As we warned you, things were beginning (again) to look bad in Chicago... one of the most aviation-unfriendly locales in North America.

TSA officials have apparently started warning the GA community that a temporary flight restriction (TFR) over downtown Chicago will be issued within the next few hours. The TFR is expected to be similar to the TFR issued briefly in January last year, covering the downtown area but permitting normal flight operations along the lakefront and around Meigs Field airport. This approach was sought by AOPA once it was clear a TFR was going to be put in place.

Aero-bashing Chicago Mayor Richard Daley has reportedly been demanding that Chicago get the "the same thing as Mickey and Minnie," referring to the ill-conceived TFRs over Disney World and Disneyland issued earlier this week. He had been turned down by FAA, but he pushed the demand up to Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge. The Illinois governor and many members of the Illinois congressional delegation fell in behind Daley.

AOPA President Phil Boyer has sent letters to Daley and other politicians seeking airspace restrictions suggesting that they be careful about what they ask for. Boyer warned the politicians, "Be careful what you ask for."

"In the absence of a credible threat, it is inappropriate for the federal government to institute arbitrary airspace restrictions or allow the closing of vital general aviation airports," Boyer wrote. "You should consider the negative effects of media attention that is generated by airspace restrictions put in place during this time of war and heightened concerns over terrorist threats.

"Tourist and business travelers will interpret the restrictions to mean that there is an imminent threat of a terrorist act and will cancel plans to visit your city. For example after a restriction was put into place for Orlando, Florida-based Walt Disney World, an Associated Press story states that, 'Not everyone is convinced Disney World is safe.'"

ANN: We might add that it might behoove aviators the world over to rethink any plans to visit the Chicago area... if Chicago's myopic powers-that-be so want to isolate the aviation world, we should also isolate our dollars and business from Chicago and take them elsewhere. ANN's Editor-In-Chief was scheduling a trip that would have originally taken him through Chicago next month. Instead, he has canceled it, and all Chicago area activities that might have meant spending money there, and decided to conduct his trip through Milwaukee, instead. Boycott Chicago.

FMI: www.aopa.org, www.faa.gov, www.tsa.gov