Anyone that has watched TV may have come across a show called “Let’s Make A Deal”. The show has been around since the early '60s where audience members compete for prizes. But that’s beside the fact.
In an effort to help promote the opening of smaller airports, any Class Bravo airports that I stumble upon throughout this scheduled week, expect to see me at your airport requesting patterns in my Cessna 172 (not my standard 208). Sounds like a headache, right? Except during FNF, at the controllers discretion, controllers should have no issue accepting patterns… at least that what one would hope for.
So what do you say? I’ll make this commitment too as I am pushing myself to control more, and would really like to see these small airports gain the attention they deserve. I won’t come bug you with patterns at a small airport. Maybe a flight or two in an out of your field. So… who want’s to make a deal? 🙂
I have to disagree with you there.
0600Z would easily allow me to take off in the evening from one of the IFATC regions and land in the next after the controlling change.
0000 is too early for me and I would really have to take off early.
Keep in mind that this is completely based on time zones and schedules though, it’s different for everybody.
I have a list of ICAO codes for underrated airports in the US. Since you won’t have time to visit them all, it’s up to you which one(s) you visit. This is for next weekend.
KECP (NW FL Beaches) Panama City, FL
KMLI (Quad City Airport) Moline, IL
KLGB (Long Beach) CA
KISP (Long Island MacArthur) Islip, NY
KTTN (Trenton Mercer) NJ
KSHV (Shreveport, LA)
KBHM (Birmingham, AL)
KABQ (Albuquerque Sunport) NM
KRNO (Reno, NV)
KFWA (Fort Wayne, IN) - You’re welcome @JoshFly8
It took me a while to find Tuesday on the map…still waking up, lol. GIUK Wednesday is really neat.
Here’s my thoughts.
I wonder what would happen if for every op area one or two hubs were designated. So for example:
Monday - Edmonton (CYEG), Montreal (CYUL)
Tuesday - Queenstown (NZQN)
Wednesday - Keflavik (BIKF), Edinburgh (EGPH)
Thursday - Vladivostok (UHWW), Kiev (UKBB)
Friday - FNF
Sat & Sun - Minneapolis / St. Paul (KMSP), Salt Lake City (KSLC)
Or you could designate two for Saturday and a different two for Sunday in this case.
So basically, designate the two hubs that ATC will focus on, instead of EGLL, KJFK, etc. See if that draws a lot of the long haul flights. I’m just addressing one specific issue with the current flights with this, the long hauls, since they’re the bulk of the traffic going to the well known airports.
Emphasis on “example.” I just quickly found some airports in each op area, doing no research on any of them. I’m looking for thoughts on the concept.
Could it work? Would the community still fly to the well known airports anyway? What are the factors being considered by pilots when making a flight plan? Particularly the long haul ones since, again, they make up the bulk of traffic to the well known airports. It seems like it’s because they know there’s a reasonable chance of those airports having ATC often. So I figure this concept could be a solution to that. But maybe there are other factors that haven’t been mentioned yet, or I just missed. Or maybe this concept has been trialed before. Point that out too.
Maybe. Most people tend to fly in more populated zones, so by increasing the amount of smaller airports ran by ATC, you can expect more flights from there to hubs.
IF is made to be realistic and user oriented, for example, when Europe is on the schedule LFPG would not come close to EGLL in term of traffic, and that is just due to the trademark approach to Heathrow everyone has heard of. Nothing to do with the controller choosing to open this airfield instead of the other one, its just the way they can maximize the user experience.
The world of aviation is owed to the United States. I believe at least one day of each week schedule must belong to this great country. In addition America has various scenery from the east to the west which makes it very attractive for flying.
I agree with you on the last part part but disagree with your claim. The aviation industry is not owed to the US. We need to explore more things out there rather then stick with the same country… Aviation is made everywhere possible from france (airbus,), to Brazil (embraer), Having to explore new regions is what makes flying enjoyable…
