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Aerial view of SoFi Stadium. | Photo by CrispyCream27 via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
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SoFi Stadium may look nice from the air, but don’t plan on flying a small plane or drone over it during Sunday’s Super Bowl or you’ll run afoul of the Federal Aviation Administration — and the U.S. military.
According to the FAA, a Temporary Flight Restriction, or TFR, will be in effect from 2:30 to 8:30 p.m. Sunday, effective in a 30-mile circle around the Inglewood stadium and stretching up to 8,000 feet.
The TFR will not impact regularly scheduled commercial flights at Los Angeles International Airport. Nor will it affect emergency, medical, public safety or military aircraft.
But other pilots who enter the TFR area can face fines of more than $30,000, along with possible criminal charges, according to the FAA.
The skies over the stadium will be under the close watch of the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, based at Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida. NORAD’s Continental U.S. Region fighter jets will be securing the air space as it does at most major events, including the Super Bowl, the president’s State of the Union Address, major party political conventions and United Nations General Assemblies.
“Just as football players practice working together cohesively as one team in order to succeed, we too practice for success by conducting extensive, complex air-defense training to be ready to defend North America at a moment’s notice,” Lt. Gen. Kirk Pierce, commander of the Continental U.S. NORAD Region, said in a statement.
NORAD works in conjunction with the FAA, the FBI, Customs and Border Protection and local law enforcement. NORAD officials noted that its security flights will not impact any usual air traffic over the area, and if residents see military jets overhead, they are only there on a precautionary basis, “not in response to any specific threat.”
The entire TFR area around SoFi Stadium is also a “no drone zone.” Anyone who flies a drone in the restricted area could also face fines and prosecution.
FAA officials said the agency worked with local law enforcement, the NFL and the aviation community to plan for the game, including the “hundreds of additional take-offs and landings and aircraft parked at Los Angeles-area airports” during Super Bowl week.
A reservation system for aircraft parking will remain in effect at most airfields in the area, including LAX, until Monday, and special air traffic procedures will be in place at all airports in the region.
Full details for pilots are available online at faa.gov/superbowl.
