Flight restrictions announced for Super Bowl

AOPA urges pilots to note the details and effective times of all applicable notices to airmen before flying, and to check frequently for changes that could occur with little or no notice, said Nobuyo Sakata, AOPA director of aviation security.

Temporary flight restrictions will be in effect from 3:30 to 11:59 p.m. local time on Feb. 4. All aircraft flight operations except those specified in the flight advisory will be prohibited from the surface to, but not including, 18,000 feet msl within a 10-nautical-mile-radius ring from the Minneapolis VOR/DME 347-degree radial at 4.7 nm during the active period.

All aircraft flight operations in the 10-nm to 30-nm outer ring from the surface up to, but not including, 18,000 feet msl will be prohibited with the following exceptions, complying with the prescribed procedures: “Aircraft arriving or departing local. Aircraft may not loiter. 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.” Also, “All aircraft entering or exiting the TFR must remain in two-way radio communication with ATC and on assigned discrete beacon code.”

Operations not authorized within the TFR will include 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, seaplane/amphibious water operations, and unmanned aircraft systems (UAS).

Please note that the flight advisory is an overview of procedures that will be in effect. Pilots are urged to consult the TFR FDC notam for details of TFR procedures. Please also note that according to the National Business Aviation Association, the TFR start time is 3:30 p.m. on Feb. 4 , not 3 p.m. as it is given in the flight advisory.

The FAA has posted this information about security provisions and special air traffic procedures including traffic management on its website, and recommends that pilots check notams frequently for possible changes.

Pilots planning to fly to Minneapolis for the Super Bowl are also encouraged to review this Letter to Airmen issued by the FAA's Minneapolis Air Route Traffic Control Center.

With security in focus, the Minnesota Wing of the Civil Air Patrol and the Minnesota Air National Guard have planned a demonstration on Jan. 30 of what would happen if an aircraft intruded into restricted Super Bowl airspace during the Feb. 4 TFR.

“CAP airplanes are used throughout the year to assist the Air Force with training to protect the skies across the country,” said Col. James Garlough, commander of CAP’s Minnesota Wing, in a news release. “We’re going to show the media how it will be done on Feb. 4 around U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis during Super Bowl LII.”

The demonstration, hosted by the Minnesota Air National Guard’s 148th Fighter Wing at Duluth Air National Guard Base, is designed to simulate an aircraft entering the no-fly zone around the Super Bowl and being intercepted, with military pilots flying alongside the CAP plane, making radio contact, and guiding it out of restricted airspace.

The mission marks CAP’s sixteenth year of participating in North American Aerospace Defense Command air-defense exercises designed to protect the airspace over the Super Bowl, CAP said.