What FSS Doesn’t Know about Sporting-Event TFRs

Stephen Pope

Tuesday, September 20, 2011 at 08:55 PM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

The current sports season creates a high potential for pilots to encounter Temporary Flight Restrictions (TFRs) related to sporting events.
Pilots are solely responsible for knowing if their flight path is affected by sports TFRs, as flight service specialists do not track game schedules or potential overtimes.
Even after contacting Flight Service, pilots must proactively check separate resources, such as AOPA's TFR Locator, for sports-related restricted airspace.

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This is the best time of the whole year if you’re a sports fan. Baseball pennant races are coming down to the wire, the NFL season is just getting under way, Division I college football has already had its share of big matchups, and drama in the NASCAR Chase for the Cup is ratcheting up.

For pilots, this is one of the toughest times of the year to avoid an inadvertent encounter with a sporting-event-related TFR. The reason? Your flight service specialist doesn’t have a schedule to the game – and he assumes you already know that.