FAA cancels two last-minute Winter Olympic TFRs

The FAA has canceled two notams issued January 25 that would have established expanded temporary flight restriction areas (TFRs) around two Olympic venues. This cancellation reopens Brigham City Airport (BMC) to VFR operations during the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Instrument approaches to BMC will not be authorized. A notam on that is expected later today.

AOPA had argued against the two expanded venue notams. With the imposition of the notams, AOPA had requested special air traffic procedures for Brigham City to facilitate operations in the TFR.

The canceled notams would have expanded the TFRs around the Ogden Ice Sheet and the Peaks Ice Sheet (in Provo) to 30 nautical miles. The TFRs around those venues will now remain at 2 nm.

The Ogden TFR would have also severely limited operations at Brigham City, which is outside the Olympic Special Flight Rules Area (SFRA). The FAA had previously advised Salt Lake area pilots to relocate their aircraft to Brigham City to avoid the Olympic restrictions.

The Olympic SFRA establishes a 45-nm area of restricted airspace around Salt Lake City Airport (SLC) beginning Friday, February 8. Only aircraft operations accredited by the Utah Olympic Public Safety Command, which have complied with the security programs set forth in the SFRA, and are under positive air traffic control may operate in the Olympic ring airspace. Transient aircraft must clear a security check at one of four "gateway" airports that are more than 180 miles distant from SLC.

The FAA has also established a special traffic management program ("slot reservations") for IFR traffic arriving at three airports that are outside the SFRA, anticipating that many pilots may choose to land outside the restricted airspace and take surface transportation into the Salt Lake City area. IFR reservations are required for Logan-Cache (LGU), Wendover (ENV), and Evanston Unita County Burns Field (EVW) airports.

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