[JYO] TFR might remain as is for 4th and weekend..

My sources now tell me that the TFR might stay the same size as it is now for 
the 4th and through the weekend, but that extra fighter cap planes will be on 
standby both in the air and on the ground.

Please make sure you check NOTAMS before you go and be extra vigilant.


Ed

- - - -

From the <A HREF="http://www.aopa.org";>AOPA</A> site:

Help pilots avoid TFRs by fixing notam system, AOPA tells FAA
Boyer appeals directly to FAA administrator to put TFR maps on the Internet

July 2 — AOPA President Phil Boyer today <A 
HREF="http://www.aopa.org/whatsnew/newsitems/2002/020702letter.html";>appealed 
directly</A> to FAA 
Administrator Jane Garvey to give pilots the information they need to avoid 
temporary flight restriction areas (TFRs).

 "I'm not defending the pilots who have violated TFRs," said Boyer. "It's our 
responsibility to get and understand the information. Sanctions against 
violators are appropriate.

 "But the communication system is broken. And because of that, the general 
public thinks GA pilots are a security threat and can't abide by the rules. 
That's not true.

 "How can the FAA expect pilots to avoid airspace when they are not given the 
proper information, maps, and tools to plot a course around the restricted 
areas?"

 Boyer said the current system is much like handing a businessperson the keys 
to a rental car in an unfamiliar city, pointing them in the general direction 
of travel and wishing them luck in successfully navigating a highway system 
as complex as the LA freeway, with no map and all the street signs covered 
up.

 AOPA has multiple reports of flight service station briefers failing to 
provide pilots with TFR notices to airmen (notams). In one case, an FSS 
briefer failed to tell the pilot about the security TFR around Washington, 
D.C., and failed to tell the pilot that his destination airport within that 
TFR was closed!

 "But we pilots can understand how FAA employees — who should know this 
information better than anybody else — can make that kind of mistake," said 
Boyer. "The notam system is archaic and clogged with non-pertinent data. 
Textual descriptions of airspace boundaries are difficult to interpret."

 Boyer again asked FAA to give pilots direct Internet access to clear, 
concise notams that graphically depict current airspace restrictions.

 Since November, AOPA has been providing maps of the <A 
HREF="http://www.aopa.org/whatsnew/newsitems/2001/010915tfr.html";>security 
TFRs</A> on its Web 
site, along with "plain language" interpretations of notams.

 "However, we strongly believe that the government has a responsibility to 
provide this information," Boyer said. "Although I'm proud of the work AOPA 
has done, we are not the official source."

 Boyer reminded Garvey that the FAA has been working on a graphical notam 
system since February, but the agency only intends to distribute the 
information to FSS briefers, not to pilots.

 "Jane, the TFR notam situation is critical and general aviation's future 
access to airspace hangs in the balance," Boyer wrote Administrator Garvey. 
"Given the recent violations, the proliferation of security TFRs, the 
military's shoot-down policy, and the current notam system deficiencies, the 
FAA must work aggressively to get graphical TFRs into the hands of users as 
soon as possible.

 "The Internet is the communication tool that should be leveraged to make it 
happen!"

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