AOPA Convinces FAA To Put Graphical Info On Web

AOPA's two-year-long struggle to have the FAA make official, valid graphical depictions of temporary flight restrictions (TFRs) available to pilots will finally bear fruit on Sunday, June 15, 2003. The FAA will launch its graphical TFR Web site, giving pilots for the first time government-issued information that shows what airspace is restricted. Ironically, pilots now will have a better TFR picture than most flight service station briefers because of equipment limitations.

Promise Made, Promise Kept

"FAA Administrator Marion Blakey stood before hundreds of pilots at AOPA Expo last October and said, 'You need a good picture; you're going to get it,'" said AOPA President Phil Boyer. "But she was brand new on the job then, and didn't know how long it would take to draw that picture."

"We've been working on this for over two years, since well before the September 11 terrorist attacks," Boyer said. "The attacks and subsequent national security flight restrictions just made the need all the more apparent.

"It's taken pressure from AOPA, Administrator Blakey, her predecessor, Jane Garvey, two Congressional mandates, and an investigation by the Department of Transportation's Inspector General, but pilots finally have a 21st century tool that can really help them stay out of restricted airspace," said Andy Cebula, AOPA senior vice president for government and technical affairs.

AOPA had lobbied Congress for language directing FAA to provide graphical TFRs and had raised the issue in meetings with Kenneth Mead, DOT Inspector General.

In The Meantime...

AOPA felt so strongly about the need for graphical TFRs that the association has worked with Jeppesen to provide them on its Web site since November of 2001. However, AOPA felt the issuance of graphical TFRs, like other notams, is a function that should be performed by the FAA. Not only does it have the resources to provide the widest dissemination, but as the issuing agency, FAA is also the final authority as to the accuracy and content of any such graphic.

To its credit, the FAA has made an effort to provide graphical depictions of what they termed "special interest" notams, such as presidential movement or national security restrictions. But those were not always available in the timeliest manner, and represented only a handful of the restrictions pilots need to be aware of.

AOPA lobbied long and hard for the graphical TFR program to provide the graphics in near-real-time, and to make all flight restriction types -firefighting, national security, presidential movement, aerial demonstrations, sporting events, national disaster areas, and space flight operations - available in a graphical format via the internet.

The FAA is working to correct the deficiency that prevents many flight service station (AFSS) personnel from seeing the same information available to pilots. Having graphical TFRs available to all flight service stations will address a longstanding problem of disseminating clear and accurate TFR notams during preflight briefings.

GRAPHICAL TFR  NOTAM INFORMATION

EFFECTIVE JUNE 15, 2003, THE FAA, WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF JEPPESEN, WILL BEGIN PROVIDING GRAPHICAL TFR PRODUCTS ON THE FAA WEBSITE. GRAPHICAL TFRs WILL BE CREATED BY THE FLIGHT SERVICE OPERATIONS SUPPORT CENTER (FSOSC) LOCATED IN FAA HEADQUARTERS. THESE PRODUCTS WILL BE DISSEMINATED OVER THE INTERNET TO ALL FLIGHT SERVICE STATIONS TO ASSIST IN PILOT WEATHER BRIEFINGS.

THE FIRST 90 DAYS AFTER IMPLEMENTATION WILL SERVE AS A TEST PHASE AS THE FAA BEGINS TO MIGRATE THIS SERVICE FROM THE JEPPESEN SERVER ONTO AN FAA SERVER. IT WILL ALSO ALLOW THE FAA TO GATHER RESPONSES FROM THE PUBLIC SO THAT MODIFICATIONS TO THE PRODUCTS CAN ALSO BE MADE DURING THE TRANSITION PROCESS.  PILOTS WILL BE ABLE TO ACCESS THIS INFORMATION AT THE FOLLOWING ADDRESS:

WWW.FAA.GOV         (CLICK ON GRAPHICAL TFRS)

ADDITIONALLY, THERE WILL BE ACCESS TO THE JEPPESEN WEBSITE FOR THE DOWNLADING OF THE TFR PROTOCOL DOCUMENT. INTERESTED VENDORS AND/OR PUBLIC WHO WISH TO USE THE FAA TFR PUBLISHING SYSTEM TO DISPLAY REAL TIME GRAPHICAL TFR NOTAMS CAN USE THIS DOCUMENT TO RECEIVE DATA PACKETS AND IMPLEMENT GRAPHICAL DISPLAYS OR OTHER VALUE- ADDED SOFTWARE APPLICATIONS.

FMI: www.aopa.org, www.jeppesen.com/tfr