Some describe as “unprecedented” the notion of the President of the United States abandoning the White House to spend weekends in New York so he can sleep in his own bed. I think “outlandish” is a better way of describing this logistical nightmare. Some might think the cost of taking Air Force One ( estimated between $150,000 and $200,000/hour) on weekend jaunts to NY is going to be outlandish. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
Forget the impact on shopping in midtown. Tiffany’s, Prada, Gucci, Saks, et al. will be fine. They may just have to shift to hours by appointment at their flagship stores.
Let’s pretend money is no object and look at the logistic impact of Trump taking weekend jaunts back to NY. Let’s start with the snarling of traffic in NY. Everything coming south on 5th Avenue will have to be rerouted either to Park Avenue (Madison is Northbound) or 7th Avenue (6th is Northbound). Since you are coming down the east side of Central Park, that means you can’t go West (to 7th) until 59th St. That effectively dumps a huge load on crosstown traffic, which is already bad.
And it’s not just people driving. Buses use the streets too. Cutting off 5th Avenue at 59th Street cuts across the 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 routes. This is going to force rerouting of buses. This will also have a spill over effect as traffic backs up northward along 5th Avenue. Cross town traffic at 79th Street will also be affected. That will impact the Upper West Side, which will already take a hit as Broadway Southbound takes a beating until you hit Columbus Circle. All of that is going to spill out to adjacent streets. People will be nostalgic for the days when gridlock only lasted for hours.
But we’re not done. Not even close. Let’s consider the impact of flying Air Force One up the coast from DC to NY (and back) just once a week. Whenever the President of the United States is airborne, the space around Air Force One is considered prohibited airspace.
Violating prohibited airspace established for national security purposes may result in military interception and/or the possibility of an attack upon the violating aircraft. Aircraft violating or about to violate prohibited airspace will often be warned beforehand on 121.5 Mhz, the emergency frequency for aircraft.
Just how big is that airspace? It covers miles. The areas within the red circles are restricted airspace when Air Force One is at JFK. Only aircraft coming and going from LaGuardia and JFK are permitted in first red ring.
For the inner cores (which are only in effect for a couple hours), it's even more restrictive: emergency air craft must receive prior approval to enter the airspace. News choppers and business flights are prohibited. TSA-approved commercial flights — basically those of any major carrier — are approved.
When Air Force One is in the air the TFR moves with the plane. The outer ring is about 30 miles in diameter. However, more restrictive inner rings range from 8 to 10 miles in diameter.
As Air Force One flies over commercial airports, planes on the ground are usually delayed. There is about a 30 minute window before and behind Air Force One. Anyone on a plane delayed by this Air Traffic Control decision is not eligible for compensation, refunds or even assistance finding lodging by the airline since it is not an airline mistake.
Flying from Washington to NY puts the plane over BWI, Philadelphia International, and Newark, to name a few.
But wait…. we’re not done.
Once President (elect) Trump arrives at JFK, he still has to get to Trump Towers. Now this can be handled two ways. One way is to simply drive. Of course that means the Presidential motorcade now has to be deployed. That means you are adding a SECOND jet, that would be C-17 Globemaster. You think the Presidential Limo drives itself? Sometimes they economize and use a smaller transport jet. But no matter how you do it, the President has to arrive in a bomb proof vehicle. The “Beast” ain’t light.
I won’t go into the logistical nightmare of lane closures as you drive in to the city. Let’s pretend they decide that headache is too much to deal with and they go for a second option: a helicopter.
Now you are bringing Marine One along for the ride. This is usually the ride of choice to Camp David. You can tell when the President is flying to Camp David. There are three large Sikorsky helicopters (modified Black Hawks) in the air in formation. So when you fly Marine One, you really fly three choppers. One is a decoy, one is loaded with countermeasures. One has the Boss.
You aren’t landing those in midtown.
The most convenient landing pad would be East 34th Street Heliport (6N5), since it’s a relatively quick trip uptown on the East Side with minimal lane closures. Basically, you would shut down the FDR Drive, the main artery running along the East River, from 34th Street to about 53rd Street and then shut down 53rd until you hit Madison. Doable, but certainly a prescription for chaos all up and down the East Side. You wouldn’t have to shut down the Queensborough Bridge, or the Brooklyn Bridge. But you probably would have to shut down the Midtown Tunnel, which would impact the Long Island Expressway (495).
Another options is the West 30th Street Heliport (JRA). This is open 24/7 and sits on about 2 acres, so you have lots of space and access. But now you have to get across town as well as head North. The most direct shot would be to shut down 30th street all the way across Manhattan from the Hudson River to 5th Avenue. You would probably have to temporarily stop all the traffic on the Hudson River Greenway, that’s the major artery running along the Hudson River on New York’s West Side.
Then you just have to reverse the whole process to extract the President and get him back to DC.