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How are Thunderbirds flyovers coordinated with ATC?

Asked by: 1750 views General Aviation

There was a flyover today in socal. I didn't see any TFRs for it and it looked like the flightpath crossed through all kinds of different airspace.

How are these things coordinated with ATC, what frequencies were they on, and what steps do they take to avoid VFR traffic?

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1 Answers



  1. RobA61 on May 20, 2020

    I can’t speak for Thunderbirds, but when the Blue Angels came through DFW they issued an airspace ADIZ for a 30nm ring around TTT VOR. It wasn’t a TFR and plenty of VFR traffic were in the vicinity. I’m pretty sure it was a “see and avoid” operation. If you study the flight path, they usually are in the area where ATC has positive control over aircraft movement as well. To be honest – it was difficult to find the airspace ADIZ, buried in a NOTAM for one of the terminal airports.

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