AOPA tries to band house thermals!

[Bastoune]

I got a chuckle out of this one...

In the AOPA Pilot October issue, I learned that the AOPA is working
hard to stop the development of a 200-megawatts natural-gas-fired
power plant located near Bryon Municipal, CA. The concern at hand is
the introduction of "Thermal Plumes" nearby the airport.

I do not know whether or not there is a glider operation at Bryan
Municipal, but if it is the case, the SSA should counter the argument
and lobby to double the megawatts capacity of said plant!

[Alan[_6_]]

In article > Bastoune > writes:
>I got a chuckle out of this one...
>
>In the AOPA Pilot October issue, I learned that the AOPA is working
>hard to stop the development of a 200-megawatts natural-gas-fired
>power plant located near Bryon Municipal, CA. The concern at hand is
>the introduction of "Thermal Plumes" nearby the airport.
>
>I do not know whether or not there is a glider operation at Bryan
>Municipal, but if it is the case, the SSA should counter the argument
>and lobby to double the megawatts capacity of said plant!


See http://norcalsoaring.org/

I don't know how much of a thermal that size plant would generate, but it
doesn't sound like a lot. It might be annoying if it was under or near the
traffic pattern.

I would not be surprised if their real objection is that the government
might later decide to ban flight near power plants, wiping out most or all
access to the airport.


Alan

[Bob]

On Sep 30, 12:35*am, (Alan) wrote:
> In article > Bastoune > writes:
>
> >I got a chuckle out of this one...
>
> >In the AOPA Pilot October issue, I learned that the AOPA is working
> >hard to stop the development of a 200-megawatts natural-gas-fired
> >power plant located near Bryon Municipal, CA. The concern at hand is
> >the introduction of "Thermal Plumes" nearby the airport.
>
> >I do not know whether or not there is a glider operation at Bryan
> >Municipal, but if it is the case, the SSA should counter the argument
> >and lobby to double the megawatts capacity of said plant!
>
> * See *http://norcalsoaring.org/
>
> * I don't know how much of a thermal that size plant would generate, but it
> doesn't sound like a lot. *It might be annoying if it was under or near the
> traffic pattern.
>
> * I would not be surprised if their real objection is that the government
> might later decide to ban flight near power plants, wiping out most or all
> access to the airport.
>
> * * * * Alan


They can generate some pretty good thermals.

I have observed powerplant thermal indicators several times recently.
1) On the way back to Arizona from the SSA national convention in
Little Rock, while flying at around 30,000+' on SW Airlines, the view
below was 100% socked in and somewhere along the way a powerplant
plume caused a boiling mass that appeared to bulge upwards maybe 1000'
or so, with smaller puffs continuing downwind for many miles. And 2)
last week while flying over eastern Arizona in an AirTran bird at
40,000' a coal-fired powerplant was clearly visible on the ground,
with a solitary cu above it that looked to be easily 10,000+' above
the powwer plant. I took photos (jpgs) out the window both times. If
anyone would like to see what I saw, I'd be glad to share the jpgs
with them via email. They are a bit hazy, as I was shooting thru the
windows of the aircraft, but are still reasonable.

Going back a lot farther in my airtime, 1) I used to fly Cessnas out
of the old Glendale, AZ airport that was located 1/2 mile directly
north of a natural gas powered electricity generating plant. When
turning base to final for runway 35 we always got quite a bump, and
taking off on 17 a several hundred foot bonus gain was always waiting
for us. And 2) back in my hang gliding cross country flying days, on
flights heading north from Oatman Mountain, located abaout 15 miles
west-northwest from Gila Bend, we were guaranteed a BIG lift good for
thousands of feet over the cooling towers of PaloVerde Nuclear Power
Plant. This was back in the early 80's (pre 9/11 paranoia). Today,
on cool mornings the vapor plume can be seen from over 100 miles away,
usually upwards many thousands of feet. However, all my gliding
airtime in Arizona is north or west of the north Phoenix area, so that
house thermal isn't in my waypoint list any more.

Bob T.
19

[jb92563]

I would agree that air traffic over a power plant will surely become
prohibited eventually with all the silly
security folks thinking up new risks every day.

For that reason alone I would support AOPA.

As for aircraft flying through man made thermals, there is a fear of
things they don't really know intimately
but still they don't want their coffee cups to be knocked over by a
sudden thermal surge.

As a glider pilot turbulence is a normal and acceptible flight regime
except when it exceeds your comfort level. (Rotor)

GA aircraft have a low comfort level for strong thermals and I would
think generally don't like them.

Ask a non pilot public how they like turbulence on an airline
flight....they have NO tolerance for turbulence.

Ray