ArVeeNiner
Well Known Member
So, you have your Foreflight up and running for a quick local breakfast flight. You don?t see any big red TFR circles depicted between you and your destination so life is good right? There is no chance that you can accidentally fly into something like firefighting operations, airshows, or Air Force 1 as long as you don?t fly into the red rings right? Well, I have found out that that is NOT the case!!! You CAN easily find yourself as the unexpected star of an aerial exhibition which can ruin your day in a hurry.
Thankfully, I didn?t fly into a TFR or closed airspace but I did come to realize that not all temporarily closed airspace requires a TFR, and if there is no TFR, Foreflight isn?t showing it on the chart.
During Memorial Day weekend, I flew down to the annual Hollister, CA (KCVH) airshow and fly-in. I noticed that nothing was depicted graphically on the Foreflight chart but you could read about it on the NOTAM tab on the airports page. Maybe this is something that I should have known but I really thought that if you?re going to close an airport for something like an airshow, a TFR would pop up.
So, I know that there is an airshow and fly-in up in Marysville, CA (KMYV) this weekend. I checked on Foreflight and once again, there isn?t a TFR depicted on the map for this event. There is a TFR for nearby Beale AFB however but that is not there for the airshow. The only indication you have regarding the closed airspace is to go to the airports page and click on the NOTAM tab.
Just for fun, I did a nationwide search for closed airspace due to an airshow and I found one in Maryland near KOXB this weekend. I quickly downloaded a Maryland chart to Foreflight and in this case, the closed airspace WAS shown on the chart.
I sent Foreflight an email regarding this and they confirmed that only if the airport operator requests a TFR from the FAA will it show graphically on the charts. Otherwise, it will be a NOTAM and will not show up graphically.
So, on a local flight when you are not likely to get a full briefing, you can be tooling along at 4500 feet and be smack dab in the middle of an airshow! On those longer trips when you will get a briefing, sure, NOTAMS are downloaded but with page after page of written NOTAMS to go through, a blurb about an airport that you might be flying near with closed airspace might be easily missed.
So, read your NOTAMS carefully and don't assume that staying outside of the TFR rings will keep you out of trouble. The Foreflight team will look into showing all airport closures graphically in a future version.
Thankfully, I didn?t fly into a TFR or closed airspace but I did come to realize that not all temporarily closed airspace requires a TFR, and if there is no TFR, Foreflight isn?t showing it on the chart.
During Memorial Day weekend, I flew down to the annual Hollister, CA (KCVH) airshow and fly-in. I noticed that nothing was depicted graphically on the Foreflight chart but you could read about it on the NOTAM tab on the airports page. Maybe this is something that I should have known but I really thought that if you?re going to close an airport for something like an airshow, a TFR would pop up.
So, I know that there is an airshow and fly-in up in Marysville, CA (KMYV) this weekend. I checked on Foreflight and once again, there isn?t a TFR depicted on the map for this event. There is a TFR for nearby Beale AFB however but that is not there for the airshow. The only indication you have regarding the closed airspace is to go to the airports page and click on the NOTAM tab.
Just for fun, I did a nationwide search for closed airspace due to an airshow and I found one in Maryland near KOXB this weekend. I quickly downloaded a Maryland chart to Foreflight and in this case, the closed airspace WAS shown on the chart.
I sent Foreflight an email regarding this and they confirmed that only if the airport operator requests a TFR from the FAA will it show graphically on the charts. Otherwise, it will be a NOTAM and will not show up graphically.
So, on a local flight when you are not likely to get a full briefing, you can be tooling along at 4500 feet and be smack dab in the middle of an airshow! On those longer trips when you will get a briefing, sure, NOTAMS are downloaded but with page after page of written NOTAMS to go through, a blurb about an airport that you might be flying near with closed airspace might be easily missed.
So, read your NOTAMS carefully and don't assume that staying outside of the TFR rings will keep you out of trouble. The Foreflight team will look into showing all airport closures graphically in a future version.