Vancouver Flight Advisory And NOTAMs Now Available

The airspace restrictions for the 2010 Winter Olympic and Paralympics Games in Vancouver will be in effect from January 29, 2010 to March 24, 2010.  The FAA will be placing restrictions and procedures in northwest Washington State to complement Canadian restrictions and procedures.

The restrictions will coincide with the opening and closing of the Athlete Villages in Vancouver and Whistler, BC. Additional NOTAMs may be issued and it is recommended that operators check NOTAMs frequently.

A few exerpst are listed below.  Be sure to read the actual documents before making flight plans:

All aircraft flight operations are prohibited from the surface to but not including 18,000 MSL (within the bounded area) except as specified below.

• All aircraft entering or exiting the TFR must be on an active IFR or VFR flight plan and must be assigned a discrete beacon code by an Air Traffic Control (ATC) facility and be squawking that code prior to departing within or entering the TFR.
• Only aircraft that are arriving or departing a local airfield may operate in this TFR. Aircraft may not loiter.
• DUAT filed VFR flight plans will not be accepted.
• Emergency/life saving flight (air ambulance/law enforcement/firefighting), military operations and other approved operations must call the HQ DEN Air Traffic Coordinator at 202-493-5107 prior to operating within the TFR. No flight plan is required for these operations in the US portion of the Olympic Airspace.
• Aircraft operating within this TFR must remain in two-way communications with ATC at all times.

Pilots of VFR aircraft departing locations within the TFR (US portion of the Olympic airspace) must file a VFR flight plan with FAA FSS at least 2 hours prior to the proposed departure time. VFR route information is required and pilot must contact FSS with all flight plan changes.

The following operations are not authorized within this TFR: flight training, practice instrument approaches, aerobatic flight, glider operations, parachute operations, ultralight, hang gliding, balloon operations, agriculture/crop dusting, animal population control flight operations, banner towing operations, sightseeing operations, model aircraft operations, model rocketry, and Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS).

During the Olympic timeframe it is recommended that operators of private aircraft submit eAPIS data to US Customs and Border Protection 24 hours prior to departure or at the time the provisional flight authorization is requested.

It is recommended that all aircraft operators check NOTAMs frequently throughout this event for possible changes.

FMI: http://tfr.faa.gov/save_pages/detail_0_1836.html, http://tfr.faa.gov/save_pages/detail_0_1836.html, http://www.navcanada.ca