Temporary flight restrictions issued for military aerial demonstration teams like the Blue Angels and Thunderbirds represent one of the more operationally rigid categories of airspace restriction a pilot will encounter, and the Reddit thread raises a question that comes up repeatedly in general aviation circles: how close is too close when trying to skirt the edge of one for photography or general curiosity. The FAA typically issues these TFRs under 14 CFR 91.145, and for major air show performances the restricted volume is not a simple 5-mile ring but a complex, multi-tiered structure. A common configuration includes a 5-nautical-mile radius surface-to-17,999 feet MSL "inner core" limited strictly to show participants, media, and law enforcement with prior authorization, and an outer ring extending out to roughly 6 to 12 nautical miles (depending on the specific NOTAM) where transient VFR traffic may transit only under specific conditions, often requiring two-way radio contact with the TFR's controlling ATC facility or a stated altitude floor above the demonstration airspace.
The practical answer to "could you" is that flying along the outer boundary is technically legal only if the pilot has verified the exact TFR NOTAM currently in effect, understands which ring they're in, and complies with any communication or transponder requirements published in that NOTAM. But "would you" is really the more important question, and the more experienced answer from pilots who fly regularly near these events is a hard no on precision boundary-hugging. GPS position uncertainty, momentary course corrections, wind drift, and the fact that ADS-B position reporting has a small but real margin of error all mean that a pilot who believes they're 0.2 miles outside a 5-mile ring may in fact be inside it. Blue Angels and Thunderbirds TFRs are aggressively enforced, in part because the demonstration aircraft themselves are maneuvering at high speed and low altitude with tight tolerances, and an intercept by military aircraft or a call from a TRACON is not an abstraction — pilots have had aircraft intercepted, been cited for TFR violations carrying certificate action, and in some cases faced greater FAA scrutiny than for more common regulatory infractions specifically because these events draw heavy public and media attention.
For working pilots, the incident illustrates why TFR discipline deserves the same procedural rigor as any other regulatory constraint, particularly for charter, corporate, and fractional operators flying near metro areas hosting air shows, stadium events, or VIP movements. A Part 135 or Part 91K flight department transiting near a Blue Angels TFR isn't just risking a violation — it's risking a certificate action that could jeopardize the operator's certificate holder standing, and any enforcement action tends to trigure additional scrutiny of the entire operation's compliance culture. The prudent operational answer, and the one most commercial and business aviation SOPs would dictate, is to build in generous buffers — many professional pilots use 10 nautical miles as a personal minimum rather than the published boundary, treat any charted TFR boundary as a "hard deck" not to be approached, and always brief dispatch or flight following on planned routing near known event airspace well before departure.
More broadly, this thread reflects an ongoing tension in general aviation between the desire to observe and photograph high-visibility aerial events and the FAA's increasingly assertive posture on airspace security since the early 2000s, when Presidential and VIP TFRs, stadium TFRs, and demonstration team TFRs became far more common and far more strictly enforced than in earlier decades. The rise of ADS-B tracking, near-universal public access to flight tracking data, and heightened scrutiny following past TFR-violation incidents have made "flying the edge" a much riskier proposition than it may have been in earlier eras, and pilots — whether flying a Cessna 172 for the fun of watching an air show or operating a business jet transiting nearby airspace — are well served by treating conservative separation from these TFRs as standard practice rather than an aspirational goal.