The Ferguson No-Fly Zone Was Instituted to Keep Media Out: Report

The Michael Brown shooting and subsequent Ferguson, Missouri, protests rocked the nation in August. Two days after Brown was shot, on August 11th, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) of the United States instituted a “no-fly zone,” effective in 37 miles of airspace around the city. The restriction lasted several days, but the temporary flight restriction had a bizarre loophole: police helicopters could still patrol through the airspace, and a modification was made to allow commercial flights to still fly through the area in and out of the neighboring Lambert-St. Louis International Airport.