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Something systemic is going on this year in flow metering. Not counting the mess on the first days, and maybe it's just me... But I'm not seeing nearly the same amount of runway traffic this whole week.
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By the way, I first flew in and camped using a C152 with my son in 1985, and not as part of some mass arrival. Remember the Concorde? And waited in line, along with 100s of other planes on the taxiway, to takeoff while the Concorde did its low passes in the late morning, of course outside of airshow hours. "This is the worlds largest Aviation event, and yes it was started by EAA, it it is super inclusive." We all get that, but nothing can be all things to all people. And, there is a practical size limit to everything. |
Perfectly stated, I have to agree.
I won't be back as long as the mass arrivals and tower controllers collude to screw up the runways and set the stage for another 2018 cluster. This attitude about all airplanes being equal, but some are more equal than others, is a bunch of BS. Quote:
If I come across as bitter and angry, you're right - I'm bitter and angry. This year was STUPID and DANGEROUS and INEXCUSABLE. It was negligent on the part of the controllers of ATC's primary goal - that of safety. I spent more than 5 hours airborne in that furball Sunday evening and Monday morning - and we are damned lucky there was not a midair, I'll tell you that much. |
Let's be practical. When done right, the mass arrivals process a lot of airplanes in a compressed time segment. Watch the BTO group on a good day. You've never seen so many airplanes active on two parallel runways at one time.
Ultimately a mass arrival reduces the traffic volume via Ripon, and they can be handled as a single taxi stream to parking. If I were The Czar, I wouldn't eliminate mass arrivals. However, I would give the groups a choice. They can have Friday, Saturday before noon, or any morning Tuesday and later. No more mass arrivals during peak times, Saturday noon through Monday evening, no exceptions. The BTO arrival is a very good show. As a variant on the above, this Czar would open the Monday airshow with their arrival, when Ripon traffic is always shut down by notam. It would be a celebration of how OSH lands more airplane per minute than anywhere on earth. I'm sure the BTO organizers would like the idea, and cooperate with the change. The group would merely need to hit the time hack, and if they can't, well, there is always Tuesday morning. |
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At least you can plan to launch your arrival while avoiding the mass arrival planned runway shutdown. |
My question is when does the NOTAM come out versus when RV(the road kind) camping reservations open up. I'd been planning on flying in next year but if I don't like what I see in the arrival procedures hopefully there would still be good RV spots available.
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It seems to me by watching arrivals that safety on the runways trumped the safety at Ripon this year. Planes landed one at a time in leisurely fashion while the furball boiled at Ripon. I think this needs to be adjusted. And now that we have ADSB and can track an individual flight paths, pursucute/crucify those who cheat and cut in line and disregard the Notam!
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Why not have more than one arrival gate? Perhaps two, one for 9/18 and one for 27/36 or something like that? I know this wouldn't have helped on Saturday when only one runway was in use but in most cases you can use more than one runway. One gate could be RIPON and another LEWKO or something else...
I'm sure this has been considered and rejected for some reason in the past, but I think it should be re-considered. |
Well I am just a noob with two arrivals under my belt, but apparently I picked the right two: 2016 & 2018, Sunday afternoon arrivals just after the weather had improved. I got lucky on the former, was ahead of the masses. This year, we were smack dab in the middle of the fur ball. I've been in those situations before, I don't like it, but I can deal with it. Luck plays a part for sure, but head(s) up and on a swivel is a bigger contributor to survival. With lots of courtesy around the lake, situational awareness of what was happening at Fisk, and some timely aggressiveness, we got onto a runway prior to reaching divert fuel.
Improvement to the process will likely help, but won't solve it all, there will always be weather that will take the process off script. It pains me to see so many writing off not only the fly-in adventure itself, but the entirety of AirVenture due to a challenging set of circumstances. The friendships, friendliness, experiences and sights to be seen there are so very much worth the extra effort. |
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ATC's answer was short staffing. |
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