XM TFR strangeness

AlexPeterson · #1 08-18-2008, 06:14 PM

Greetings,

I fly in the Minneapolis area, and of course, there will be some big TFR's around here in a couple weeks. However, they already have been intermittently showing up on the XM weather (I have an Anywhere Map system). A week ago Sunday, I was flying back towards the Minneapolis area, not really paying any attention to the Anywhere system (weather was clear). I looked down at the Anywhere system, as to my horror, I was just about to bust into the big ol' TFR. Well, this gets your attention, so I peeled off and headed away from it while I checked into things. I had checked the computer in the morning, no TFR's. I called the tower of my destination and asked them if anything had popped up. Nope. Ok, so someone at XM or upstream had jumped the gun. I flew again 4 days later, no sign of these mystery TFR's. However, again when returning a couple days later they were there again.

Question - has anyone else seen this "too early" warnings of TFR's? I know you Texas types have to deal with these airspace grabs a lot, have you seen this early display?

Thanks.

petehowell · #2 08-18-2008, 06:26 PM

Been on my 396 for 2 weeks now. Goofy

AlexPeterson · #3 08-18-2008, 06:28 PM

Pete - after we leave the hangar, do you suppose our XM systems, are, well, getting together?

scard · #4 08-18-2008, 06:31 PM

We often see the TFRs around Crawford well ahead of when they actually go active.

n5lp · #5 08-18-2008, 06:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AlexPeterson

...I looked down at the Anywhere system, as to my horror, I was just about to bust into the big ol' TFR...

I have had a couple of things happen.

1. I have had a TFR show up but when I go to the text box it shows that it will be valid in a couple of days.

2. I have had a TFR show up briefly then disappear. This was in an area where there are occasionally valid TFRs.

Both of them can make you swallow your gum!

Louise Hose · #6 08-18-2008, 07:58 PM

From my experience, it seems that the TFRs show up on the XM as soon as they are announced/posted. The first time I noticed it, it was the expansion (a speed restriction that doubled the radius) of the ADIZ around D.C. It was apparently announced during my flight home from Minnesota, one month before it went into effect. I thought another 9/11 event must have hit D.C. so I decided to land short of the new circle. On the ground, I called Flight Service and they didn't know why it was showing up or what it was about. They assured me that D.C. was still there and I could continue to my home field. I found out later what it was.

If you subscribe to Weathermeister and live near areas prone to TFRs, you've probably seen that they seem to regularly issue alerts. I have assumed that the feds tweak the details a lot. I'm guessing that causes the sort of on-again/off-again displays that Larry notes.

After a few heart-stopping events, I've learned to check the narrative before panicking.

mburch · #7 08-19-2008, 05:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AlexPeterson

Question - has anyone else seen this "too early" warnings of TFR's?

TFRs for scheduled events often make it into the system a few days in advance. Seems like a good idea to me, since you can make plans to fly elsewhere on that day. If you have a 396 or 496, these "future" TFRs will appear in yellow to show you that they're not active yet. Active TFRs are of course red.

Also: the TFR information goes from the FAA, to Jeppesen, to WxWorx, to XM, to the satellites, to you... sometimes somebody in that chain makes a typo and has to fix it up!

mcb