NOTAM

CFAs are not found on your chart, and there really is no way for a pilot to know if they are flying through a CFA or not.

Some more interesting facts about CFAs is that they are not published in NOTAMs.

They have no dimensions or published range data, and there's no controlling agency to contact.

The one regulation they are supposed to abide by is that all activity must stop if they spot an aircraft flying overhead.

A TFR can provide a safe environment for disaster relief aircraft, prevent unsafe flight traffic congestion, protect space agency operations, protect the travel of public figures, or large events such as sporting events, fireworks, air shows, et cetera.

As the name suggests, these are temporary.

Pilots can find and check for TFRs in NOTAMs.

All right, so we have a memory aid to remember these things, and it's MCPRAWN.

Uh-oh.

"What are, what are the, the two professional pilots that didn't check the NOTAMs?-

Yeah

... what is this gonna say?" And we look, and it's, it has PPR required.

I think they had one or two launches.

We had one launch during that time, and it was mostly with, uh, general aviation pilots who hadn't read their, uh, NOTAMs and, uh, launched.

Uh, one guy was flying over the Crawford, Texas, Bush 43's ranch, the Texas White House, and, um, our guys intercepted him, convinced him that it was a good idea to land.

I have convinced several people over Crawford Ranch that it was a good idea to land.

That's just my thing.

But I do fly general aviation and there's a application out there called ForeFlight.

And if you're using ForeFlight or any of the other software out there, this is not an endorsement necessarily, but it's very easy to check NOTAMs.

Why? Because the TFRs, the temporary flight restrictions, are graphically depicted right there on the map.

The NOTAM begins with the phrase flight restrictions, followed by the location of the temporary restriction, effective time period, area defined in statute miles, and altitudes affected.

The NOTAM also contains the FAA coordination facility and telephone number, the reason for the restriction, and any other information deemed appropriate.

The pilot should check the NOTAMs as part of flight planning.

Some of the purposes for establishing a TFR are protect persons and property in the air or on the surface from an existing or imminent hazard, provide a safe environment for the operation of disaster relief aircraft, prevent an unsafe congestion of sightseeing aircraft above an incident or event which may generate a high degree of public interest, protect declared national disasters for humanitarian reasons in the state of Hawaii, protect the president, vice president, or other public figures, provide a safe environment for space agency operations.

Since the events of September 11, 2001, the use of TFRs has become much more common.

Use of airport or facility directory, AFD.

Study available information about each airport at which a landing is intended.

This should include a study of the notices to airmen, NOTAMs, and the AFD, Figure 15-24.

Here is something to consider before you plan your next international trip into East Asia.

Imagine your dispatcher pulls up the latest NOTAMs for Beijing Capital International and there is a restriction in there that rewrites the airspace geometry around one of the world's busiest aviation hubs, not a temporary flight restriction that expires in 48 hours.

a sweeping set of new rules tied to an incident that happened nearly three months ago and finally codified into permanent airspace structure.

That is exactly where Beijing stands right now.

Check RadioHangar.com for updates as more detail comes in.

That is the picture right now.

Stay current, check your NOTAMs, and if Beijing is on your route structure, get with your dispatch team this week.

I am Tower.

And obviously, your pre-flight planning is going to make use of official sources.

So things like the NAT charts, the AICs, the UK AIPs, NOTAMs, and the Met Office Aviation Weather Service.

And obviously, once you're airborne, some exercises that will be included are stall recognition and recovery and simulated partial power loss.

Uh, and that's in different phases of flight.