Mike wrote:
Thomas Borchert wrote:
Bob,

Obviously the current system isn't working well.


So you didn't even check? And you do tha regularly? Jeeze, wtf do you
expect? This makes what happened entirely your fault, I'm afraid. And,

What's funny is the guy keeps saying he didn't know the President was in
town. I think this is a case of not doing the pre-flight homework. I
knew about the TFR two days before it went into effect.

On an extended trip, a "pop-up" TFR can appear after you've checked
NOTAMs prior to departure. The only way I can think of to avoid these
is to be talking to ATC (e.g., under IFR or with flight following)
during your flight. I'm not sure if the satellite service providers
have enough notification to identify pop-up TFRs. While Bob and the
pilot described in the news article Mike identified probably violated
TFRs that were in a published NOTAM, a pop-up NOTAM can be difficult to
avoid if you're flying VFR and are not talking to ATC.

Also, I recall from an AOPA article that some TFRs are mobile. For
example, there are TFRs over and around the president and the vice
president no matter where they happen to be, including when they are
moving. Their precise movements and positions are justifiably
unpublished until the last possible moment for obvious reasons, and so
these TFRs can also be difficult to avoid if you're not talking to ATC.
I don't know if the satellite service providers find out about these
in time, either.

I think the days of taking off after merely checking the fuel tanks and
kicking the tire, and flying VFR wherever interest leads us, are gone
in large metropolitan areas. In my view, taking off without checking
weather and NOTAMs is reckless behavior, whether in a metropolitan area
or elsewhere. I think there's also an argument that not talking to ATC
during flight in metropolitan areas is negligent behavior.

By penetrating TFRs without ATC authorization, negligent pilots are
making it all the easier for opponents of general aviation to make
their case with Congress and others.

In my opinion, we should:
1) Check weather and NOTAMs with FSS before EVERY flight;
2) talk to ATC by either filing and flying IFR or getting flight
following; and
3) encourage every pilot you know to do the same.

It may restrict the freedom we value so much, but will go a long way
toward trying to ensure that we don't lose that freedom altogether.