WPA Wings February-March 2006
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Washington Pilots Association IN THIS ISSUE: Airspace Grabs . 2 What is the WPA? . 3 A win-win at Harvey . 4 WPA Chapters . .6-7 Events Calendar . 8 Whale Watching ings Flights ... Page 5 ServingW Washington Pilots Since 1960 February - March 2006 A VISIT TO SEATAC TOWER I WANT YOU... Colleen Turner, Vice President, Greater Seattle Chapter WPA IS ...IN FIGHTING FOR THE YOUR RIGHT TO FLY. WPA ARE YOU A MEMBER? DEFEND AVIATION IN WASHINGTON. JOIN WPA. DO THE RIGHT THING. WPA MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION ON PAGE 8 Thanks to John Amico, President of green blips was present. Mike was Greater Seattle Chapter, a group of pilots particularly proud of the Airport Surface from Greater Seattle, Green River, Paine Detection Equipment Model X Program Field and Harvey Field chapters had the (ASDE-X), a leading edge ground air traffic D I opportunity to tour SeaTac Tower on Sat- control system that vividly depicts aircraft pa urday, January 21. on the ground using a high-contrast, Permit #5 PRSRT STD. PRSRT U.S. POSTAGE U.S. Our tour was led by Mike Maikowski, high-brightness display. The controllers Snohomish, WA Snohomish, Air Traffic Controller, who escorted us rely heavily on this system as it is not up 16 floors to the top. All of us were unusual for the controllers’ vision to be immediately struck by the stunning view, obscured by clouds while it is clear on rivaled only by the panoramic vista from the ground. Interesting…the pilots taxi- the Space Needle’s observation deck. ing on the ground can see each other but However, the Space Needle doesn’t offer the controllers can’t see them without the views of sleek airliners taking off into the help of ASDE-X. wild gray yonder or performing picture Have you ever had an overwhelming perfect landings. Mike mentioned that desire to cross midfield and take a peek at SeaTac Tower handles 1,000 takeoffs SeaTac but couldn’t muster up the cour- and landings per day of which less than a age to call SeaTac Tower and request a dozen are classified as general aviation. VFR transition? If so, don’t restrain your- We were also very impressed with the self in the future. With the current Seattle calm professionalism displayed by the Terminal Area Chart in hand, call SeaTac controllers. Mike explained that those tower and advise them of your position, who currently work at SeaTac Tower altitude, direction of flight and request the have 20 to 25 years of experience with SeaTac East/West VFR Transition Route. the FAA. All of them have had previous Mike emphasized that the controllers are tours of duty at smaller towers and have happy to help us (but before entering the been cross-trained to handle the three Class Bravo airspace, be sure that you operating positions at SeaTac: Clear- have been cleared to do so!). ance Delivery, Ground Control and Tower. A bit of information that you might Approximately 25 percent of them are find surprising…the controllers say they active pilots. However, given that many can generally accommodate a small controllers will be retiring within the next GA aircraft for touch and goes between few years, Mike believes that newly hired 10:30pm and 6:00am. However, you controllers could potentially be trained might want to look into landing fees at busy towers like SeaTac in the future. before you rack up one heck of a bill (the The duration of the training period would Port of Seattle does charge a landing fee be one to two years. - contact them for details). Given that the SeaTac Tower is less If you ever have the opportunity to tour than two years old, the equipment is the SeaTac tower, we suggest you jump state-of-the-art. No obsolete technology on it. We all agreed that no local pilot with vacuum tubes and mind-numbing should miss this experience! Washington Pilots Association Washington NE PMB 397, 227 Bellevue Way 98004-9721 Bellevue, WA Service Requested Address Page 2 - WPA Wings February-March 2006 From Jim - PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE Well, we’ve made it through the holi- middle of updating our web site. A special Being State President brings with it a re- days, the wind storm and one of the rainiest thanks goes out to Kevin and Mitch for all sponsibility and privilege to be involved with winters ever. Now it’s time to get ready for the work they have done on it. In the next local chapters whenever possible. I want to our annual meeting on February 25th in few weeks you will see more updates and, thank the Greater Seattle Chapter for invit- Puyallup. Again this year we will be having hopefully, fresher material. ing me to their tower tour at SeaTac (see our meeting at noon during the Aviation the related article on page 1 of this issue). Show. There will be several WPA By-law What a great experience! It is absolutely changes and, of course, an election of of- The bigger we are, the more amazing what they do in that tower and all ficers. Please sign on to our state website powerful we are . and. as a WPA the fun “toys” they get to play with. to view the changes. member, you make a difference! I want to again compliment David Her- Our quest to increase our membership man for the excellent job he has done will kick off into full gear this next month. refreshing our WPA Wings newsletter. As As I have stated before, the bigger we are, a reminder, please submit your articles the more powerful we are. WPA has had an Just so you all know, your State Officers for the newsletter on a timely basis. It is important impact on airports and general have been working diligently to better serve important that each chapter be represented aviation throughout our state. The Aviation you. Our last Board meeting was held at and we receive newsletter contributions Division of WSDOT values our input and the Jensen Estate at Greater Crest Airpark from around the state. recommendations. As a member of WPA, (inside joke…ask me or Dale about it Here’s to great flying weather ahead! you make a difference! sometime). Thank you Tom and Nancy for Jim Smith, WPA President Jim Smith being such great hosts. As many of you know, we are in the State President Washington Pilots Association EDITOR’S SOAPBOX Executive Council & Officers President: Jim Smith 425-774-8497 Big Airspace Grabs: It Can’t Happen Here . .Can it? VP East: Ron Baker 509-765-3208 VP West: Dale Terwedo 425-418-9622 Secretary: Arthur Berkell 253-638-7038 Imagine a 5,000 square mile TFR, run- Treasurer: Bill Reith 425-252-3173 ning from the Pacific Ocean to the Idaho Directors state line and beyond, 17 NM miles wide. Airports: Tom Jensen 800-972-3597 Imagine this massive airspace closure just At-Large: John Dobson 425-337-2319 shows up one day without any advance Legislative: John Townsley 509-829-3568 warning and no opportunity to plead for Membership: Joe Bryant 425-455-4846 sanity. The airspace closure is for your own Safety & Education: Al Hunter 509-886-0233 safety, you’re told – so sorry. Search & Rescue: Tom Nesko 425-821-2780 Or imagine that one day, the airspace Immediate Past President: over the metropolitan Seattle area sud- Kirk Kleinholz 425-745-8984 denly requires a mandatory flight plan and a WPA website: http://www.wpaflys.org discreet transponder code before launching or entering – even just for some touch and goes. All flights beyond local airport traffic patterns also require establishing and main- taining communication with ATC throughout If we got the same restrictions that have been imposed elsewhere, our airspace could look like this. WPA Wings your flight in the zone – not just in today’s A Publication of the Class Bravo, but at any altitude. These of government affairs. “We also believe that try and stop the proposal. Through the work Washington Pilots Association requirements apply to all general aviation before the government takes large chunks of AOPA, WPA, other organizations, and 227 Bellevue Way NE, PMB 397 flights within the special airspace zone, of airspace for the long term, the public thousands of concerned pilots, the federal Bellevue, WA 98004 covering Paine Field, Harvey, Monroe, Boe- should have that chance to make com- security agencies pushing the proposal Phone:1-800-972-3597/1-800-WPAFLYS ing Field, Renton, Auburn, Crest, Vashon, ments, to make sure government officials have heard the objections to making the Editor: David Herman Bremerton, Tacoma Narrows, Thun Field and understand the impact of their actions on DC ADIZ a permanent part of the national Editor Emeritus: Arthur Berkell Spanaway. That’s just the way things are the people they work for.” airspace system. WPA Wings is published bi-monthly, (February, going to be, you’re told, get used to it. It’s April, June, August, October and December). for security, and these days you just can’t Washington pilots should recall that we As this issue went to press, the public Submissions are welcomed! be too careful, right? have an international border of our own, comment period on the ADIZ proposal had Please send articles via email to: and while it doesn’t always receive the concluded, by all accounts with FAA, TSA [email protected]. These scenarios may sound crazy (and same degree of scrutiny as our nation’s and DHS officials receiving an earful from Send typewritten or handwritten articles to: indeed they are), but unfortunately, they’re southern border, the same kind of attention pilots.