President Obama Visited Southern California

When President Barack Obama visited San Diego over the weekend, local aviation businesses were stuck on the ground due to the TFR that was imposed over parts of the city for two days.

Television Station XETV reports that when Air Force One parked at Miramar, several aviation businesses were unable to fly over the weekend.

The list of businesses included flights schools, skydiving operations, and similar businesses that would normally do good business over a weekend. But with the TFR in place, business owners sat and pondered how much money they were losing. Buzz Fink, the owner of one skydiving business, told the station that his operations were suspended all day Sunday and all day Monday.

Fink said that his company was losing about $15,000 per day for the two days, based on the number of tandem jumps they could offer to clients over a normal holiday weekend.

Flight schools and jet charter companies also felt the pinch. Normally busy airports were largely idle, and one flight instructor told the station that he'd had to cancel two student pilot checkrides because of the TFR. Of course, when no one is flying, they're also not buying any fuel.

President Obama's visit was for a two-day vacation over the Columbus Day holiday. The break followed a fundraising trip to Los Angeles.

FMI: www.whitehouse.gov, www.faa.gov