Pilots urged to prepare for SoCal airspace restrictions

Three temporary restricted areas—a type of uncharted airspace that AOPA has strongly objected to because of risks to nonparticipants—will be in effect during the period, with notices to airmen bearing the key word “tempo” as the primary source of current information about the possible hazards to aviation, absent official charting of the airspace.

ForeFlight has told AOPA that it plans to include the temporary restricted areas on the electronic charts it publishes of the area, said Rune Duke, AOPA director of airspace and air traffic.

AOPA Western Pacific Regional Manager Melissa McCaffrey has sent notification emails to AOPA Airport Support Network volunteers at more than 150 airports in Arizona, California, and Nevada about the military operation, to help the volunteers make their local airports communities aware of the major change in designation of large swaths of airspace east of Los Angeles and north of Palm Springs.

AOPA presented a segment on the concerns about possible hazardous conditions in the area during the exercise in the July 6 edition of AOPA Live This Week, and strongly recommends that pilots planning to fly in southern California in August frequently update all available information about the temporary airspace restrictions.

Temporary restricted areas and temporary military operations areas active during the operation will be depicted on the FAA’s special-use airspace website.