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With the increasing popularity of drones, the Federal Aviation Administration is reminding operators that aircraft are prohibited in the designated security zone during President Barack Obama’s Christmas visit.
FAA officials specifically are calling the area a “no drone zone.”
In an email to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, FAA spokesman Ian Gregor said: “People have always been prohibited from operating unmanned aircraft in the restricted area. This year, we are trying to emphasize, given the huge explosion in recreational use of drones, that you cannot operate a drone anywhere in the restricted area.”
President Barack Obama and his family are expected to arrive in Honolulu late Friday or early Saturday and remain for the New Year’s holiday. While traveling to Hawaii on Friday, the president plans to stop in San Bernardino, Calif., to meet with the families of the victims of the Dec. 2 mass shooting there.
The FAA has restricted airspace use to protect the Obamas by putting in place temporary flight restrictions around Oahu from Friday until Jan. 3. That area includes a highly restricted inner core roughly circling Marine Corps Base Hawaii, with a 10-nautical-mile radius. Excluded is a slice southwest of Koko Head.
An outer, less restricted ring encompasses the airspace between 10 and 30 nautical miles from the center of the temporary flight-restricted area. A nautical mile is 1.15 statute miles.
Drones may seem to be an easy way to capture video or photo images of the president and his family enjoying a swim, or Obama playing a round of golf.
But the FAA says anyone operating drones in the zone can be detained and interviewed by law enforcement or security personnel.
Other unauthorized activities within this restricted outer zone include: flight training, practice instrument approaches, aerobatic flight, glider operations, seaplane operations, parachute jumps, ultralight flight, hang-gliding, sightseeing operations, model aircraft operations and utility and pipeline survey operations.
Violators would be subject to civil penalties and may have their pilot certificates suspended or revoked.
Some operations will be allowed in the outer ring between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., but only if preapproved by the FAA, the Transportation Security Administration and the Secret Service.
The FAA advises aircraft operators to check Notices to Airmen for possible changes to the temporary flight restrictions before flying.
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