As I flew north up the east shore of the Hudson River at around 12:30 p.m. on Friday, the Newark Tower controller advised me that I’d have to steer about a mile to the west, over Teterboro Airport, to avoid a temporary flight restriction over Yankee Stadium. Apparently the Bombers were playing an afternoon home game.
Was this factoid covered in my preflight briefing? Not exactly. There is a blanket “stadium TFR” that applies to large sporting events, during which airplanes are not supposed to fly within a 3-mile radius of the stadium up to 3,000 feet. The only way I would have known about the game in advance is if I followed Major League Baseball and, specifically, the Yankees — which I have not done in years.
Because I was flying inside the Class B airspace and talking to air traffic controllers, I was never in any danger of violating the TFR. Still, it bothers me that as a pilot I am required to keep up with professional sports in addition to worrying about more important things, like the weather and how my engine is running.