advertise the event, and partially to let you know of the TFRs, if you decide to participate. Seems pretty logical to me.

[Gunnar Lindahl]

Right, Paul, I hear ya. Again, I've rethought this today and we're definitely not going to MAKE anybody do this. I don't want to scare anybody away by some dumb rule.

 

 

so why post it in the first place?

 

The more pressing question: why did you post? I don't often get caught up in flame wars because I find them pointless, but Timothy and his crew have obviously put a lot of effort into this event and now you're trying to degrade them while obviously having no clue what is going on... They set up TFRs which are voluntary to make it more realistic, what's the problem?

 

Hope the event went well.

[Timothy Boger 942264]

You bet, the event went great! And the TFRs are in place thru Thursday (though the RNC schedule is abbrev. today due to the Hurricane) so come by and check it out!

[Justin A. Martin]

Tim,

 

I just wanted to let you know you handled the TFRs very well. To make a TFR mandatory is a little unfair and hard to enforce on VATSIM. I think allowing pilots to particpate with them but not make them required is a very smart decision. Again, well handled.

 

Justin