Funny article in the Providence Journal about eight guys who built and lived in a small apartment within the Providence Place Mall parking garage for four years:

The apartment, which was relatively soundproof, contained a sectional sofa, a love seat, a coffee table, a breakfast table with four chairs, lamps, a throw rug, a hutch and paintings on the walls. Although the group had bold improvement plans, the apartment lacked running water, a refrigerator and a toilet.

I’d like to think that if the captain of Comair Flight 5191 wasn’t dead and the co-pilot wasn’t recovering from his serious injuries, they’d have put the brakes on this stupidity and taken the blame that they deserve for their mistake. Their wives are suing the airport, Jeppesen, the FAA, and the squirrels who looked at the pilots wrong as they taxied to the wrong runway, failed to check their compass against their assigned runway heading, and then failed to abort the takeoff in a timely and safe manner.

This reminds me of the accident at Westerly, Rhode Island that was a battle of the stupids — Stupid #1 taxied onto a runway with an aircraft on short final, and then Stupid #2 continued to land on that runway, despite the presence of another aircraft. Their widows then commenced suing each other, the airport, the FAA, the state of Rhode Island, et cetera. Pilots make mistakes, and sometimes with tragic results. The tragedy is only compounded when their families try to lay the blame where it doesn’t belong, harming the aviation economy for everybody else.

Note to my family: if I crash and die, and it’s even the least bit attributable to error on my part (which it will be — almost every general aviation crash is), please do not sue anybody. Do not compound the injury to my piloting memory by engaging in totally frivolous lawsuits that harm the rest of the aviation community. Thanks.

My fiancée, Michelle, and I went out to the Mediterraneo Caffé in Providence, Rhode Island for dinner tonight. It was out of this world. The atmosphere was nice, our waiter was knowledgeable, efficient, and friendly, and the food was absolutely spectacular. We had the antipasto della casa for two as an appetizer, and we had fusilli alla vodka and filleto di maiale for dinner. The vodka pasta was very good; the filleto di maiale, a pork tenderloin marinated in honey, covered in seasoned bread crumbs and topped with an apple brandy cream sauce, was phenomenal. It might just be one of my favorite meals ever.

I highly recommend it to anyone looking for delicious Italian food in Providence. Mediterraneo Caffé is located at 134 Atwells Avenue, off Exit 21 on I-95.

President Bush is coming to Newport this Thursday.

It will be interesting from a piloting point of view because this will be my first experience with the temporary flight restrictions that move around with the President of the United States. The TFR is a lot bigger than I expected; there will be no-fly zones for ten nautical miles around both Quonset State Airport, where I presume Air Force One is going to land, and the Naval War College, where the president will be speaking. There’s also a zone with a 30-nautical mile radius which appears to impose restrictions along the lines of the District of Columbia ADIZ (air defense identification zone)–you’re allowed to fly in it, but you have to be on a discrete transponder code, and you have to be in contact with air traffic control. Additionally, flight training, parachuting, and other flight activities that don’t involve flying in a straight line from one place to another are disallowed. This 30-mile zone is going to include the airports in New Bedford, Taunton, Block Island, and Westerly.

(Click on the map for a larger version.)

Newport State Airport, of course, is within both 10-mile no-fly zones, and it’s where my airplane is tied down, so I’ll be barred from flying for the duration of the restrictions, which are scheduled to be in effect from about 10 AM to 4 PM.

I don’t think it’s been announced yet, but I assume that the president will be transported via helicopter from Quonset State Airport to the Naval Station in Newport, rather than motorcading across the Narragansett Bay bridges.

What are your opinions on the temporary flight restrictions? My first impression is that they’re unlikely to stop a determined attacker. How hard is it to get a discrete transponder code and to stay in contact with air traffic control, which is enough to get within 10 nautical miles of the president’s location? From there, even a slow general aviation aircraft would be able to cover the distance before the president’s security team could likely react. I don’t want to see the no-fly zones get any bigger, though; while the president’s safety is important, so is not having his travel shut down the aviation economy within large radii of his location. This Thursday, for example, anyone who has scheduled any sort of flight training, parachute jumping, or banner-towing is going to have to re-book; those activities are forbidden even within the larger 30-mile circle. General aviation activity at Providence, Quonset, and Newport is going to be halted entirely. Flight instructors, sightseeing operations, and many other small aviation-related businesses within 30 miles of the Naval War College are going to lose over 6 hours of business.

And of course, scheduled airline service into Providence (which is within the 10-mile no-fly zone) is completely unaffected by the flight restrictions–even though the only aviation-related terrorism we’ve experienced has been committed on or against scheduled airliners.

I’d love to hear your comments and opinions; please send them to comments@charlesorourke.com and I’ll respond in a future column.