Baseball season kicks off; pilots should avoid stadiums

Baseball season kicks off; pilots should avoid stadiums

For many baseball fans, opening day of the 2006 Major League Baseball season on Monday, April 3, means they will be enjoying hotdogs and rooting for the home team. But for pilots, it means the start of watching out for more temporary flight restrictions (TFRs). The stadium TFR prohibits you from getting an up-close bird's-eye-view of the games: You cannot fly below 3,000 feet agl within three nautical miles of any stadium having a seating capacity of 30,000 or more people in which a "Major League Baseball, National Football League, NCAA Division One football, or major motor speedway event is occurring." AOPA offers a handy list of every major stadium in the United States, including their GPS coordinates, to help keep you from striking out with the FAA over a TFR violation. We also give you links to the sports schedules, so you will know when the games are being played. See the stadium notam for details on getting waivers from the TFR.

March 31, 2006