Potential Interventions by Government and Industry to Minimize Violations of Temporary Flight Restrictions

In effort to oppose the use of aircraft by terrorists, the FAA has been establishing temporary flight restrictions (TFRs), air defense identification zones (ADIZs), and other restrictive airspace in effort to increase security around potential ground targets. Since this widespread application of these airspaces, which may be collectively called "security-supporting airspaces" (SSAs), the annual rate of violations of such airspace is over 30 times greater than in previous years (Government Accountability Office, 2004). This frequency of violations entails an economic cost, and potentially compromises safety and even security, the latter by inducing complacency and misallocation of resources. This paper enumerates interventions to reduce the frequency of violations by more effectively providing pilots with the information necessary to avoid such violations (Zuschlag, 2005). Short term interventions, some variants of which are already in progress, focus on improving the form and content of the Notices to Airmen (NOTAMs) currently used to inform pilots of SSAs.