ForeFlight TFR Reporting, Warnings and the DC SFRA

gitmo234

gitmo234

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gitmo234
Evening all - I cant find any documentation and it's probably because i'm not using the right terms, so I'd like your experience with this:

This morning I flew from 58M to Fort Eustis VA, and routed around the SFRA on the east coast near DE. I got a briefing and nothing was unusual. Wheels up at 6:30 am. It was also my first flight with ForeFlight using a stratus 1.

As I headed south suddenly the screen changed and the DC SFRA grew to cover all the ay over to Easton MD, KESN. I freaked out because I was right right on the line so I banked hard left and contacted Potomac Approach, who just so happen to say (the second I switched over to them) "Yeah he's in a restricted area" which made me panic more.

Potomac confirmed there was no TFR along my route, as did Easton Tower. I later put it together that in ForeFlight, it overlaid a red TFR warning for the "within 60 nm" requirement.

Anyone else experienced this? Is there a specific feature I can turn off to just have the red overlay be the TFR only and not a proximity warning?
 
Just don't cross the Bay and you are good on that route.

Easton is well outside the SFRA.

There's a restricted area further south around Cambridge that you can go under 3500 through.
 
Sounds like the stratus TFR feature includes the 60nm "SFRA training required" area in its data. The basic TFR data in ForeFlight only shows the boundaries of the SFRA (and FRZ) itself. I could see how it might startle you if you weren't expecting it but it looks like there isn't a way to differentiate the TFRs aside from turning TFRs off of the display.
 
Brad, That's what I'm thinking. I make the trip to Easton and that general area a lot. The big red circle expanding, combined with the bad luck of hearing someone bust a restricted area on the radio made me panic a bit. When i touched the "warning area" it just said "TFR" but had the same TFR as the SFRA posted. If I wasnt familiar with the area and the rules I would have no way of differentiating that warning area from the actual SFRA

I'm trying to find a way to turn warning off. Too easy to get confusing.
 
I think you're right. I just went to my ipad to grab a snapshot of the problem and right now its only connected to my wifi, and it looks normal. Picture is attached. Connected to the Stratus the outer circle extends to over KESN in the air
 

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gitmo234 said:
I think you're right. I just went to my ipad to grab a snapshot of the problem and right now its only connected to my wifi, and it looks normal. Picture is attached. Connected to the Stratus the outer circle extends to over KESN in the air
Click to expand...

Hey gitmo234,

It's not that the Stratus or ForeFlight modify the DC SFRA, it's that the ADS-B system also transmits the 60nm "ring" along with the 30nm SFRA as part of that "TFR".

Here's a screenshot I took a while back on a flight out of VA using a Stratus. You can see the inner FRZ, the middle SFRA, the Leesburg cutout, and the outer 60nm ring.

Hope that helps,

-Josh
 

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It's not just the training requirement. The 60 NM ring is part of the SFRA: the speed zone. VFR traffic is restricted to no more than 230 KIAS within the zone. Since most of our airspeed indicators won't "indicate" that high (let alone the aircraft not being able to go that fast), we tend to ignore that part of the rule.
 
I had a similar thing happen to me a couple of years ago. I was flying from KGAI and almost to KTHV when I noticed a red ring on the MFD. Landed, called FSS to confirm no TFR. It was just the speed ring. Lesson learned, know thine avionics.
 
My unit shows both the inner SFRA zone (as hashed) and an outer ring for the speed zone.
 
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