Flight through a Warning Area

[Fearless Tower]

Ok, so I'm engaged in a cubicle debate with an F-18 guy. He is insisting that a Warning Area is like a Restricted/Prohibited Area in that you cannot fly through it without a clearance. My take is that while it may not be the smartest idea, there is nothing prohibiting a GA plane from flying through a 'Whiskey' area. In fact as a ship driver, I see GA planes flying through W-291 off San Diego all the time and have had to adjust ops accordingly until the buggers were clear.

Hornet driver can't provide a reference. My reference is the AIM Chapt 3, Sec 4 and FAA Order 7400.8 that refer to Warning Areas as non-regulatory special use airspace (same as a MOA).

Is there a reference I'm missing here, or does Hornet guy have a misunderstanding about who he might be sharing airspace with?

 

[milky]

My hornet brother is mistaken. The W area is similar in rules to a MOA. But, one similarity of which he might be thinking is that in a Warning area, you can do activities that are similar to that of a Restricted area (drop/shoot ordnance for example).

To all of you idiot VFR guys that like to risk your life flying through MOAs, I invite you to press through a few Warning areas if you ever make it out to the coast. Not only will you have to dodge my often-maneuvering jet, but you may see a smoke trail fly by you.

 

[Mud Eagle]

He's wrong.

If he flies out of Oceana, he may have an opinion that is based on what he experiences in the W-122 airspace off the Atlantic coast, which has controlled entries and exits. Most of that has to do with operating through the ADIZ, rather than any FAA rule about the airspace.

 

[Huggyu2]

To reiterate the dangers of doing this, it was just two months ago when the USCG C-130 had a midair with a USMC Cobra in the Pacific Whiskey area.
If you're going to do it, at least talk to the controlling agency so they can point you out to the military aircraft, and not have a repeat of this event.

 

[JimNtexas]

Having been on both sides of this issue, the really dangerous situation arises when an F-18 pilot thinks a warning area is the same as a restricted area at the same time that a general aviation pilot transits the same warning area without talking to anyone because he thinks that 'legal' equals 'safe'.

The FAA and military could help this situation a lot if sectionals printed a radio frequency of the appropriate controlling or scheduling agency in big letters right on the chart, rather than in tiny print on the bottom.

It would also be nice the GA pilot had some way to know the military's schedule for the warning area in question.

 

[Tired Soul]

As we know from a lot of other "rules", legal is rarely safe.
Yes, you can fly through a Warning area and no you shouldn't.
Contact the controlling agency for crossinga nd they will let you know when it's time to boogie outta there

 

[IBNAV8R]

My understanding is that a Warning area is basically the same as a Restricted Area. The difference is that the Warning area is offshore and legally cannot be "restricted" by the FAA.

In other words, would you fly through an active restricted area even if you knew you wouldn't get "busted"?

 

[Fearless Tower]

My understanding is that a Warning area is basically the same as a Restricted Area. The difference is that the Warning area is offshore and legally cannot be "restricted" by the FAA.

In other words, would you fly through an active restricted area even if you knew you wouldn't get "busted"?

Just want to emphasize that I am in NO way advocating flying through a Warning Area without talking to anyone....just saying that per the REGs, there is nothing preventing a civil aircraft from doing it.

As far as the FAA not being able to regulate Warning areas because they are off-shore.....I don't think that is really true - The Warning areas I am familiar with are all within US airspace.