Quote Originally Posted by Bill Greenwood View Post
Hey Mike, I think it is. The mass arrivals seem to be a sore spot for some, but remember, even if it takes a half hour, that is a lot of airplanes landed in that time. In the case of the Bonanzas it was 171 of them! I think, so that many are out of the line and out of the congestion. If they came one at a time, it would likely take longer.
The mass arrivals are a great use of runway time. Where they cause distress is if they don't happen in the scheduled window. We've had years where we planned to arrive after or between mass arrivals, and one group or another had a problem, didn't hit the window, and messed up our plans. In that situation, the mass arrivals chewed up 2x the required time - first, their scheduled slot, then whatever runway time they actually used.