TFR over NASCAR race was possibly violated, too

This past Sunday I had the opportunity to take my two children to my and
their first NASCAR stock car race at Watkins Glen, NY (USA).

As we were sitting in the bleachers listening to the Canadian National
Anthem just prior to the start of the race, I looked up and saw a Cessna
172 circling about 1,000 feet above the 200,000 spectators', teams', and
vendors' heads.

Conditions were marginal VFR and the 172 made three passes before leaving
the airspace.

In thinking about the official TFR in place for the event, I wondered if
this C172 pilot received a waiver to loiter over the event. Aerial
photography, perhaps?

Oh, and on an aviation related note, a B-17 and a B-25 performed two in-
formation fly-overs about two hours before the start of the race. Now
that was a sight to see.

--
Peter

Could have been CAP. We often fly in TFRs for observation.

"Robert M. Gary" wrote:

Could have been CAP. We often fly in TFRs for observation.

Interesting. Do you have to apply for a waiver before departing on these
missions? If so, who does this?

--
Peter

For any CAP flight you must receive a flight release authorization. I
would guess that this particular release would come from the AirForce.
Most TFRs don't apply to gov't operations so as long as you are flying
on behalf of uncle sam, you should be ok. There may be some coordiation
required to ensure they know who is coming and going, but most likely
they are waiting for you. Remember that after 9/11 CAP Cessna 172s were
flying over the World Trade Center even before the airlines were back
in the air.

-Robert

"Robert M. Gary" wrote:

For any CAP flight you must receive a flight release authorization. I
would guess that this particular release would come from the AirForce.
Most TFRs don't apply to gov't operations so as long as you are flying
on behalf of uncle sam, you should be ok. There may be some coordiation
required to ensure they know who is coming and going, but most likely
they are waiting for you.

Thanks, Robert. I was unaware of CAP's ability to fly into TFRs. Of
course, since I do not participate in CAP my lack of knowledge of their
privileges shouldn't be too surprising.

Does this privilege also apply to the Washington ADIZ if the CAP flight is
a US gov't flight?

Remember that after 9/11 CAP Cessna 172s were
flying over the World Trade Center even before the airlines were back
in the air.

What was the purpose of these flights?

--
Peter

I believe CAP flights are flying in the Washington ADIZ.

The purpose was for observation and emegency coordination. CAP also
operates the country's only emergency communication system. If the T1
lines go down that run your cell phone, land lines etc, you must use
the CAP radio relay network.

-Robert

"Robert M. Gary" wrote:

I believe CAP flights are flying in the Washington ADIZ.

The purpose was for observation and emegency coordination. CAP also
operates the country's only emergency communication system. If the T1
lines go down that run your cell phone, land lines etc, you must use
the CAP radio relay network.

"CAP also operates the country's only emergency communication system" is
a massive exageration. True CAP has government (issued by NTIA, not FCC)
radio frequencies and radio repeaters (similar in function to VHF/UHF ham
repeaters except they operate on gov't issued CAP frequencies) but there
are a lot of emergency communcation systems out there, run by government
and private companies that utilize satellite, radio, landline, etc.

An interesting tidbit is that 122.9 Mhz is not only for MULTICOM and CTAF
at non-towered airports without FBOs but is also authorized for CAP use
for training, as 122.9 is available for government stations.
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/osmhome/alloctbl/foot_us.html [footnote US80]
For radio purposes CAP is a government entity. Legally it is a federal
chartered corporation.

On 15 Aug 2005 13:14:16 -0700, "Robert M. Gary"
wrote:

Remember that after 9/11 CAP Cessna 172s were
flying over the World Trade Center even before the airlines were back
in the air.

-Robert

Doing what?

Mike Weller

On 15 Aug 2005 17:08:49 -0700, "Robert M. Gary"
wrote:

I believe CAP flights are flying in the Washington ADIZ.

The purpose was for observation and emegency coordination. CAP also
operates the country's only emergency communication system. If the T1
lines go down that run your cell phone, land lines etc, you must use
the CAP radio relay network.

-Robert

Oh really! I wouldn't have imagined that. I've got an old Drake TR-4
that will transmit to anywhere. In Morse code if need be.

Mike Weller
N4TXJ

Doing what?

Mike Weller
-------------------------------------reply------------------------------------

Taking pictures.

Stephen