You make a good point, Don. Even more obvious, is the fact that flying at 3100 feet IN NO WAY hampers your ability to gauge the extent of the slicks belows you. In fact, it enhances it.

"In order to hide the true size of the oil volcano in the Gulf Of Mexico the FAA has banned all flights over a large swath of the ocean." is 1/3 conjecture, 1/3 lie, and 1/3 just plain stupid. The conjecture part is that we don't know WHY they do anything, for sure. The outright lie part is that nowhere in the area are flights prohibited, they are merely forced to fly over 3000 ft. The seriously stupid part is that at 3000 feet you can see the extent of any and all plumes. This is just the sort of disinfo that gets put out to make the actual researchers look like idiots, or else by well meaning people that have some difficulties with logic and reading. It takes what, 30 seconds to look over the FAA notice to see that the story is utterly false? Ok, make that 90 seconds.

Sensationalism at its best! No, it's not a large swath, it's less than 5% of the Gulf of Mexico. And it only applies to aircraft flying below 3,000'. Plus if you call up ATC, you can probably get down below 3,000' to take a look. The reason for the TFR is because of the huge amount of air traffic in the area which presents a real danger of mid-air collision. I would be upset if the FAA didn't control the airspace.