AN SMA PLT VIOLATED A TFR INVOLVING A PWR PLANT.
Synopsis
AN SMA PLT VIOLATED A TFR INVOLVING A PWR PLANT.
Narrative
ON 11/FRI/01 I ACCEPTED A MISSION TO TRANSPORT AN INDIVIDUAL FROM ZZZ TO ZZZ1 ON THE FOLLOWING MONDAY. I IMMEDIATELY BEGAN THE PREFLT WORK WHICH INCLUDED GATHERING THE INFO ON FDC NOTAM DESCRIBING THE TFRS AROUND PWR PLANTS; MARKING UP MY CHARTS TO CLEARLY IDENTIFY ALL OF THESE TFRS; AND THEN CREATING A ROUTE FROM ZZZ2 TO ZZZ3 AND RETURNING TO ZZZ THAT WOULD AVOID THE TFRS. I USED GRAPHICS PROVIDED ON A WEB SITE TO ASSIST IN PLOTTING THE TFRS. ON SUNDAY; AT APPROX XA00 I CALLED FSS TO GET AN OUTLOOK BRIEFING FOR THE NEXT DAY'S FLTS AND RECEIVED THE WEATHER INFO; BUT NO INFO ON TFR NOTAMS. I FILED IFR FLT PLANS FOR EACH OF THE 3 LEGS I WOULD FLY ON MONDAY. ON MONDAY AT XB30 I CALLED FSS TO GET AN UPDATED BRIEFING; BUT AGAIN RECEIVED NO INFO ON TFR NOTAMS. ON BOTH OF THESE CALLS THE BRIEFER DID NOT OFFER; NOR DID I ASK FOR THE TFR NOTAM. I FLEW THE FIRST TWO LEGS IFR AS FILED BUT WHEN IT WAS TIME TO DEPART ZZZ1 THE ACFT IN FRONT OF ME AND I WERE HELD BY ZZZ1 DEP. WE BOTH DECIDED TO GO VFR AND WERE RELEASED. BECAUSE ZZZ1 DEP WAS BUSY I PROCEEDED N WITHOUT CONTACTING THEM. WHEN I WAS N OF ZZZ1 CLASS B SPACE I TURNED NW TO CLR ZZZ4 CLASS C TO THE W. THIS TOOK ME OVER ZZZ5 AND INTO THE TFR SURROUNDING THE PWR PLANT. BECAUSE OF THE CURRENT ENVIRONMENT WITH NATIONAL SECURITY; I HAVE TRIED TO BE IN CONTACT WITH ATC DURING AS MUCH OF MY FLYING TIME AS POSSIBLE. I CALLED ZZZ1 APCH AS SOON AS I THOUGHT THEY WOULD BE ABLE TO PICK ME UP ON RADAR TO ADVISE THEM OF MY ROUTE AND INTENTIONS TO LAND AT ZZZ. SHORTLY AFTER CONTACTING THEM THEY INFORMED ME OF MY FLT INTO THE TFR. THE FDC NOTAM WHICH I USED FOR FLT PLANNING DID NOT INCLUDE THE TFR THAT WAS CONTAINED IN A LATER NOTAM. MY FAILURE TO GET THE UPDATED FDC NOTAM (THAT CONTAINED THE TFR) RESULTED IN MY NOT HAVING ALL OF THE INFO THAT I NEEDED FOR THE PLANNED FLT. CLR SKY; UNLIMITED VISIBILITY; AND A BUSY ZZZ1 DEP RESULTED IN MY DECISION TO CANCEL AN IFR FLT PLAN AND PROCEED VFR. THE DECISION TO FLY VFR FROM ZZZ2 TO ZZZ3 AND NOT CONTACT ZZZ1 DEP CAUSED ME TO NAVIGATE WITHOUT THE BENEFIT OF THE TFR INFO THAT ATC HAD AND COULD OF SHARED WITH ME. THE VOLUME OF NOTAMS FOLLOWING 11/TUE/01 AND THE FREQ WITH WHICH THEY ARE CHANGED IS TAXING THE FLT INFO BRIEFING SYSTEM AND THE USERS OF THIS SYSTEM. IT IS PARTICULARLY CONFUSING WHEN A NOTAM IS ISSUED AND THEN SUBSEQUENTLY REPLACED WITH A SIMILAR NOTAM. THE USER MAY THINK THEY HAVE THE CURRENT INFO; BUT THEY DO NOT. I NEED TO BE MORE AGGRESSIVE IN OBTAINING THE CURRENT NOTAMS THAT ARE APPLICABLE TO BOTH THE ROUTE OF MY FLTS AND THE AREA SURROUNDING THESE ROUTES. IF FSS DOES NOT OFFER NOTAM INFO; I MUST REQUEST IT. FURTHERMORE; IT IS NOT ENOUGH TO BE AWARE OF THE SUBJECT MATTER OF AN APPLICABLE NOTAM; I MUST ALSO BE AWARE OF THE SPECIFIC NUMBER OF THE CURRENT NOTAM RELATIVE TO THE SUBJECT MATTER IN QUESTION. WHEN DOING PREFLT WORK IN ADVANCE OF A FLT I WILL NOW RECORD THE NUMBER OF THE NOTAM USED AND CONFIRM WITH FSS IMMEDIATELY PRIOR TO THE FLT THAT THESE ARE CURRENT DURING THE TIME OF MY FLT. BECAUSE OF THE DYNAMIC NATURE OF NOTAMS; THE COMPLEXITY OF NOTAM INFO; AND THE MULTIPLE SOURCES OF INFO ON NOTAMS; I BELIEVE THE FLT TRAINING AND BRIEFING SHOULD BE EXPANDED TO EMPHASIZE USING THE UNIQUE NOTAM IDENTIFICATION NUMBER WHEN COMMUNICATING NOTAM INFO.
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.