Keeping my ticket in my pocket: A TFR tale
Keeping my ticket in my pocket: A TFR tale
by Jim Savage
I recently encountered a situation that could easily have turned very bad for the endeavor of me retaining my pilot certificate.
I can remember a time, not all that long ago too, when I might look out the window, use my eyes, nose & ears to determine that the weather was fine and go flying without actually making a call to the FSS for a weather briefing – I was only going up for a local flight, right? How many times back in the day did we wash the airplane on a beautiful, sunny day and following the dirty work, jump into the airplane, take it around the patch a time or two to “dry it off”? Or maybe flying back-to-back students, did you always call the FSS for a briefing for each & every flight? Or a local sight-seeing flight at sunset for a couple of excited Young Eagles? Folks, times have changed and the events that I’m about to share really brought it crashing home for me.
There I was … a beautiful Sunday afternoon last fall, not a cloud in the sky, the winds were just a gentle breeze out of the south – it was as CAVU as it gets. Not a care in the world as I drove my two children to the airport for our 25-minute trip from Buckeye Exec (9OA5) to Portsmouth (PMH). Out of habit (fortunately), I called the FSS for a weather briefing as I drove. I was listening, but not really as the briefer droned on and on about the fact that she had nothing for me. Towards the end of her briefing, she asked “if I was familiar with the TFR that had just gone into effect about 20 minutes ago for CMH?” From my lazy slouch, I sat up quite straight…
As it turned out, the Presidential TFR for CMH had just gone into effect – my departure airport was outside of the 10-mile radius “no-GA” area, but was in fact within the 30-mile restricted area. The requirements within this 30-mile radius of CMH were such that I had to receive a clearance and a squawk code before takeoff. They wanted to know which runway I would be departing from and they issued me a frequency with which to contact them as soon as I was airborne. Although it was a very VFR departure, these procedures made it feel very much like a low-IFR departure from an uncontrolled airport.
As this information was absorbed into my now quite alert mind, a very cold chill crept down my spine! It dawned on me that had I just climbed into the airplane and headed south like the conditions seemed to warrant, and in years past would have been standard, I would have been violated as soon as I retracted the landing gear! I would not have known at that moment that my ticket was no longer my ticket. As a pilot by profession, my family would have been greatly and adversely impacted by me suddenly out looking for non-flying work since my current job was suddenly snatched away!
Bottom line, call FSS before EACH & EVERY flight, no matter how short or how local it may be!
Blue skies, tailwinds & 3 greens to you,
Jim
Jim is a former USAF Fighter Pilot who flew F-16s and F-15s
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TFR’s are a continual joke. The potus goes to Afghanistan and nobody knows it. How come no TFR then? But here, the world knows where he is. We are truly headed into a dictator type of society!!
Glenn,
I share your frustration. It’s a silly requirement that doesn’t demonstrate improved security.
Brent
Good story from Jim, who gave my son his first small aircraft (young eagle) flight. Be even more vigilant during election years if you live in one of those up for grab states. They pop up like a summer thunderstorm.
Mike,
That’s cool! I didn’t realize that.
And yes election years are particularly perilous.
Brent