What FSS Doesn’t Know about Sporting-Event TFRs

Stephen Pope

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

Verified

Key Takeaways:

Pilots face an increased risk of encountering inadvertent Temporary Flight Restrictions (TFRs) related to sporting events, especially during busy sports seasons.
Flight Service Specialists (FSS) do not have real-time sports schedules or game updates, making it solely the pilot's responsibility to know if their flight path will be affected by a sports-related TFR.
Pilots must proactively check for sports-event TFRs using dedicated resources like AOPA's Security Notams and TFRs Locator, even after receiving a "no TFRs" report from FSS.

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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.