While in the Pilot's Lounge here at the virtual airport, I got to checking my email and found one that took me to task for asserting that the Temporary Flight Restrictions (TFRs) created as a result of Hurricane Katrina were ill-conceived and poorly planned. I had complained because of the difficulties reported by some pilots who sought to assist in the immediate aftermath of the storm. The email of interest came from Julie Stewart, who holds the position of National Airspace Project Manager with the U.S. Forest Service. Ms. Smith most politely asked that I get in touch with her so that I might learn more about the TFRs that are created over sites that experience natural disasters, as well as the process that goes into deciding the type of TFR to be created, the geographic area encompassed and the duration.I called Ms. Stewart and learned that my comments -- to the effect that the TFRs associated with the hurricane did not go through a planning process that took enough factors into consideration -- were off the mark. While I remain of the opinion that many of the post-9/11 "security" TFRs (that seem to be anything but temporary) are politically-motivated eyewash, the TFRs that get created when there is a forest fire, after a tornado, flood or hurricane are different animals. Those TFRs are generally created by people who know what they are doing. Further, upon checking, I discovered that a number of the pilots who had complained that the Hurricane Katrina TFRs prevented them from using their airplanes to bring in food or medicine or fly out the ill or injured either didn't actually bother to read the NOTAMs to get the procedures to engage in humanitarian flights. I learned that many individuals and groups were able to comply with the requirements in the NOTAMs and fly into the airports within the post-hurricane TFRs to render assistance.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://www.avweb.com/features/the-pilots-lounge-95-amazing-there-are-tfrs-that-make-sense