Nantucket airport

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NadCixelsyd wrote:

On WBUR, the mentioned that ACK is getting some new equipement to assist pilots
in landing. They then mentioned that ACK is the 2nd busiest ariport in MA,
next to BOS.

HUH?? I realize that many people fly to Nantucket because it's so far away by
boat, but is the airport really that busy? Busier than Hanscom, Lawrence, or
Beverly???

I don't have the numbers in front of me, but yes ACK is a zoo, at least in the warm
months. The rest of the year it is busy, but not greatly so. The FAA has been
talking about making the airspace there Class C for a few years now, due to traffic
volume during peak times. Second busiest airport in Mass is probably stretching
things, at least on an annual basis.

The equipment you heard about might be what a MCI press released just discussed.
Apparently they are helping implement an underwater fiber optic line from Cape
TRACON (located at Otis) to Nantucket tower. The article claims this will "keep
the airport open" in times of inclement weather; although the airport actually does
not close during inclement weather. Nor does the tower there really need another
data feed, since IFR separation is handled by the TRACON (or Bos Center late at
night). On the other hand, this will greatly assist the local tower with
situational awareness of the airspace around them. But I am wondering if the
reason behind this data upgrade is a precursor to Class C airspace.

I don't know of any new equipment,.but I would be surprised if ACK
is the second busiest airport in MA. During holiday weekends in the
summer(the 4th for instance) it could definitely be the second busiest
during this time. One thing that ACK has implemented starting last
summer, was an STMP that they could activate on short notice if they
were expecting heavy traffic. This was supposedly a way to keep
ACK from going to a Class C.


"John S" wrote in message ...
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NadCixelsyd wrote:

On WBUR, the mentioned that ACK is getting some new equipement to assist
pilots
in landing. They then mentioned that ACK is the 2nd busiest ariport in
MA,
next to BOS.

HUH?? I realize that many people fly to Nantucket because it's so far
away by
boat, but is the airport really that busy? Busier than Hanscom,
Lawrence, or
Beverly???

I don't have the numbers in front of me, but yes ACK is a zoo, at least in
the warm
months. The rest of the year it is busy, but not greatly so. The FAA has
been
talking about making the airspace there Class C for a few years now, due
to traffic
volume during peak times. Second busiest airport in Mass is probably
stretching
things, at least on an annual basis.

The equipment you heard about might be what a MCI press released just
discussed.
Apparently they are helping implement an underwater fiber optic line from
Cape
TRACON (located at Otis) to Nantucket tower. The article claims this will
"keep
the airport open" in times of inclement weather; although the airport
actually does
not close during inclement weather. Nor does the tower there really need
another
data feed, since IFR separation is handled by the TRACON (or Bos Center
late at
night). On the other hand, this will greatly assist the local tower with
situational awareness of the airspace around them. But I am wondering
if the
reason behind this data upgrade is a precursor to Class C airspace.

No way ACK is busier than Hanscom on average year-round. Sunday afternoon
high-season I could see it peaking pretty high.

Why do people have an issue with ACK going Charlie? It's an island twenty
miles offshore which is already controlled. Doesn't seem like anybody would
be losing anything in the process. I fly around and into Class C fields in
New England all the time and other than calling in ten miles farther out
than with a Class D field it's no big deal.

I agree that ACK going to a Class Charlie wouldn't be a big deal.
Another thing I heard over on ACK last summer was talk about
changing ACK from an FAA tower to a private contract tower.
This I would see as a problem. Maybe it's just me, but I find the
service from FAA towers much better than from privately contracted
towers. Just my opinion.



"C Kingsbury" wrote in message
nk.net...
No way ACK is busier than Hanscom on average year-round. Sunday afternoon
high-season I could see it peaking pretty high.

Why do people have an issue with ACK going Charlie? It's an island twenty
miles offshore which is already controlled. Doesn't seem like anybody
would
be losing anything in the process. I fly around and into Class C fields in
New England all the time and other than calling in ten miles farther out
than with a Class D field it's no big deal.

To the folks from "rec.aviation.piloting":

While postings about New England airports are certainly appropriate in
"ne.transportation", could you please spell out in plain English any aviation
jargon that you use? A lot of us have no idea what ACK, STMP, Charlie, Class
C, and the rest of your abbreviations mean.

Been flying to ACK every summer for 5 years . . . it's not THAT busy.


www.Rosspilot.com

"Ron Newman" wrote in message
...
To the folks from "rec.aviation.piloting":

While postings about New England airports are certainly appropriate in
"ne.transportation", could you please spell out in plain English any
aviation
jargon that you use? A lot of us have no idea what ACK, STMP, Charlie,
Class
C, and the rest of your abbreviations mean.

"ACK" -- three-letter abbreviation for Nantucket Airport. IMHO, that should
have been obvious from the context.
"STMP" -- Special Traffic Management Program. Not so obvious, but it would
take more than just spelling it out to explain it. Suffice to say, it's a
way of trying to manage airport traffic.
"Charlie" -- in the phonetic alphabet, the word used for the letter "C"
"Class C" -- or, "Class Charlie"...a particular type of airspace, used in
areas with less air traffic than in Class B and with more air traffic than
in Class D (good enough for layman's terms, anyway).

Generally, you can find "plain English" for much of this stuff at
www.acronymfinder.com . For much of the other stuff, you'll mostly have to
do your own research. Google is a great tool. For example, had you entered
"class c airspace" as a search term for Google, you would (and will) get way
more detail on the term than I've provided here.

Personally, I think the cross-posting was not necessarily warranted -- the
topic seems most appropriate to ne.transportation, and not very much so to
rec.aviation.piloting -- but to expect those of us in rec.aviation.piloting
to explain every little aviation term just because of the cross-posting is,
IMHO, unwarranted. It's just not efficient or practical.

Pete

I never realized I was cross posting to ne.transportation. I'll
need to check this in the future.


"Peter Duniho" wrote in message
...
"Ron Newman" wrote in message
...
To the folks from "rec.aviation.piloting":

While postings about New England airports are certainly appropriate in
"ne.transportation", could you please spell out in plain English any
aviation
jargon that you use? A lot of us have no idea what ACK, STMP, Charlie,
Class
C, and the rest of your abbreviations mean.

"ACK" -- three-letter abbreviation for Nantucket Airport. IMHO, that
should have been obvious from the context.
"STMP" -- Special Traffic Management Program. Not so obvious, but it
would take more than just spelling it out to explain it. Suffice to say,
it's a way of trying to manage airport traffic.
"Charlie" -- in the phonetic alphabet, the word used for the letter "C"
"Class C" -- or, "Class Charlie"...a particular type of airspace, used in
areas with less air traffic than in Class B and with more air traffic than
in Class D (good enough for layman's terms, anyway).

Generally, you can find "plain English" for much of this stuff at
www.acronymfinder.com . For much of the other stuff, you'll mostly have
to do your own research. Google is a great tool. For example, had you
entered "class c airspace" as a search term for Google, you would (and
will) get way more detail on the term than I've provided here.

Personally, I think the cross-posting was not necessarily warranted -- the
topic seems most appropriate to ne.transportation, and not very much so to
rec.aviation.piloting -- but to expect those of us in
rec.aviation.piloting to explain every little aviation term just because
of the cross-posting is, IMHO, unwarranted. It's just not efficient or
practical.

Pete