PLT OF SMA IS INTERCEPTED AFTER PENETRATING LOS ANGELES TFR.

Date: 2004-08 · Aircraft: Amateur/Home Built/Experimental · Phase: cruise

Anomalies: airspace-violation-all-types|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-far

Synopsis

PLT OF SMA IS INTERCEPTED AFTER PENETRATING LOS ANGELES TFR.

Narrative

I DEPARTED MYF ON AUG/THU/04 AT XA00; VFR; ENRTE TO PRB FOR A BUSINESS TRIP AS I HAVE ROUTINELY DONE 50+ TIMES BEFORE. AFTER CLBING BELOW SAN DIEGO'S CLASS B AIRSPACE; I CLBED TO 14500 FT AND PROCEEDED DIRECT; OVERFLYING THE LOS ANGELES CLASS B AIRSPACE. UPON REACHING THE TORRANCE AREA; I SAW A MIL JET PASS MY L WING AND DISAPPEAR INTO THE HORIZON. I THOUGHT IT WAS STRANGE TO SEE A MIL JET IN THAT LOCATION OVER THE LOS ANGELES BASIN AND CONTINUED TO FLY TO MY DEST. IT WASN'T UNTIL ABOUT 5 MINS LATER THAT THIS SAME ACFT PASSED ME AGAIN; THIS TIME ON MY R SIDE. I WAS THEN AT NORTHERN BORDER OF THE LOS ANGELES CLASS B STILL AT 14500 FT. AFTER THE SECOND PASS I QUESTIONED WHETHER HE WAS TRYING TO GET MY ATTN. MY THOUGHTS WERE THAT IF I WAS BEING INTERCEPTED HE WOULD HAVE FLOWN NEXT TO ME INSTEAD OF FLYING PAST AT A HIGH RATE OF SPD. ALSO; I WAS CRUISING AT 240 KTS. HE COULD HAVE DEFINITELY SLOWED TO MY SPD; BUT I DECIDED TO BE SAFE AND I SWITCHED MY FREQ TO 121.5 AND MONITORED IT. I HEARD 1 XMISSION THAT READ 'MIL CHANGE TO MY FREQ 127.55.' I SWITCHED TO THE FREQ AND HEARD NOTHING. UPON LNDG; WAS PUZZLED ABOUT THE INCIDENT AND QUESTIONED IF I HAD DONE SOMETHING WRONG; AS I HAVE MADE THIS EXACT SAME FLT COUNTLESS TIMES BEFORE. THE NEXT DAY I CALLED SOCAL TRACON AND WAS NOTIFIED THERE WAS A TFR IN EFFECT OVER LOS ANGELES. I WAS ALSO TOLD THAT THERE WERE 32 VIOLATIONS AND/OR DEVS FOR THIS SAME TFR. I ROUTINELY CHK A FLT PLANNING WEB SITE AND THERE WAS NO MENTION OF THIS TFR. IN ADDITION; THERE WAS NO MENTION OF A TFR ON THE MYF ATIS UPON DEP. HOW IS IT POSSIBLE THAT AN ATIS WILL BROADCAST FLOW CTL OR WX AIRMETS AND SIGMETS OVER THE WHOLE SOCAL AREA; BUT IT WON'T ANNOUNCE A POP-UP TFR THAT PRESUMABLY PROTECTS OUR NATIONAL SECURITY? ALSO; WHY IS THERE NO COMMON FREQ THAT PLTS COULD LISTEN TO THAT WOULD PROVIDE A RECORDED MESSAGE OF ALL THE TFR'S IN EFFECT FOR A PARTICULAR REGION? AND FINALLY; WHY ARE THERE TFR'S THAT HAVE BEEN IN EFFECT FOR YRS NOT LISTED ON A VFR SECTIONAL? IT SEEMS THAT IF THERE WERE 32 INFRACTIONS IN 1 DAY ON THE SAME TFR THAT SOMEONE FAILED TO NOTIFY THE PUBLIC IN AN EFFECTIVE MANNER. I DON'T KNOW OF ANY PLT; INCLUDING MYSELF; THAT WOULD PURPOSELY VIOLATE ANY AIRSPACE WITHOUT PERMISSION. THERE NEEDS TO BE A BETTER WAY TO INFORM PLTS OF THESE POP-UP ANYWHERE/ANYTIME TFR'S. THE ONLY ALTERNATIVE IS TO FILE IFR EVERYWHERE YOU GO; WHICH WOULD PUT AN UNBEARABLE STRAIN ON THE ATC SYS.

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