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Thread: Fisk arrival on Sunday

  1. #1

    Join Date
    Jul 2013
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    Fisk arrival on Sunday

    Pardon if this has been discussed already but I don't see it.

    What was going on Sunday with the Fisk arrival? It was a mid-air waiting to happen. Granted that weather on Saturday pushed a lot of arrivals to Sunday but:

    1. They were sending people past Fisk at 1 mile in trail. It's always been 1/2 mile and they switched back to 1/2 mile on Monday. That cuts the arrivals in half.
    2. People at the airport said that the arrival pace was slower than past years. Sure, because they were spaced at 1 mile. What happened to simultaneous landing on the numbers + a dot? Do they really think that having a hundred planes milling around of Rush and Green lakse is safer than the procedure they've used for years?
    3. Several times the Fisk controllers said they were down to 1 runway? Why? There were no landing accidents.

    I hope next year is better.

  2. #2

    Join Date
    Jul 2012
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    I absolutely don't know. I was at a nearby airport listening to the tower and watching the live feeds. It looked to me like they were only using the hard surfaces for taxiing, which surely would have slowed things down. I did hear a controller say that they were going to start using the grass to taxi but when I went back inside, the 'live' video still showed them only using the hard surfaces.

  3. #3

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    Aug 2011
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    EAA management is (allegedly) pretty upset about how poorly the Saturday and Sunday arrivals went. Based on what I've seen elsewhere, I'd expect changes next year. What the changes might be... dunno.

  4. #4

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    Jun 2017
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    It was hard surfaces only on Sunday combined with a R9 configuration and an extremely high volume. R9 is a tough configuration for ATC.

  5. #5

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    Aug 2011
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    Quote Originally Posted by FURY View Post
    It was hard surfaces only on Sunday combined with a R9 configuration and an extremely high volume. R9 is a tough configuration for ATC.
    True. But 36/18 went virtually unused. For whatever reason, they were severely throttling traffic at Fisk. Well beyond what was necessary.

  6. #6
    MEdwards's Avatar
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    Jul 2011
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    I believe some mass arrivals scheduled for Saturday were postponed until Sunday, closing 36 L&R to regular traffic for a while. I believe there was at least one "incident" on 36 also. On all runways, the ground was soft due to weather so they couldn't move airplanes off the runways fast enough. That, combined with all the normal Saturday traffic delayed until Sunday due to weather, resulted in the problem. I bugged out and landed elsewhere. Monday morning also was horrible for several hours because of all the people who, like me, didn't get in Sunday and got an early start Monday.

    The only change I would like to see is with the mass arrivals. They come in Saturday for a reason, because the traffic is lighter than Sunday. They should not be rescheduled for Sunday.

    There will always be problems due to incidents or weather. They're fairly rare. I hope they don't make radical changes to a system that has worked well for decades.

    Mike E

  7. #7

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    Aug 2011
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    I've posted elsewhere that the mass arrivals are great. But they need to be moved to "shoulder" times, not "center cut" times. 7:00 - 9:00 AM on Sunday. Same on Monday. Maybe (not my idea) open the show on Monday with a mass arrival. But not between 10:00 AM and 6:00 PM on Saturday or Sunday. Sorry. We'll hold a slot for you, but we're not going to hold the best slots for you.

  8. #8

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    Jul 2011
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    Close to OSH, but not close enough!
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    It sounded pretty chaotic over the radio and looked pretty chaotic in person. The controllers kept saying that 18/36 was not available but I never heard them say why...how hard would it have been to tell the Fisk arrival planes that 18/36 was unavailable because of some mass and wardbird arrivals?

  9. #9

    Join Date
    Aug 2011
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    Wachapreague Va.
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    247

    Arrival

    On Monday I observed numerous pilots flying in a reckless and dangerous manner seemingly with severe cases of get there ittus. Just had to be first !!! These pilots endangered themselves and others needlesly. This is not just a problem for which EAA is responsible. Much of this is avoidable if everyone would simply follow the well laid out, very simple notam. I personally think the FAA should make examples of a few of these idiots and the next year would be a bit better. Lets place the blame where it belongs, much of it on poor pilots who either did not read the Notam or simply would not follow the rules. Some of these folks need their tickets pulled !. Yes I know this post will not make me popular but speaking the truth rarely does. If we want this problem fixed then we have to be honest as to the causes. Have my flameproof suit on, and curious as to how many others observed the same things.
    Last edited by vaflier; 07-29-2018 at 07:30 AM.

  10. #10

    Join Date
    Jul 2012
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    I certainly agree with a lot of the ideas expressed here. But I'm not going to count on either of the 'AA' entities to solve the issues. I will never attempt and approach just after the weather turns VMC and I will be 100% prepared to spend some time at an alternate airport.

    I remember one year staying at a nearby airport until Wednesday and then flying the RIPON/FISK approach in a nearly empty sky. I must have just hit the perfect time.

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