A C172 PLT FLEW THROUGH AN ACTIVE TEMPORARY FLT RESTRS AREA. THE PLT KNEW OF THE AREA IN GENERAL; BUT DID NOT AVAIL HIMSELF OF THE PROPER INFO UNTIL AFTER THE FLT; AT WHICH TIME; HE DISCOVERED THAT HE HAD FLOWN THROUGH IT.

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ON MAY/SAT/97; SPECIAL FLT RESTRS WERE PUT IN EFFECT; APPROX 7 NM NE OF CENTENNIAL ARPT; DUE TO DEMOLITION OF UNEXPLODED ORDINANCE AT THE FORMER BOMBING RANGE. I WAS AWARE THESE FLT RESTRS EXISTED; BUT I WAS NOT AWARE OF THE EXACT LOCATION; DIMENSIONS AND HRS OF OP. THE ONLY INFO I HAD PRIOR TO MY FLT ON FEB/SAT/98; WAS SECOND HAND INFO FROM OTHER PLTS. ON FEB/SAT/98; I PLANNED AND FLEW A XCOUNTRY FLT FROM APA TO SNY; WITH A RETURN FLT TO APA. DURING MY PREFLT WX BRIEFING WITH FLT SVC I ASKED THE BRIEFER IF THE FLT RESTRS WERE ACTIVE. THE BRIEFER INDICATED THAT THE RESTRS WOULD BE ACTIVE AT XB00 THAT MORNING. AT THAT POINT I FAILED TO ASK THE BRIEFER FOR MORE SPECIFIC INFO ON THE AREA COVERED BY THE FLT RESTRS. AFTER OBTAINING THE WX BRIEFING; FILING A FLT PLAN AND PREFLTING THE ACFT; I DEPARTED APA AT APPROX XA10. MY RTE OF FLT TOOK ME THROUGH THE AREA COVERED BY THE FLT RESTRS. ON MY RETURN TRIP; AT APPROX XG30; I ONCE AGAIN FLEW THROUGH THE RESTR AREA. UPON MY RETURN I ASKED ANOTHER FLT INSTRUCTOR ABOUT HIS UNDERSTANDING OF THE RESTR FLT AREA. HIS UNDERSTANDING WAS THAT THE FLT RESTRS WERE NOT ACTIVE ON THE WEEKENDS. CONFUSED I DECIDED TO RETURN TO FLT SVC TO OBTAIN MORE SPECIFIC AND ACCURATE INFO. ACCORDING TO A FLYER GIVEN TO ME BY FLT SVC THE RESTRS WERE EFFECTIVE DAILY FROM XA00-XB00 AND XG00-XH00. BASED UPON THIS INFO I FLEW THROUGH THE RESTR AIRSPACE; AT A TIME IT WAS DESIGNATED AS BEING ACTIVE; WITHOUT THE APPROPRIATE AUTHS. IN THE FUTURE; I WILL MAKE EVERY EFFORT TO GET ALL POSSIBLE INFO ON A KNOWN RESTR AREA BEFORE THE FLT IS CONDUCTED. THIS IS ESPECIALLY TRUE WHEN THE ONLY PRIOR INFO OBTAINED WAS BASED ON SECOND HAND SOURCES; OR IF I AM UNAWARE OF ALL ASPECTS OF THE FLT RESTRS.