HELICOPTER PILOT LAMENTS POOR BRIEFING RECEIVED FROM FSS CONCERNING A TFR ALONG HIS ROUTE. TFR IS PENETRATED AND ENFORCEMENT ACTION IS PENDING.

Date: 2008-05 · Aircraft: Iroquois 204 (Huey) · Phase: climb

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

Synopsis

HELICOPTER PILOT LAMENTS POOR BRIEFING RECEIVED FROM FSS CONCERNING A TFR ALONG HIS ROUTE. TFR IS PENETRATED AND ENFORCEMENT ACTION IS PENDING.

Narrative

WHILE IN TUS; I CHKED NOTAMS AND WAS MADE AWARE OF THE TFR IN EFFECT IN THE PHOENIX AREA AND PLOTTED WHAT I UNDERSTOOD TO BE THE TFR LIMITS ON MY CHART. I ASKED FOR FURTHER CLARIFICATION FROM FSS BY TELEPHONE AND WAS GIVEN MINIMAL ASSISTANCE BY THE BRIEFER AS HE WAS HAVING TROUBLE WITH THE TFR DESCRIPTION HIMSELF. HE STATED THAT CGZ WAS NOT IN THE TFR AND A FLT INTO AND OUT OF CGZ SHOULD NOT PRESENT A PROB. ON THE FIRST LEG OF THE FLT; I WAS PASSED FROM TUS APCH TO ZAB AND GIVEN A XPONDER CODE AND THE FLT INTO CGZ WAS UNEVENTFUL. ZAB RELEASED ME FROM RADAR HANDLING ON THE DSCNT INTO CGZ AT APPROX 1000 FT AGL AND ABOUT 3 MI FROM THE ARPT. I WAS TALKING CLEARLY WITH ZAB DOWN TO ABOUT 1000 FT AGL. IT WAS MY UNDERSTANDING THAT I WAS TO CONTACT ZAB ON CLBOUT FROM CGZ TO PICK UP MY XPONDER CODE AND TO RECEIVE RADAR HANDLING FOR THE NEXT LEG OF MY FLT. IT IS COMMON AND NORMAL PRACTICE TO COMMUNICATE WITH THE LAST CTLING AGENCY YOU TALKED TO TO PICK UP FURTHER CLRNCS. IF NOT; THEY USUALLY WILL INFORM YOU THAT YOU SHOULD CONTACT ANOTHER CTLING AGENCY UPON DEP. AFTER LNDG AT CGZ AND REFUELING THE ACFT; I CALLED FSS AND OPENED THE SECOND LEG OF MY FLT PLAN. HE WAS UNSURE WHERE HE WAS TO SEND THE STRIP AND I INFORMED HIM THAT HE SHOULD NOTIFY BOTH ZAB AND PHX APCH THAT I WOULD BE LIFTING OFF OF CGZ AND WOULD BE REQUESTING A NEW XPONDER CODE. ON LIFTOFF FROM CGZ; I IMMEDIATELY ATTEMPTED TO CONTACT ZAB. NOT GETTING THEM TO RESPOND; I INCREASED MY RATE OF CLB AND ATTEMPTED TO CONTACT THEM 3 ADDITIONAL TIMES. I COMMENTED TO MY MECH THAT IT WAS STRANGE THAT I COULD COM SO WELL WITH THEM ON THE APCH INTO CGZ AND WAS NOW HAVING DIFFICULTY CONTACTING THEM. ON THE FOURTH ATTEMPT; I WAS ABLE TO CONTACT THEM AND CHK ON WITH MY ALT. ZAB THEN FAILS TO RESPOND AND AGAIN I CHK ON WITH MY ALT. I BELIEVE IT WAS AT THIS POINT THAT ZAB PASSES ME TO PHX APCH AND ON INITIAL CONTACT; PHX APCH ISSUES ME A XPONDER CODE. AFTER ABOUT 15 MINS ON THIS HDG; I AM PASSED OFF TO LUKE APCH. AFTER ABOUT 10 MINS ON THIS HDG; THE LUKE AFB CTLR CONTACTS ME WITH A TELEPHONE NUMBER TO CALL UPON LNDG AT BLYTHE; CA. IT TOOK THE LUKE CTLR SEVERAL ATTEMPTS TO PASS ME THE INFO BECAUSE OF THE VERY POOR DELIVERY OF THE MESSAGE AND THE BACKGND STATIC I WAS RECEIVING FROM HIS HEADSET. UPON CALLING PHX TRACON WITH THE NUMBER SUPPLIED ME BY THE LUKE AFB CTLR; I WAS INFORMED THAT I HAD VIOLATED THE TFR AND WAS UNDER INVESTIGATION. IT IS MY FEELING THAT THERE ARE SEVERAL FACTORS AT WORK THAT CONTRIBUTED TO THIS UNSAFE CONDITION. 1) THE FACT THAT THE FAA HAS CONTRACTED OUT ITS FLT SVC FUNCTIONS. IN MOST CASES; THE AVIATOR IS IN CONTACT WITH AN FSS AGENT THAT IS NOT FROM THE PART OF THE COUNTRY IN WHICH THE FLT WILL OCCUR AND THE AGENT DOES NOT KNOW THE AREA WELL. THIS OFTEN LEADS TO IMPORTANT INFO BEING LEFT OUT OF THE BRIEFING OR IMPORTANT SVCS FOR THE AVIATOR BEING OMITTED. 2) TFR NOTAMS IN MANY CASES ARE NOT BEING CLEARLY WRITTEN; SO THAT THE PLT; WHO IS THE END USER; CAN QUICKLY AND CLEARLY DETERMINE THE TFR'S LIMITS AND HOW TO SAFELY COMPLY WITH THE SUA. IF THE FSS TECHNICIANS; SOME PERSONNEL AT THE ATC LEVEL AND PLTS ARE HAVING DIFFICULTIES INTERPRETING THESE SPECIAL TFR'S BECAUSE OF THE CONFUSING WAY IN WHICH THEY ARE WRITTEN; THE PROBS WITH THESE TFR'S WILL CONTINUE. THE GOAL OF THE AGENCY SHOULD BE 100% COMPLIANCE JUST AS THE AVIATOR'S GOAL IS 100% COMPLIANCE.

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