Super Bowl TFR: huge, but smaller than last year?

NoHeat

NoHeat

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The security theater has shrunk. It is 30 NM radius this year, vs 32 NM last year.

Last year the 32 NM radius around San Jose was bigger than the SFRA around Washington DC! It looked giant, compared to the San Francisco Class Bravo. FAA Advisory here

This year, the 30 NM around Houston is the same size as the SFRA, and it looks about the same size as Houston's Class Bravo. TFR info here

 
It was nice of them to make the cut off just north of my home field KLBX. My Garmin 430 had a problem and I had to send it in for repair so I decided to do my annual early but I might be able to get a ride from someone else over the weekend

Gary
 
You guys do understand that you can operate in the outer ring, right? It's not a prohibition, and not hard to deal with. Read the NOTAM.

30 vs 32 miles is not a lot of difference.
 
MAKG1 said:
You guys do understand that you can operate in the outer ring, right? It's not a prohibition, and not hard to deal with. Read the NOTAM.

30 vs 32 miles is not a lot of difference.
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No matter how pointless the reason when our freedoms get whittled away, you can always find people that will say it's "not a big deal."
 
tawood said:
No matter how pointless the reason when our freedoms get whittled away, you can always find people that will say it's "not a big deal."
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And no matter how innocent a comment, someone will take it in a political bent...

Your statement and the one you quoted are orthogonal. I won't speak for MAKG, but for myself, do I believe that this sort of security theater is essentially pointless? Yeah, absolutely. It's a silly placation. A presidential TFR? I'll buy that: protecting one or a handful of people and vehicles with a buffer space is a solid practice. But for protecting a large and immovable stadium against a fast moving aircraft threat? Nothing about that makes sense to me.

But it's also objectively true that the outer ring is no big deal. I flew during last superbowl in the outer ring. The only added step was filing a flight plan on my iPad just before engine start. I didn't even open it. It doesn't make it right or effective. It doesn't mean we shouldn't oppose the creation of it. It just means that it was not a lot of effort to work around.

Whoever designed this TFR is almost certainly the same group that designed the last one. I'll bet that if we bring up the last one and look near the edge of the 32 mile ring, there would be something in there that was deliberately included for some reason. I don't see any basic change in philosophy from the last TFR and this one.
 
arnoha said:
And no matter how innocent a comment, someone will take it in a political bent...

Your statement and the one you quoted are orthogonal. I won't speak for MAKG, but for myself, do I believe that this sort of security theater is essentially pointless? Yeah, absolutely. It's a silly placation. A presidential TFR? I'll buy that: protecting one or a handful of people and vehicles with a buffer space is a solid practice. But for protecting a large and immovable stadium against a fast moving aircraft threat? Nothing about that makes sense to me.

But it's also objectively true that the outer ring is no big deal. I flew during last superbowl in the outer ring. The only added step was filing a flight plan on my iPad just before engine start. I didn't even open it. It doesn't make it right or effective. It doesn't mean we shouldn't oppose the creation of it. It just means that it was not a lot of effort to work around.

Whoever designed this TFR is almost certainly the same group that designed the last one. I'll bet that if we bring up the last one and look near the edge of the 32 mile ring, there would be something in there that was deliberately included for some reason. I don't see any basic change in philosophy from the last TFR and this one.
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I'll say it again. READ THE DAMN NOTAM.

This one doesn't even mention flight plans or contact with ATC. It's REALLY not a big deal.

The whole point of the outer ring is that they don't want you headed for the inner ring. Basically, the political objection is against someone drawing a circle on a map. It's about as political as Class C outer rings.

If you're going to make a political statement, check your facts first, or you're just being an idiot.

Regardless of any TFR, flying near a major sporting event is NOT fun. The 10 mile ring is as much about midair collision prevention than anything else. Do you have any idea what air traffic is like even over a minor baseball game?
 
MAKG1 said:
I'll say it again. READ THE DAMN NOTAM.

This one doesn't even mention flight plans or contact with ATC. It's REALLY not a big deal.

The whole point of the outer ring is that they don't want you headed for the inner ring. Basically, the political objection is against someone drawing a circle on a map. It's about as political as Class C outer rings.

If you're going to make a political statement, check your facts first, or you're just being an idiot.

Regardless of any TFR, flying near a major sporting event is NOT fun. The 10 mile ring is as much about midair collision prevention than anything else. Do you have any idea what air traffic is like even over a minor baseball game?
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Well, I did read the previous NOTAM. I haven't read this one that closely since I'm quite far away so there's not much need for me to. Nice to see the flight plan is no longer required!

Was the political statement sentence aimed at me? I didn't think I made a political statement, more that politicizing everything someone says makes communicating really difficult.
 
Am I reading it wrong? I see a requirement that operations in the 30nm outer ring are limited to local arrivals and departures on an active flight plan squawking a discrete code assigned by ATC. Transit flights are workload permitting and all variety of other flights from mechanical test flights to training and even pipeline patrol are prohibited.

F. FOR OPERATIONS WI THE AIRSPACE BETWEEN THE 10NM RADIUS AND 30NM RADIUS AREA(S) LISTED ABOVE, KNOWN AS THE OUTER RING(S): ALL AIRCRAFT OPERATING WI THE OUTER RING(S) LISTED ABOVE ARE LIMITED TO AIRCRAFT ARRIVING OR DEPARTING LOCAL AIRFIELDS, 1702052200-1702060559 END PART 5 OF 7 !FDC 7/7674 ZHU PART 6 OF 7 TX..AIRSPACE HOUSTON, TEXAS..TEMPORARY FLIGHT AND WORKLOAD PERMITTING, ATC MAY AUTHORIZE TRANSIT OPERATIONS. AIRCRAFT MAY NOT LOITER. ALL AIRCRAFT MUST BE ON AN ACTIVE IFR OR VFR FLIGHT PLAN WITH A DISCRETE CODE ASSIGNED BY AN AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL (ATC) FACILITY. AIRCRAFT MUST BE SQUAWKING THE DISCRETE CODE PRIOR TO DEPARTURE AND AT ALL TIMES WHILE IN THE TFR AND MUST REMAIN IN TWO-WAY RADIO COMMUNICATIONS WITH ATC. G. THE FOLLOWING OPERATIONS ARE NOT AUTHORIZED WI THIS TFR: UNMANNED AIRCRAFT SYSTEMS (UAS), MODEL AIRCRAFT OPERATIONS, MODEL ROCKETRY, FLIGHT TRAINING, PRACTICE INSTRUMENT APPROACHES, AEROBATIC FLIGHT, GLIDER OPERATIONS, SEAPLANE OPERATIONS, PARACHUTE OPERATIONS, ULTRALIGHT, HANG GLIDING, BALLOON OPERATIONS, AGRICULTURE/CROP DUSTING, ANIMAL POPULATION CONTROL FLIGHT OPERATIONS, BANNER TOWING OPERATIONS, SIGHTSEEING OPERATIONS, MAINTENANCE TEST FLIGHTS, AND UTILITY 1702052200-1702060559 END PART 6 OF 7 !FDC 7/7674 ZHU PART 7 OF 7 TX..AIRSPACE HOUSTON, TEXAS..TEMPORARY FLIGHT AND PIPELINE SURVEY OPERATIONS.
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MAKG1 said:
Regardless of any TFR, flying near a major sporting event is NOT fun. The 10 mile ring is as much about midair collision prevention than anything else. Do you have any idea what air traffic is like even over a minor baseball game?
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Or the 100 drones used for the halftime show? It was cool though, and they were operating safely in a restricted area.
 
iamtheari said:
Am I reading it wrong? I see a requirement that operations in the 30nm outer ring are limited to local arrivals and departures on an active flight plan squawking a discrete code assigned by ATC. Transit flights are workload permitting and all variety of other flights from mechanical test flights to training and even pipeline patrol are prohibited.
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Revision. That's why it's important to check NOTAMs right before departure.

Here is an earlier version.

F. FOR OPERATIONS WITHIN THE AIRSPACE BETWEEN THE 10 NMR AND 30 NMR AREA(S) LISTED ABOVE, KNOWN AS THE OUTER RING(S): ALL AIRCRAFT OPERATING WITHIN THE OUTER RING(S) LISTED ABOVE ARE LIMITED TO AIRCRAFT ARRIVING OR DEPARTING LOCAL AIRFIELDS, AND WORKLOAD PERMITTING, ATC MAY AUTHORIZE TRANSIT FLIGHT H. FAA RECOMMENDS THAT ALL AIRCRAFT OPERATORS CHECK NOTAMS FREQUENTLY FOR POSSIBLE CHANGES TO THIS TFR PRIOR TO OPERATIONS WITHIN THIS REGION. I. THE SYSTEM OPERATIONS SUPPORT CENTER (SOSC), IS THE POINT OF CONTACT AND COORDINATION FACILITY FOR ANY QUESTIONS REGARDING THIS NOTAM AND ARE AVAILABLE DAILY FROM 0700-2300 EASTERN, PHONE 202-267-8276. 1702052200-1702060559
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I was working on my plane at KLBX south of Houston yesterday. The airport lies just over 4 miles south of the southern end of the TFR. At 4:33, 3 minutes after the TFR went into effect, the local FBO called a plane that was flying patterns.

They said they had just received a call from 'the US Government' asking them to call the plane flying patterns to tell them that 'they had almost violated the TFR' and that 'the government' was just about ready to take action when the plane turned.

The guy had been turning base for his patterns 3 miles north of the runway, about 1 mile south of the TFR, where all the locals turn, for nearly an hour. They upset the guy enough that he landed and asked the FBO for the number of the person that had called them so he could call them back.

I've heard call-outs on 121.5 before that said someone was approaching the boundaries of a TFR but I've never heard someone told that they had 'almost violated' before they turned. If the US Government had been watching them for any length of time they would have seen the guy turn at about the same point every 5 or 6 minutes for quite a while before they got excited.

I did see the Thunderbirds fly over three times shortly after 5 PM central so I'm guessing they did something for the pregame. It's always cool to see low passes from the demonstration teams.

Gary
 
30/10 is pretty much the standard these days. Expect it to be the norm.
 
GaryV said:
I was working on my plane at KLBX south of Houston yesterday. The airport lies just over 4 miles south of the southern end of the TFR. At 4:33, 3 minutes after the TFR went into effect, the local FBO called a plane that was flying patterns.

They said they had just received a call from 'the US Government' asking them to call the plane flying patterns to tell them that 'they had almost violated the TFR' and that 'the government' was just about ready to take action when the plane turned.

The guy had been turning base for his patterns 3 miles north of the runway, about 1 mile south of the TFR, where all the locals turn, for nearly an hour. They upset the guy enough that he landed and asked the FBO for the number of the person that had called them so he could call them back.

I've heard call-outs on 121.5 before that said someone was approaching the boundaries of a TFR but I've never heard someone told that they had 'almost violated' before they turned. If the US Government had been watching them for any length of time they would have seen the guy turn at about the same point every 5 or 6 minutes for quite a while before they got excited.

I did see the Thunderbirds fly over three times shortly after 5 PM central so I'm guessing they did something for the pregame. It's always cool to see low passes from the demonstration teams.

Gary
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3 **miles**?

It's obvious. They didn't believe he was in the pattern, and thought he was testing the boundaries. That's a 1/2 mile runway. He could have lost sight of it in legal VMC.

A proper pattern is 1/4 to 1/2 mile, for all legs. If you're going out three miles, you're not doing it right. And everyone there flies that badly? Yikes.
 
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