A couple of friends needed a ride to Martha’s Vineyard, so we left the house just before 1 pm and drove to the Cirrus hangar. About two hours later we had landed at the big airport on Martha’s Vineyard and said goodbye to our friends. My favorite copilot and I then were picked up by a couple of friends and taken to Oak Bluffs to look at the gingerbread cottages and religious camps. We bought some fudge at Murdick’s and walked around the marina before heading over towards West Chop, stopping to pick up a lobster roll and some fresh Haddock for dinner. Before dinner we went to the beach and swam in the Vineyard Sound. Then our hostess cooked the fish and some Verrill Farm corn that we’d brought from Concord, MA. She drove us back to the airport at 9 pm where I ran into a friend who flies a Medflight Citation Jet. The weather had been reported as 300 overcast but as we were taxiing out the sky was clear so we never activated our instrument flight plan. Nonetheless we departed Runway 24 over the dark ocean and there was no way to control the airplane except by reference to instruments (same problem that JFK, Jr. had). About 30 minutes later we were back at Hanscom Field.
It occurred to me that we had done an entire typical Martha’s Vineyard vacation in one afternoon: beach, lobster roll, fish dinner, tourist fudge, quaint cottages, friends.
[When government officials go to the Vineyard things are a little more cumbersome. The Attorney General was vacationing this week, apparently. A taxpayer-funded Gulfstream was waiting at KMVY to pick him up. Dozens of Secret Service SUVs with Virginia license plates swarmed around the airport. Young beefy guys with earpiece radios roamed about. We could have paid him $1 million to take a “staycation” instead and come out ahead. Barack Obama’s end-of-the-month visit to the Vineyard is going to be even more costly. Rumor has it that the U.S. Navy has diverted two submarines to the island and the Secret Service have been casing various locations for months. When King Obama I is on the island both airports will be closed to private citizens. A guy who has been running sightseeing rides in an old biplane is going to lose about 10 percent of his annual income. If we assume that 1500 private flights will be cancelled and each flight would have been an average of 2 hours long, that’s 3000 hours of flying that won’t happen. Good for the environment, perhaps, but it will take more than $1 million out of the economy (figuring the average cost per hour of $300, lumping in jets and piston). Pilots won’t get paid. Fuel won’t get sold. Charter companies and flight schools will lose revenue.]
57 years ago Harry and Bess, fresh out a stint at the White House, set off to tour the USA in a stationwagen. No secret service, nothing. And remember, there was an actual assasination attempt during his administration. This has become absurd.
My wife and I had planned a trip to the island this year but with his highness’s airspace being closed we changed plans to a Colorado vacation instead. It’s not just aviation dollars that I won’t be spending there this year.
Totally agree with both Sean and Phil on this. “Security” has become an absurdity. When Obama visited Los Angeles awhile back, they literally closed half the major streets through West LA and Beverly Hills – it took over 3 hours to get from Santa Monica to West Hollywood (maybe 10 miles). Not to mention the impact of the 2-3 day GA closure (TFR) covering many SoCal airports including Van Nuys, Santa Monica, and Long Beach – three of the busiest GA airports in the US.
When Obama took his first trip to Europe, the London press pointed out that he was bringing an entourage of more than 500 people, including his own armored car, fleet of airplanes and helicopters. There is literally no one else in the world that travels like this.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/29/obama-london-visit-uk-g20
Ironically, at the same time Obama and congress were blasting the “rich executives” for flying on private jets.
The following video “National Geographic: Inside the U.S. Secret Service”: http://www.amazon.com/National-Geographic-Inside-Secret-Service/dp/B0002TT0O6 (you should find it in your local public library) gives you an inside view of how security is conducted by the White House secret service.
After watching it, you will be amazed at how involved securing the president is. For example, there is a fleet of presidential lemo’s that get transported with the president (even overseas), including the presidential Marine One, and the second Air Force One, is always on standby at a nearby airport — not to mention, as @Mike pointed out, over 100’s of security personal that transfer ahead of time!
The video covers everything, that takes place to move the president around, including the distraction to the community being visited. However, it doesn’t give you any $$ coverage.
Btw, it’s also very costly to move high level personal around, such as the vice president, and key cabinet members.
So why is it that only the US president needs so much security? How come the Chinese, the Brits, French, German premiers etc. need so little? Are we so hated in the world that there is more security threat to just the US president? Or is it just that the all the airplane/helicopter/limo suppliers etc. overhype the security threat, lobby and make money this way?
Reminds me of the Mexican drug lords. There is no middle class there, and anyone who makes any money in Mexico needs to travel around in armored cars.
“A guy who has been running sightseeing rides in an old biplane is going to lose about 10 percent of his annual income.”
Maybe he could make a novel application of the Federal Tort Claims Act to recover his losses.
Just looked up “lobster roll” in Wikipedia. Yikes! What a way to ruin a lobster. How gross can you get!
My family lived in Maryland for a while, and they have an equivalent in the “crab cake.”
My wife, from the fish-gobbling country of Japan, can’t understand why you can’t just eat seafood without screwing it up.
Even boiled crabs were treated with some sort of bizarre spice concoction called “Old Bay.” And don’t get me started about “seafood” restaurants, with half the menu deep fried.
Should see what happens to the west side of Los Angeles when he’s in town to do the Jay Leno show and has to drive over there. 405 freeway & Santa Monica Blvd? Shut it all down, entire westside and who knows if he even drove past there. Stopped all the surface traffic and let the 405 traffic keep going, odd considering “security concerns” and all.
And again, few days later in BEVERLY HILLS. An “alleged” visit by the President. BEVERLY HILLS HILTON HOTEL, for a “fund raiser.” No word yet if the “fundraiser” brought in more cash than security cost. What happened to the old days when all the “fundraising” was in private estates in Benedict Canyon?
Or wait, that was RON BURKLE’s house…where BILL has a place to stay anytime he wants. Guess “KING OBAMA” as you endearingly refer to him might not be in so good with Mr. BURKLE.
Submarines at MARTHA’s VINEYARD? Was Captain Frog’s Company providing “security” for the event? Some of them know about subs.