Restricting Glider Ops at Public Arpt.

At 23:24 30 July 2003, Rjciii wrote:
Judy,

Can the SSA provide any help with respect to advocacy
in this
situation other than provide regulatory references?

SSA's Airport Utilization group headed by Steve Northcraft
can provide some assistance in airport user issues,
but FAR 16.23 limits the role any association can play
here. The person or entity directly and substantially
affected by an airport authority's alleged act or omission
has the legal standing to file a formal complaint with
FAA and bears primary responsibility to document the
resulting detriment to safety, economics and/or efficiency.


That said, it's been my experience that many airport
utilization issues tend to involve glider pilots saying,
'we've always done things this way' while the airport
manager, his/her supervising Commission, the City/County
Board and/or the local FSDO or ADO point to FAA advisory
material and say, 'well, you're in conflict with FAA
safety standards.'

True enough, the origins of some of these conflicts
can be traced to a cranky airport tenant or an airport
manager with an anti-soaring bent. More insidious and
perhaps more often, planned airport improvements -
and the desire for federal funding to pay for them
- can prompt a review of airport procedures and the
(unpleasant) finding that glider ops need to be modified.

Chief among the sticky wickets for soaring: design
standards for Obstacle Free Zones and Object Free Areas,
along with recommended procedures for ground personnel
and vehicles on aprons/ramps, taxi ways and runways.
These issues have been dealt with at Minden Tahoe
(Douglas County) airport in NV and their current operating
rules are available online through the 'regulations'
link at http://mtairport.co.douglas.nv.us/pilot_guide.html#
(be sure to check out not only the glider ops section
but also rules pertaining to pedestrians and vehicles!)

The intersection traffic cop is a novel and unprecedented
idea, as far as I know... but given the LGC runway
layout shown on Airnav and blind ends of the intersecting
runways, it would not IMHO seem unreasonable for airport
operating rules to require either radios in all gliders
or (1) a launch announcement by a radio-equipped tow
plane and (2) normal glider landings stopping well
short of the intersecting runway.

Finally, I note that in a previous post, you mention
that gliders are not allowed to operate from the runway
with an instrument approach, which is cited on Airnav
as an ILS on 31. Presumably this is used in IMC and
for practice approaches in VMC. Meanwhile, Soaring
Eagles' website mentions (occasional?) winch launch
activities apparently taking place on 03/21. Hmmm...
maybe an intersection traffic cop isn't such a bad
idea when the winch is in use.

Judy