Bush Aircraft to Rule Southland Skies Today : ‘We’ll Keep Him Away From Other Airplanes and Keep Other Planes Away From Him’--FAA

It may be one of the country’s busiest aerial thoroughfares, but today the sky over Orange and Los Angeles counties belongs to President George Bush.

The President will leapfrog through the crowded airspace of the Los Angeles basin, skirting two busy airports, on his journey to and from a remote Orange County ranch.

But despite Bush’s proximity to Orange County’s John Wayne and Los Angeles’ airports, spokesmen for the Federal Aviation Administration said that there should be no interruptions of commercial or private flights at those airfields.

“We’ll just keep him away from other airplanes and keep other airplanes away from him,” said Dick Morrison, section supervisor in the airspace and procedures branch of the FAA’s air traffic division in Los Angeles.

“You need to keep in mind that this is not the only time a President has moved through a heavily traveled area,” Secret Service spokesman Richard Adams said in Washington, D.C. After Air Force One touches down at the Marine Corps Air Station in El Toro about 11:30 a.m., Bush will board a helicopter dubbed Marine One, brought in for the occasion from the base at Quantico, Va. The chopper will fly the 15 miles to Rancho del Rio, not far from Caspers Wilderness Park, where a couple of helicopter landing pads have been fashioned for the President and his entourage.

After a tour, a speech, the presentation of a check to fight drugs and a bite to eat with invited guests, Bush will take off again via helicopter to Santa Monica Airport for an afternoon reception at UCLA.

The FAA has issued NOTAMs--”notice to airmen”--that advise pilots when and where airspace is restricted while the President is in the air. All pilots are expected to inspect NOTAMs, posted at all flight service stations, before they take off, Morrison said.

In addition, any time the President is on the ground, the FAA declares “special use airspace,” barring pilots from flying directly overhead, said Jim Panter, manager of the FAA’s radar station that covers Orange County. The restricted space is a 3-mile circle 2,000 feet deep, he added.

It should not be difficult to keep pilots from buzzing Rancho del Rio, Panter said. “That’s not a general flyway.”

During Bush’s brief trip over Orange County today, his presidential aircraft--both Air Force One and Marine One--will be monitored by radar by the FAA’s Coast TRACON (Terminal Radar Approach Control). When Marine One flies to Santa Monica, the helicopter will be “handed off” to Los Angeles TRACON somewhere southeast of Los Angeles, when the aircraft passes over the invisible boundary between the two radar stations, FAA spokesmen said.

Bush’s exact flight path is not revealed beforehand for security reasons, the Secret Service said.

Tom Rea, air traffic manager at the John Wayne Airport tower, said he did not expect Marine One’s flight to have any impact on airliners flying into or out of the airport this afternoon. Even flights into busy Los Angeles International Airport should not be affected when the presidential chopper goes by on its way to Santa Monica, Morrison said.

“That’s why LAX has four runways,” he noted.

Just how many other aircraft will be in the entourage also was not disclosed Monday for security reasons, Adams said.

NEW SYSTEM?

Southern California’s air-traffic control could change after the near-collision of two jetliners. Part I, Page 3