SMA PLT PENETRATED A TEMPORARY FLT RESTR 'TFR' AREA AFTER HE WAS UNABLE TO GET THE NOTAM RESTR FROM FSS. THE ACFT BROADCASTING THE INFO WAS NOT ON THE CORRECT FREQUENCY.

2001-10 · NASA ASRS report 526006

Date: 2001-10 · Aircraft: Small Aircraft; High Wing; 1 Eng; Fixed Gear · Phase: cruise

Anomalies: airspace-violation-all-types|conflict-airborne-conflict|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-far|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-published-material-policy|other-unable-to-get-tfr-from-fss-airborne-notification-not-on-proper-frequency

Synopsis

SMA PLT PENETRATED A TEMPORARY FLT RESTR 'TFR' AREA AFTER HE WAS UNABLE TO GET THE NOTAM RESTR FROM FSS. THE ACFT BROADCASTING THE INFO WAS NOT ON THE CORRECT FREQUENCY.

Narrative

I WAS PLANNING A VFR FLT IN A LIGHT AIRPLANE. PART OF MY ROUTE WOULD TAKE ME ALONG INTERSTATE HWY 24 IN CENTRAL TN. I RECEIVED A STANDARD VFR BRIEFING WITH NASHVILLE FLT SERVICE AT APPROX XA00 L; WITH THE TERRORIST ACTIVITY ON AND SINCE 09/TUE/01; I SPECIFICALLY ASKED ABOUT TEMPORARY FLT RESTR (TFR) AREAS AND FDC NOTAMS; AND RECEIVED A DETAILED UPDATE. DRIVING TO THE ARPT I HEARD ON MY CAR RADIO ABOUT AN INCIDENT INVOLVING A BUS AND POSSIBLE TERRORIST LIKE ACTIVITY NEAR MANCHESTER; TN. AT APPROX XB30L (CDT) I CALLED NASHVILLE FSS ON THE PHONE AND SPECIFICALLY ASKED IF THERE WERE ANY TFRS. RELATED TO THIS EVENT; THE BRIEFER REPLIED THERE WERE NONE IN EFFECT; BUT HE WAS AWARE OF THE INCIDENT AND I SHOULD 'WATCH OUT FOR THE NEWS HELI'S.' ENROUTE IN HILLY TERRAIN; I WAS UNABLE TO GET RELIABLE SIGNALS FROM FSS OR ATC SOURCES. INSTEAD I USED TUE AIRPLANE'S SINGLE RADIO TO 'FLIP' BETWEEN THE AIM-RECOMMENDED AIR-TO-AIR FREQUENCIES (122.85 AND 122.75); AND TO MONITOR 121.5 AS PER FDC NOTAM FOLLOWING THE 09/TUE/01 ATTACK. AS I APCHED THE AREA OF THE BUS CRASH I NOTICED TWO CESSNA SINGLE ENGINE AIRPLANES ORBITING THE INCIDENT SCENE; AND A LONE TWO-SEAT HELI HOVERING OVERHEAD. THE CESSNAS WERE AT ABOUT 1000 FT AGL (LEVEL WITH MY ALTITUDE) AND THE HELI WAS SLIGHTLY LOWER. UPON SEEING THIS I CHANGED HEADING TO PASS E OF THE AREA; AND ESTIMATE I PASSED 2 TO 3 MILES FROM THE BUS ITSELF; WHICH I SAW ON THE GND. I HAD TO TURN SLIGHTLY FURTHER E TO AVOID ONE OF THE CESSNAS AS IT TURNED ONTO ITS NORTHERN LEG OF ITS ORBIT. ALL THIS TIME I HEARD NOTHING AS I STEPPED THROUGH THE THREE FREQUENCIES ON MY SINGLE RADIO. ONLY WHEN I WAS ABOUT 12-13 MI AWAY; AND CHANGED FREQUENCY TO 122.8 (AS I WAS OVERFLYING AN ARPT WITH THIS CTAF) DID I HEAR AN ACFT USING A CALLSIGN 'XYZ' WARNING THE AIRPLANES IN THE AREA THAT A TEMPORARY FLT RESTR EXISTED 3 NM AROUND THE INCIDENT SCENE; EXTENDING UPWARD TO 4000 MSL. AT MY CLOSEST POINT I ESTIMATE I WAS NO CLOSER THAN 2 NM FROM THE SCENE; AT 2000 FT MSL. NORMAL SEE AND AVOID TECHNIQUES WERE ADEQUATE FOR ME TO AVOID AN UNSAFE CONDITION. RECOMMENDATION: AS FDC NOTAMS ALREADY SUGGEST WE MAINTAIN A LISTENING WATCH ON 121.5; SUGGEST CONTROLLING AGENCIES TRANSMIT TFR INFO IN THE BLIND ON THAT FREQ AT FIVE MINUTE INTERVALS. TO AVOID TRIGGERING FLT MONITORS; THE TRANSMISSION COULD BE SHORT; E.G. 'TEMPORARY FLT RESTR NEAR SHELBYVILLE VOR; CONTACT (FREQUENCY) FOR UPDATES.'

Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.

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