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More from Meredith Saini:

As the Female In Charge (FIC) of the MCAA, I decided it was high time to toss the dusty, dated artificial flowers and fake ficus on the main level of the terminal building and replace them with something a bit more modern and fresh looking. So next time you’re at the airport, please take a moment to gaze upon the display and let me know what you think. I am not an interior designer by any stretch but I do my best. It is a work in progress. We, together with John Luke, are starting to make some aesthetic and functional upgrades to the interior of the terminal that hopefully will make it a more pleasing and useful place for pilots and visitors.

Cheers,
Meredith

Picture coming soon? Stay tuned.

Now our own Wendell Pope offers his view:

My reaction was the same concerning congestion in the national airspace system. The biggest problem by far is runway congestion so why is this ADS-B project being presented as a solution? My cynical side sees this as a way to funnel big contract money to contractors rather than dealing with the political hot potato of building more runways. ADS-B technology is great, but this is not a solution to airline congestion problems.

Another interesting aspect of this congestion issue is whether the big increase in the use of regional jets over the past 10 years is partly to blame for the concrete squeeze. The argument goes something like this. RJs use up lots of runway, about as much as larger traditional airliners and much more than the turboprops they replace. Turboprops can typically use shorter runways that are unsuitable for jets. Also there is a sense that RJs have substituted for larger airliners and it would take approximately 4 fifty seat RJs to carry the passengers of 1 B767. So as RJ flying is increased mostly replacing turboprops and substituting for some larger airliners there is great pressure put on runway resources.

I think there is a substantial amount of accuracy to this argument particularly concerning RJs largely replacing turboprops. That said, with the introduction of 100+ seat RJs the definition of an RJ is blurring and making me a little nervous (the B717 I fly seats 117 passengers). I don’t think of the B717 as an RJ but a B767 driver might think it is. Maybe it’s time to move to the B737!

Our most eager TSS pilots are already preparing for the challenge. TSS pilots Herb and Mark honed their grass field skills this past weekend. Here is Herb’s report:

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1. We flew to Hays Field (180 RAD about 15 miles from EMI) and did some takeoffs and landings. It is a challenging but not over challenging strip. You will have to wipe the grass stains off the wheel pants if you choose a panted airplane. Then we flew north out of the ADIZ (all on one ADIZ flight plan). {Subsequently, Leo Mortimer advised that they do not want folks practicing takeoffs and landings at Hays}

2. Then we began a search for private grass strips shown on the chart outside the ADIZ. This was not to scout out every grass field between GAI and the site in Northern PA. Rather it was (a) for fun because Mark and I had done it before 15 years or so ago; (b) this is really good training for our forthcoming adventure. We found six out of eight. North of the ADIZ and not much further north than the cement plant NE of FDK, there are about 10 grass strips owned by lucky individuals who have a lot of land and one or more airplanes. There is an art to finding grass fields and looking for the ones not too far from home will hone your skills in how to read the chart, look for clues on the ground, and have some fun flying on a nice day. And none are on the GPS even if you have it on.

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Of all the features on our new WAAS-equipped GPS boxes, I guess the on-off switch is still one of the most exciting.

–Charlie

Using good old-fashion pilotage we’ll navigate without aid of ADF, VOR, and GPS to this grass strip located on the border of PA/NY. If you’re interested in joining us, contact us at info@tss.org.

If you’d like to read more about WAAS, try the WAAS Wikipedia entry.

The moderator is Charlie Mayer (cmayer76@gmail.com).