A PILOT REPORTS ENTERING A CTAF ARPT AIRSPACE WHEN A SPECIAL EVENT NOTAMED THE ARPT CLOSED. FSS ERRED ON THE ARPT CLOSURE DATE.

Date: 2008-08 · Aircraft: Small Aircraft; Low Wing; 1 Eng; Retractable Gear · Phase: approach

Anomalies: airspace-violation-all-types|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-published-material-policy

Synopsis

A PILOT REPORTS ENTERING A CTAF ARPT AIRSPACE WHEN A SPECIAL EVENT NOTAMED THE ARPT CLOSED. FSS ERRED ON THE ARPT CLOSURE DATE.

Narrative

CALLED FOR BRIEFING; PA IDENTIFIED MYSELF AS ACFT X; ASKED IF NOTAMS FOR DEST ARPT ZZZ. TOLD THERE ARE NONE. THEY WERE HAVING AN EVENT. SURPRISED NO NOTAM -- EVEN NOTED TO BRIEFER; NO NOTAMS; ASKED 3 TIMES; 'ARE YOU SURE?' NEARING ARPT CALLED ON UNICOM; NO RESPONSE. INSTEAD OF A STRAIGHT IN APCH; DECIDED TO DO AN OVERHEAD CROSSWIND APCH TO DOWNWIND. CALLED SEVERAL TIMES ON UNICOM. NO RESPONSE. ON DOWNWIND I LOWERED THE GEAR. GOT A CALL ON UNICOM STATING FIELD WAS NOTAMED OUT. TOLD THEM THAT FSS HAD TOLD ME 10 MINUTES EARLIER THAT FIELD WAS NOT NOTAMED OUT. DEPARTED AIRSPACE. FLEW TO ZZZ1 AND CALLED FSS ON CELL PHONE. GOT A DIFFERENT BRIEFER. HE STATED FIELD WAS NOTAMED OUT??? TOLD HIM OF DISCUSSION 30 MINUTES EARLIER WHERE FSS SAID NO NOTAMS. ONLY COMMENT WAS; 'DO I HAVE TO CALL TWICE TO GET THE STRAIGHT STORY?' THIS BRIEFER GAVE ME A CONTACT NUMBER AT ZZZ. I CALLED AND IDENTIFIED MYSELF AS THE ACFT X PLT WHO CALLED ON THE RADIO AND DIDN'T LAND. TELEPHONE CONTACT SAID THAT WHEN I TOLD HIM THERE WAS NO NOTAM HE CALLED FSS. FSS HAD DATES WRONG ON NOTAM. THEY FIXED IT RIGHT AWAY. FSS BRIEFER #1 FAILED TO LISTEN. I TOLD THEM THAT AN EVENT WAS AT ZZZ. HE KNEW IT BUT WASN'T LISTENING. THE TWR AT ZZZ2 WHERE I DEPARTED ENRTE TO ZZZ KNEW IT BECAUSE WE DISCUSSED IT ON DEP. BOTTOM LINE IS THAT I HAD MORE INFO AND WAS OVERLY CAUTIOUS. IF I WOULD HAVE DONE A STRAIGHT IN APCH NOT USED ANY RADIOS?? KEPT CALLING I MIGHT HAVE BEEN DEAD RIGHT. CONFIDENCE IN FSS HAS BEEN ERODED.

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