TFR indicating active when it was not active, is this an FAA issue with the ADS-B

[Skunkworks]

Sunday went out flying when suddenly the ADS-B rec?d information that there was an active TFR and it painted immeadiatly on my screen. As soon as I saw it I was looking around for the F-16 intercepting me because I was in the TFR when departing the airport. This did not look like a good situation, I turned to a tangent for quickest exit and landed at the closest airport to determine what was the status of this TFR I was totally unaware of. On Foreflight this was showing up in yellow as not active. I confirmed on the ground that in fact the TFR indicating being active was not, what a relief. The TFR in question is 5/3770 not due to be active until July 14, 2015 at 1630 UTC to July 14, 2015 at 2230 UTC

http://tfr.faa.gov/save_pages/detail_5_3770.html

Here is screen shot showing the incorrect status of the TFR 5/3770
I would expect this is a software bug in the FAA ADS-B system, have reported to Dynon Avionics and an FAA friend to get their take on this anomaly and where to report. This is a bad bug.

[PilotBrent]

Interesting topic you raise. I suppose if there is an error, I'd prefer non-active TFRs to be incorrectly displayed active vs. active TFRs not showing up. But, either way, accuracy is critical and I hope this gets investigated further to avoid it happening again.

That said, Skyview consistently displays the enlarged TFR red circle around Washington that extends beyond the standard Flight Restriction Zone (SFRA). I think it includes the airspace where you need to complete the special awareness course online to fly near the SFRA but you don't need special permission or air traffic clearance to fly in that airspace. Foreflight does not show that extended airspace as "red". Whenever I fly near (but well outside of the restricted zone) Skyview show me flying well inside the "red zone" and it certainly gets your attention. While I always check with flight service when flying in that area, I wish Skyview would limit the visual depiction to the actual TFR airspace.

[flightlogic]

When POTUS last visited Palm Springs for golf, my screen showed three TFR's. One for the new fire at Big Bear Lake, and the other two for the VIP. I knew from the newspaper they were not active yet. (VIP) Just to be sure, I asked two controllers. First had no answer at all. Second controller down the road, said "it is not active yet.... and I don't know what ADS-B is."
When a new one fails to warn a pilot... we shall see what the government stance is on how to phrase the blame. We can be sure it will be pointed at the pilot though.

[dynonsupport]

Originally Posted by PilotBrent

Interesting topic you raise. I suppose if there is an error, I'd prefer non-active TFRs to be incorrectly displayed active vs. active TFRs not showing up. But, either way, accuracy is critical and I hope this gets investigated further to avoid it happening again.

That said, Skyview consistently displays the enlarged TFR red circle around Washington that extends beyond the standard Flight Restriction Zone (SFRA). I think it includes the airspace where you need to complete the special awareness course online to fly near the SFRA but you don't need special permission or air traffic clearance to fly in that airspace. Foreflight does not show that extended airspace as "red". Whenever I fly near (but well outside of the restricted zone) Skyview show me flying well inside the "red zone" and it certainly gets your attention. While I always check with flight service when flying in that area, I wish Skyview would limit the visual depiction to the actual TFR airspace.

Brent,
Is the ring you are talking about always there, or only after ADS-B picks it up?

The SFRA is in the aviation database inside your SkyView, as well as sent as a TFR to us.

The one in the aviation database can be dimmed by loading a file on SkyView. The one from ADS-B can't, and there's not much we can do about it. There's no ICAO code for "SFRA" so the FAA uploads that to us as a TFR. We don't have a way to tell it apart from any other TFR.

We have a long thread on this on our site that you might want to check out:
http://dynonavionics.com/cgi-bin/yab...=1351004231/39

[dynonsupport]

Mark,
We got your email and will work with you to figure out which end this issue was on.

--Ian

[PilotBrent]

Thanks Dynon, will check out the thread on your forum in more detail. Seems like others have been trying to deal with this issue as well. (there is so much information flowing into these glass panel displays that you need a computer to sort it all out ... even then its still confusing!)

[RVDan]

I also had this experience. I flew into the Philadelphia area from Frederick, MD and saw the TFR. My FSS briefing and Foreflight showed the effective data as the 14th, but yet on the 12th was showing active in Skyview. It didn't show up on Sat the 11th, when I made a similar trip.

I held my breath when penetrating but knew I had the FSS brief that would hopefully be my get out of jail free card if it was really active.

[dynonsupport]

Brent,
I also forgot that we now have an option in the Map Menu to adjust TFR transparency levels.