Flight Crew Commercial; Flight Crew Multiengine; Flight Crew Instrument
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 20; Flight Crew Total 1300; Flight Crew Type 700
Communication Breakdown; Situational Awareness
ATC Issue All Types; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
Air Traffic Control Issued New Clearance; Flight Crew Became Reoriented; Flight Crew Took Evasive Action
Procedure
While flying northbound along 101; after passing KSFO; KSFO tower (I'm pretty sure this happened before being handed off the NORCAL) instructed me to turn left and remain south of Sutro tower to avoid a TFR [sporting event]. Before starting the flight I called 1-800-WXBRIEF for a standard briefing and specifically asked about TFRs for this route of flight at the time it was flown. The briefer explicitly told me there were going to be no [sporting] TFRs. So; then I was surprised when the controller told me to avoid a TFR that Flight Service didn't know about. There was only about two hours difference between the time of the briefing and the time of my flight so I find it hard to believe that this was a surprise pop-up TFR. After all; the schedule is known well in advance to the rest of the United States; why doesn't Flight Service know about it? It seems I would get more authoritative TFR information by checking the Giants schedule online rather than calling Flight Service.Clearly there is something broken in the dissemination of TFRs to Flight Service. This is a problem that should be easily fixed. There is no excuse for this to happen.
The solo pilot was surprised to be advised in-flight that an sporting event TFR was in place around the ballpark when his weather briefer had been specifically stated that no TFR was planned during the flight briefing two hours prior.