Rocket emblem on charts

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Frlsfoz

Filing Flight Plan
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Frlsfoz
Just happen to be looking at the sectionals on fore flight and noticed a rocket emblem at Houston, Waco and Midland Tx. Doesn't seem to be any explanations in the legends or on the maps for them.
Anyone have a clue?
 
The one at Waco (actually McGregor) is for SpaceX. They test rocket engines there and when they do it puts an unbelievable amount of water vapor into the air. The one at Midland has something to do with Virgin Galactic.
 
think Bezos, Branson, Musk.
Midland has a 'spaceport'...because I think someone there wanted to have a spaceport. There are no flights there. XCOR is located there, but almost 20 years and they have not flown (plus they laid off a bunch of ppl this year) - and if they do fly, it will be in Mojave anyway.
 
Sac Arrow said:
View attachment 47829
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Rocket symbols? That's old news.

There's a much newer symbol on VFR sectional charts. One that I'll bet is hardly known by most pilots.

A magenta diamond.

It appears in cities that have a big stadium located within 3 NM of an airport. In other words, it helps you identify airports that have intermittent stadium TFRs. This symbol is so new that it does not appear on all the current sectionals. Just the newest ones. It doesn't even appear on the sectional legend that Sac Arrow posted. But it does appear in the examples I show below.

Screen Shot 2016-09-12 at 11.32.03 PM.png


Screen Shot 2016-09-12 at 11.38.19 PM.png
 
Oh joy. With the diamond NOW the terrorists will know where to find the stadium.


<sarcasm alert>
 
It denotes a hole in the ground in which tax dollars were buried.
 
I thought it was the Pope's hat.

We had another thread on the TFR diamond. I wrote to the FAA charting people. It indeed is an intermittent TFR symbol, currently used only for the sporting event NOTAM. It's being phased in on the new sectionals as they are revised which is why it's use is a little inconsistent now (especially if you don't see the chart edges if you're dealing with a website or EFB mosaic).

I asked if they'd mark other TFR sites besides stadiums and racetracks like the Nukes, but they suggested I talk to AOPA (apparently AOPA badgered them to chart the sports venues).

Of course, Disney with much money and political clout gets an inset box as well as a notation in the chart margin.
 
flyingron said:
4/0811
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That's the old one - not that it's changed.

"advised" "extent practicable" "should"...

And then, it applies to nearly everything on the freeking planet except farmland... How many police stations are there in the U.S?

Not at TFR - a bureaucratic feel good NOTAM at best.

FDC 6/8818 - ...SPECIAL NOTICE...IN THE INTEREST OF NATIONAL SECURITY AND TO THE EXTENT PRACTICABLE, PILOTS AND UAS OPERATORS ARE STRONGLY ADVISED TO AVOID THE AIRSPACE ABOVE OR IN CLOSE PROXIMITY TO CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE AND OTHER SENSITIVE LOCATIONS SUCH AS POWER PLANTS (NUCLEAR, HYDRO-ELECTRIC, OR COAL), DAMS, REFINERIES, INDUSTRIAL COMPLEXES, MILITARY FACILITIES, CORRECTIONAL AND LAW ENFORCEMENT FACILITIES UNLESS OTHERWISE AUTHORIZED. PILOTS AND UAS OPERATORS SHOULD NOT CIRCLE AS TO LOITER IN THE VICINITY OVER THESE TYPES OF FACILITIES. 23 MAR 15:38 2016 UNTIL PERM. CREATED: 23 MAR 15:37 2016

What exactly is "Critical infrastructure"? Power lines, rail roads, cities, and highways?

Am I in trouble? (3:37)
 
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Doggtyred said:
The whole FDC notam thing about not circling or loitering over nuclear power plants and sensitive national security sites, which they wont chart because the locations are sensitive... :rolleyes:
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The locations aren't too sensitve, the NRC puts them all precisely on a google map for you: http://www.nrc.gov/info-finder/reactors/

It's only the FAA that's messed up. The original NOTAM gave locations so inaccurate and vague, you'd have never found them. In one case I am familiar with, they put two reactors in the same facility in the wrong state and with wildly different locations (one was listed as being like 25 miles E of Wilmington and the other 20 NE and they are right next to each other).

You can also type their name direct into google maps and get driving directions.
 
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