FAR 73.19 — Restricted Area Reports
FAR 73.19 requires using agencies to file annual reports on restricted area activity, hours, altitudes, and joint-use release times with the FAA.
In Plain English
FAR 73.19 sets the annual reporting requirements for any using agency assigned a restricted area. Each year, the agency must document how the airspace was actually used and submit that report to the FAA so the agency can evaluate whether the restricted area is still justified.
The report covers the 12-month period ending September 30 and must reach the FAA's Operations Support Group (with a copy to the Airspace Policy Group in Washington, DC) by January 31.
The report must include:
- The name and number of the restricted area and the reporting period
- The activities conducted, including average daily operations and any electronic monitoring info
- Hours per day, days per week, and weeks per year the area was active
- For joint-use areas, the time released back to the controlling agency for public use
- MSL altitudes or flight levels used, plus maximum and average surface-firing ordinates
- A chart depicting flight patterns, firing points, and impact areas (only resubmitted when something changes)
- Any other pertinent information
If the FAA needs more detail, it can request supplementary reports, which the using agency must submit within 60 days. This reporting is why restricted areas can be reviewed, modified, or decommissioned over time.
Regulation Text
14 CFR § 73.19§ 73.19 Reports by using agency.
(a) Each using agency must prepare a report on the use of each restricted area assigned thereto during any part of the preceding 12-month period ended September 30, and transmit it by the following January 31 of each year to the Manager, Operations Support Group in the ATO Service Center office of the Federal Aviation Administration having jurisdiction over the area in which the restricted area is located, with a copy to the Manager, Airspace Policy Group, Federal Aviation Administration, 800 Independence Avenue SW, Washington, DC 20591.
(b) In the report under this section the using agency must:
(1) State the name and number of the restricted area as published in this part, and the period covered by the report.
(2) State the activities (including average daily number of operations if appropriate) conducted in the area, and any other pertinent information concerning current and future electronic monitoring devices.
(3) State the number of hours daily, the days of the week, and the number of weeks during the year that the area was used.
(4) For restricted areas having a joint-use designation, also state the number of hours daily, the days of the week, and the number of weeks during the year that the restricted area was released to the controlling agency for public use.
(5) State the mean sea level altitudes or flight levels (whichever is appropriate) used in aircraft operations and the maximum and average ordinate of surface firing (expressed in feet, mean sea level altitude) used on a daily, weekly, and yearly basis.
(6) Include a chart of the area (of optional scale and design) depicting, if used, aircraft operating areas, flight patterns, ordnance delivery areas, surface firing points, and target, fan, and impact areas. After once submitting an appropriate chart, subsequent annual charts are not required unless there is a change in the area, activity or altitude (or flight levels) used, which might alter the depiction of the activities originally reported. If no change is to be submitted, a statement indicating “no change” shall be included in the report.
(7) Include any other information not otherwise required under this part which is considered pertinent to activities carried on in the restricted area.
(c) If it is determined that the information submitted under paragraph (b) of this section is not sufficient to evaluate the nature and extent of the use of a restricted area, the FAA may request the using agency to submit supplementary reports. Within 60 days after receiving a request for additional information, the using agency must submit such information as the FAA Service Center Operations Support Group Manager considers appropriate. Supplementary reports must be sent to the FAA officials designated in paragraph (a) of this section.
Editorial Note:
www.govinfo.gov.
The restricted areas formerly carried as §§ 608.21 to 608.72 of this title were transferred to part 73 as §§ 73.21 to 73.72 under subpart B but are not carried in the Code of Federal Regulations. Forcitations affecting these restricted areas, see the List of CFR Sections Affected, which appears in the Finding Aids section of the printed volume and at
Federal Register
[Docket 15379, 42 FR 54798, Oct. 11, 1977, as amended by Amdt. 73-5, 54 FR 39292, Sept. 25, 1989; Amdt. 73-6, 58 FR 42001, Aug. 6, 1993; Amdt. 73-8, 61 FR 26435, May 28, 1996; Amdt. 73-8, 63 FR 16890, Apr. 7, 1998; Docket FAA-2022-1355, Amdt. 73-9, 87 FR 75845, Dec. 9, 2022]
(Secs. 307 and 313(a), Federal Aviation Act of 1958 (49 U.S.C. 1348 and 1354(a)))
Oral Exam Questions a DPE Might Ask
Q1Who is responsible for reporting on the use of a restricted area, and how often?
Per FAR 73.19, the **using agency** assigned to the restricted area must prepare an annual report covering the 12-month period ending September 30, submitted to the FAA by the following January 31.
Q2What specific operational data must the using agency include in its annual restricted area report?
FAR 73.19(b) requires the activities conducted, hours/days/weeks of use, MSL altitudes or flight levels, maximum and average ordinate of surface firing, joint-use release times, and a chart of the area when applicable.
Q3What happens if the FAA decides the using agency's report doesn't contain enough information?
Under FAR 73.19(c), the FAA may request supplementary reports, and the using agency must submit the additional information within 60 days to the designated FAA officials.
Studying for a checkride?
Related Sections in Part 73