FAA takes no action on glider plane landing



By DAVID IMAN II

Friday, September 1, 2006 9:30 PM EDT

QUEENSBURY -- The Federal Aviation Administration is not investigating
what the Warren County airport manager called an unsafe landing
Thursday.

The incident involved a plane towing competition gliders into the sky
and led Floyd Bennett Memorial Airport Manager Marshall Stevens to
cancel the final two days of the event, which would have finished
today.

The Soaring Society of America had run its 2006 Region III Soaring
Championship at the airport since Sunday.

The tow planes had been landing in the grass next to runways to avoid
damaging their tow cables. Stevens decided one of Thursday's landings
was unsafe because he said a larger plane was taking off on a parallel
paved runway at the same time the tow plane was in the process of
landing in the grass beside it.

Competition officials said the two planes were in constant
communication and knew what the other was doing. Officials also said
the larger plane had taken off and begun a left turn before the smaller
tow plane started its landing. Stevens said Thursday he'd spoken with
an official at the FAA's Flight Standards District Office in Albany
about the incident and the official supported his decision.

FAA spokeswoman Arlene Murray confirmed that Friday.

"We also told him in the future ... please contact the Albany office
and sit down with everyone before the event," she said. "So everyone
knows all the rules and regulations."

Stevens didn't ask for an investigation nor could he provide the FAA
with the tail numbers of the planes involved, Murray said.

"There's nothing substantive for us to go on," she said. "If our
inspectors had seen something, we could have opened an investigation."
Lake George Supervisor and Airport Committee Chairman Louis Tessier
said he'd spoken with Stevens about the incident, but was still
gathering details and couldn't comment Friday about what, if any,
action the county would take.

Stevens said his next step will be to confer with the board of
supervisors on whether to change procedures for future events.

Stewart Kissel wrote:
I read a mention from a Tom Knauff newsletter, and
the saw a description on the SSA racing tab. Sounds
like a first, a contest getting booted.