Gov't shutdown - Impact on GA

Chrisgoesflying

Chrisgoesflying

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Chrisgoesflying
I just read that if the shutdown continues, the gov't wants to cut airline flights by 10 with additional restrictions on space launches and general aviation flights. I get the impact this may have on airlines but what sort of "restrictions" can they put on GA flights, especially our sort of GA flights e.g. your typical Cherokee, Mooney, Comanche going on a weekend trip 500 miles from home? Article for reference: https://www.reuters.com/business/ae...without-shutdown-deal-sources-say-2025-11-05/

I've gone on 3 trips during the shutdown and always got flight following with my Comanche with no issues at Fort Worth Center, Houston Center, New Orleans Center and various Approach frequencies.
 
We've been dealing with "reduced ATC services" for over a year now as a result of the ATC staffing issues in British Columbia. I'm sure it'll be just more of the same now for US airspace not adjacent to our northern neighbors.

nationalpost.com

Two Canadian airports are briefly closing towers over lack of air traffic controllers

Airports in Kelowna and Winnipeg, are affected, and Air Canada has told its pilots "not to operate into these airports" during closures.
nationalpost.com nationalpost.com
 
Chrisgoesflying said:
I've gone on 3 trips during the shutdown and always got flight following with my Comanche with no issues at Fort Worth Center, Houston Center, New Orleans Center and various Approach frequencies.
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Until the shutdown is over, I'd suggest everyone plan to fly around Class B and Class C airspace and just assume you're not going to get Flight Following.

If you do and you can cut a corner through CBA & CBC airspace, great. But if they say no, you've already planned around them.
 
M20K said:
Until the shutdown is over, I'd suggest everyone plan to fly around Class B and Class C airspace and just assume you're not going to get Flight Following.

If you do and you can cut a corner through CBA & CBC airspace, great. But if they say no, you've already planned around them.
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I usually try to stay out of Bravo airspace regardless unless I'm landing inside a Bravo - them vectoring me in Bravo vs. me going around, above or below the Bravo is usually a wash anyways. Having said that, I do like flight following especially on longer x-country flights or near busy airspace, so hopefully that won't go away, or worse, the gov't restricting GA traffic at certain times of the day in general, but not sure if they can that?
 
M20K said:
Until the shutdown is over, I'd suggest everyone plan to fly around Class B and Class C airspace and just assume you're not going to get Flight Following.

If you do and you can cut a corner through CBA & CBC airspace, great. But if they say no, you've already planned around them.
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My only concern is those of us in and out of delta due to our base being one


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In the past week I've flown a LOT, and had no gaps in ATC service, including Milwaukee, Chicago, Houston, St Louis, DFW, etc. All IFR plans, but no real issues aside from having to phone in for takeoff clearances.
 
MIFlyer said:
My only concern is those of us in and out of delta due to our base being one
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Delta shouldn't be a concern. If the Tower is open, then the Controllers are there to do what they do any other day. If there are no Controllers and the Twr is closed, there is NO Delta.... Hope you remember how to fly In/Out of a Non-Towered Apt! But you can come and go as you please, the Twr isn't a requirement to fly. (But do be safe and keep your eyes on a swivel for those that don't know how to fly around a Non-Towered Apt.)
 
M20K said:
Delta shouldn't be a concern. If the Tower is open, then the Controllers are there to do what they do any other day. If there are no Controllers and the Twr is closed, there is NO Delta.... Hope you remember how to fly In/Out of a Non-Towered Apt! But you can come and go as you please, the Twr isn't a requirement to fly. (But do be safe and keep your eyes on a swivel for those that don't know how to fly around a Non-Towered Apt.)
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I was more worried if someone threw a hissy fit and restricted operations (ie, N12345 10 miles south, with kilo, inbound for landing. Unable, maintain clear of class Delta). To be fair, I really like all the controllers I've worked with over the radio, they're fantastic, but it just takes one person on a power trip.
 
This will give the airlines an excuse when your flight is cancelled for some other bogus reason.
 
This shut down can't be that bad. I mean the first americans got their monthly checks.
 
Chrisgoesflying said:
I have a Delta ticket that is non-refundable and they emailed me yesterday saying that due to the situation, I can cancel for a full refund at any time.
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Regardless of your ticket type, I believe all airlines operating in the US *MUST* refund your money if they cancel your flight or if it is delayed by (I think) 3 hours. (6 hours for International flights.)

FAA website should have something on this to confirm I'm remembering this correctly.
 
If I am reading the tea leaves correctly:

Gov shutdown > holiday air travel is hosed > FAA shutdown > my suddenly more valuable (and hypothetical) 134.5 flights escape scrutiny? :)
 
schmookeeg said:
If I am reading the tea leaves correctly:

Gov shutdown > holiday air travel is hosed > FAA shutdown > my suddenly more valuable (and hypothetical) 134.5 flights escape scrutiny? :)
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I share a common purpose for you to fly me and my family to the bahamas next week. I'm in for 1/2 gas. LOL
 
schmookeeg said:
If I am reading the tea leaves correctly:

Gov shutdown > holiday air travel is hosed > FAA shutdown > my suddenly more valuable (and hypothetical) 134.5 flights escape scrutiny? :)
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Give it a shot, and watch for certified mail after the shutdown ends.

Nauga,
who knows the tree still makes a sound
 
MIFlyer said:
I was more worried if someone threw a hissy fit and restricted operations (ie, N12345 10 miles south, with kilo, inbound for landing. Unable, maintain clear of class Delta).
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More likely they’ll refuse pattern work, but not a departure or landing…kind of like this one…
H

Thread 'Gov’t shutdown - Anyone else denied service ?'

Tonight I came back to KCFO at 8:45 local. First call, 10 miles south inbound for touch and go’s.
“Negative, no touch and go’s remain outside class D airspace”. Confused, I was getting close to the the Class D vail so I bank east into the black abyss. I called back and said this is my (temp) home base, is the airport closed? “Cleared to land 35R, full stop”. This was my first night landing in my new to me Bonanza, so this unexpected denial of trying to get my night currency threw me. I then tried to explain I was trying to get my night currency. I can’t remember exactly what...
 
M20K said:
Regardless of your ticket type, I believe all airlines operating in the US *MUST* refund your money if they cancel your flight or if it is delayed by (I think) 3 hours. (6 hours for International flights.)

FAA website should have something on this to confirm I'm remembering this correctly.
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Yeah, but the email said i can cancel for any reason from now until then even if the flight isn’t affected by the shutdown.
 
When you have all these large corporations losing money because flights are being reduced and canceled, chances are that may influence Congress discussions and end the shutdown sooner now, than later...
 
My experience today:
I received flight following from several smaller approach controls, but they weren't doing automated handoffs. Austin approach gave me the old, "Standby, remain clear of the Class C, <crickets>," treatment. Terminal Class D was great, but seemed to be operating only one position.
 
No class C services East of FUL today 11/8/25 due the ATC coverage/workload...
 
The Class C nearest my home base is one I fly through regularly. It is a Naval Air Station though (KNUW), and the controllers are military, so they are getting paid and presumably are fully staffed. I haven't had any difficulty transiting their airspace on my $100 hamburger flights.
Ea18-1.jpeg
 
Yesterday both SAT and AUS approach were advertising no practice approaches. I had no problem using flight following from SSF - RKP. For a fine day, there was surprisingly little VFR flying going on.
 
Flyhound said:
The Class C nearest my home base is one I fly through regularly. It is a Naval Air Station though (KNUW), and the controllers are military, so they are getting paid and presumably are fully staffed. I haven't had any difficulty transiting their airspace on my $100 hamburger.
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Fully staffed: Probably.
Paid: No.
 
Before the shutdown the Tampa airspace was overly saturated on most days. Now it’s only getting worse. Pilots in the area are reacquainting themselves with with the local airspace so as to avoid a violation
 
Just got the email about GA not being allowed at certain Class B airports. Check the notams near you. It was really the proper thing to do.
 
TCABM said:
Yesterday both SAT and AUS approach were advertising no practice approaches. I had no problem using flight following from SSF - RKP. For a fine day, there was surprisingly little VFR flying going on.
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They were saying the same on Friday. Austin approach ghosted me on Friday, and on Saturday I just flew over the class c.
 
I guess I'm the outlier here, both as a pilot and an airline passenger. It has been rough.

Sunday, 11/2: I flew my plane home from SoCal to the SRQ area. IFR flight plans the whole way. Getting through and out of Los Angeles airspace was a nightmare...got held for release nearly an hour, then vectored so much I had to change my first stop due to the extra fuel burn from the insane amount of vectoring. Lots of chatter about controllers unavailable and traffic metering around LAX. Lots of unpleasant situations heard with Centers across the country. At one point, I want to say with Houston ARTCC, I heard a bunch of airliners getting bumped down to FL270 and below due to "no controller available for the high-altitude sector." That was a new one I'd never heard before.

Thursday, 11/6: Getting from FL to SD on the airlines turned into a 25-hour odyssey, courtesy of ORD traffic management programs causing me to be so delayed I misconnected all the way up to and including the last flight of the night to my destination, followed by more traffic management fun after the overnight.

Saturday, 11/8: My Thursday booking was a last-minute change to help a work colleague. I found out that the first segment of my original itin on Sat into ATL was delayed over five hours, and the second segment to my destination was outright canceled. Upon learning this, I instantly became less frustrated with what I endured Thu-Fri.
 
Question: Why don't they just shut down the part time Class D towers and reassign those people?

Note: The Senate passed a measure last night that would end this mess. It's now up to the House to do their job and pass it.
 
StraightnLevel said:
Question: Why don't they just shut down the part time Class D towers and reassign those people?
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Most of the part time towers are contract towers, filled with non-federal employees.

For the federal towers, even if you could use those employees, they wouldn’t be trained or qualified in a different facility or for a different position.
 
StraightnLevel said:
Question: Why don't they just shut down the part time Class D towers and reassign those people?
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It seems to be a common misconception that ATC personnel are easily interchangeable between facilities. Unfortunately, I don't think it's true. I'll defer to the actual ATCs in the community, but my impression is that it takes 12-18 months for a controller to get qualified at a different facility. There just isn't a quick fix to a shortage for a controller shortage.

Personally, I made the decision a couple of days ago to avoid cutting through the DC SFRA and go around it instead. It was an extra 10 minutes of flying (so nothing, really) that avoided the controllers needing to worry about me. Monitoring the frequency though, they were consistently clearing light GA traffic into and out of the SFRA, so perhaps they wouldn't have minded.
 
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