Contract Tower Closure Action....if you care

[aviatoreb]

Wow, Erik.  The sky really is falling, huh?  Do you mean it when you say that you want to a cause of action recognized for that, or are you just venting?  You recognize, I'm sure, that it wouldn't be the Senators/Congressmen picking up that tab.  It would be our bill to pay.

 

Jim

 

I know Jim, I am just venting.  I really am very very frustrated and I mean it when  say that I feel somebody will get hurt before they clean up this mess.  Just disappointed with Washington in a way I have not been in my life before.  Thanks for bearing with me and forgive me folks please.

[KSMooniac]

I agree Jim.... it was a supremely nice FBO for such a small field and city.  I have high hopes now for the rest of the SEC airports.     Arkansas is on my list for this season b/c after this year we go back to f***ing Jerry's World (aka the Death Star) for 10 years instead of home-and-home like it should be.  I really hate that.  I somehow doubt Arky's airport will be nice, based on my previous experiences in that state.  We also play in Oxford again this season (scheduling quirk) and we might go back there too!

[KSMooniac]

Jim, I wish I knew that factoid last season!  We really enjoyed Oxford, despite the very wet and chilly weather that persisted all day on Saturday.  I'm anxious to experience The Grove with sunshine!

[Parker_Woodruff]

 I somehow doubt Arky's airport will be nice, based on my previous experiences in that state.  

 

Scott,

 

Million Air closed down at FYV, unfortunately.  I flew in there a few times with friends in 2009 and 2010 and it was a nice facility.  Gas wasn't expensive for a Million Air location, either. Now the city runs it.

 

On another note, it is a really pretty approach into the airport and the city is actually really nice.

[N601RX]

Auburn just opens a temp tower on gameday for certain home games

[flyboy0681]

I just learned today that my tower got a reprieve until the middle of May.

[DrBill]

The local paper reported that Concord tower will be funded for 2 months by the city of Concord so that there is coverage during the first Nascar race at Charlotte Motor Speedway which is about 1 mile away.

Bill

[aviatoreb]

The local paper reported that Concord tower will be funded for 2 months by the city of Concord so that there is coverage during the first Nascar race at Charlotte Motor Speedway which is about 1 mile away.

Bill

 

Will this be the way now.  Places like this will open and close their formerly manned towers briefly for special events.  But in the future where will they get the controllers.  Those folks can't be expected to stay laid off and waiting at home for the phone to ring waiting for a several week gig.

[1964-M20E]

Will this be the way now.  Places like this will open and close their formerly manned towers briefly for special events.  But in the future where will they get the controllers.  Those folks can't be expected to stay laid off and waiting at home for the phone to ring waiting for a several week gig.

 

 

Well you could have a group of traveling controllers and that would be their full time job manning temp towers and helping out at some others when necessary.  Divide them up based on the center that controls the airspace to minimize travel. 

 

They have a temp tower for the race at Talladega.

 

I do not wnat to see these guys loose their jobs and I donot want to have the "not in my back yard" attitude but the Fed Gov't needs to shrink and if it means some towers at low traffic airpotrs close then so be it.  I'd love to see the IRS and a few other alphabet soups shrunk about 50%.

[aviatoreb]

Well you could have a group of traveling controllers and that would be their full time job manning temp towers and helping out at some others when necessary.  Divide them up based on the center that controls the airspace to minimize travel. 

 

They have a temp tower for the race at Talladega.

 

I do not wnat to see these guys loose their jobs and I donot want to have the "not in my back yard" attitude but the Fed Gov't needs to shrink and if it means some towers at low traffic airpotrs close then so be it.  I'd love to see the IRS and a few other alphabet soups shrunk about 50%.

 

Its your opinion not mine that government needs to shrink.  I disagree.  I think the degree to which we are doing this right now will shrink our economy and ruin our position in the world stage.  

 

In my town they are laying off teachers for the third year in a row, "9.5" teachers this year.  There is also serious discussion in our town that the middle school will close.  It has been several years since the library is unmanned by a librarian, and gone are the speech teacher, and music program.  This year they are laying off science, english and math teachers.  My son's middle school science teacher is already gone.  His science is now covered round robin by several other teachers such as the english teacher who covered environment, (and got a lot of the science wrong I can say - but I guess that is okay because now the english teacher will be laid off).  Lake Placid about 50 mi away is likely to close its emergency room, and it is the only emergency room for many miles around.  So much for access to education and medical.  The teachers and doctors can go join the air traffic controllers in the unemployment line.  But far from it do I think that these jobs are jobs programs. I believe they are leverage to educate folks to be our future scientist and business leaders.  Our transportation system is also a large part of the viability of our economy.  Loss of access to medical - well that is just upstate ny rolling back to a third world country.  Just don't break your leg skiing at the former olympic venue at Lake Placid.  If I hear one more time a politician's sound bite say that a federal budget is just like a household budget and it needs to be balanced I think I will scream.  That has been a good and successful campaign rally to push an agenda.  I do not believe in the economic viability of it.  I admit that I am a Keynsian to large degree.  

[fantom]

Its your opinion not mine that government needs to shrink........ If I hear one more time a politician's sound bite say that a federal budget is just like a household budget and it needs to be balanced I think I will scream.  That has been a good and successful campaign rally to push an agenda.  I do not believe in the economic viability of it.  

 

 We're doomed....

 

The U.S. Senate these days seems to conduct most of its business after dark, often after midnight, and no wonder. You wouldn't want voters to know what you were up to either if you were part of Majority Leader Harry Reid's national embarrassment.

 

Consider last week's fiasco involving the air-traffic control system. As part of the White House's Operation Wreak Havoc response to the sequester spending cuts, the Department of Transportation warned last week that 149 control towers at small, regional airports will close down. Local newspapers are running headlines about the imminent loss of flight service.

 

Next on the list could be furloughs at major airports that would mean flight delays for millions of travelers. The DOT helpfully warns that these delays could be "very painful for the flying public." The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) accounts for only 20% of the Transportation budget but under White House and Congressional sequester math somehow absorbs 60% of the cuts.

 

Many of the service cutbacks could have been easily avoided by a budget amendment last week sponsored by Republican Senator Jerry Moran of Kansas. He proposed replacing $50 million of FAA sequester cuts with savings from unspent balances, which are a kind of agency slush fund, and by reducing other low-priority spending. Great idea.

 

How did the vote turn out? There wasn't one. Majority Leader Reid blocked the amendment from ever getting to the Senate floor. Mr. Moran believes that public safety is compromised by these control-tower cuts, and he calls the Reid gambit "a very dangerous way to try to score political points."

 

Mr. Reid used the same tactics last week to block nearly a dozen other measures to soften the impact of the sequester. Mr. Moran also couldn't get a vote to restore funding for White House tours by cutting $2.5 million for new uniforms for airport screeners.

Republican Tom Coburn of Oklahoma sponsored seven amendments to save money—including one to provide funding to the National Park Service to keep open the likes of Yosemite and Yellowstone—by cutting programs that even Mr. Obama's budget calls low priorities. He also proposed freezing new hiring of "nonessential personnel" and to end conferences by the Department of Homeland Security. At least he got roll-call votes, but nearly every one was defeated by Democrats when Mr. Reid gave the order to his caucus.

 

Mr. Reid's blocking tactics were supported by President Obama, whose main political goal continues to be to impose as much sequester pain as possible on the public to force Republicans to raise taxes again.

 

So in the weeks ahead travelers will likely experience the frustration of flight delays, cancellations and closed airports. It won't happen by accident or out of fiscal necessity, but because Washington Democrats refuse to prioritize federal spending.

 

Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page 11

A version of this article appeared March 26, 2013, on page A12 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: The Senate After Dark.

[aviatoreb]

 We're doomed....

 

The U.S. Senate these days seems to conduct most of its business after dark, often after midnight, and no wonder. You wouldn't want voters to know what you were up to either if you were part of Majority Leader Harry Reid's national embarrassment.

 

Consider last week's fiasco involving the air-traffic control system. As part of the White House's Operation Wreak Havoc response to the sequester spending cuts, the Department of Transportation warned last week that 149 control towers at small, regional airports will close down. Local newspapers are running headlines about the imminent loss of flight service.

 

Next on the list could be furloughs at major airports that would mean flight delays for millions of travelers. The DOT helpfully warns that these delays could be "very painful for the flying public." The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) accounts for only 20% of the Transportation budget but under White House and Congressional sequester math somehow absorbs 60% of the cuts.

 

Many of the service cutbacks could have been easily avoided by a budget amendment last week sponsored by Republican Senator Jerry Moran of Kansas. He proposed replacing $50 million of FAA sequester cuts with savings from unspent balances, which are a kind of agency slush fund, and by reducing other low-priority spending. Great idea.

 

How did the vote turn out? There wasn't one. Majority Leader Reid blocked the amendment from ever getting to the Senate floor. Mr. Moran believes that public safety is compromised by these control-tower cuts, and he calls the Reid gambit "a very dangerous way to try to score political points."

 

Mr. Reid used the same tactics last week to block nearly a dozen other measures to soften the impact of the sequester. Mr. Moran also couldn't get a vote to restore funding for White House tours by cutting $2.5 million for new uniforms for airport screeners.

Republican Tom Coburn of Oklahoma sponsored seven amendments to save money—including one to provide funding to the National Park Service to keep open the likes of Yosemite and Yellowstone—by cutting programs that even Mr. Obama's budget calls low priorities. He also proposed freezing new hiring of "nonessential personnel" and to end conferences by the Department of Homeland Security. At least he got roll-call votes, but nearly every one was defeated by Democrats when Mr. Reid gave the order to his caucus.

 

Mr. Reid's blocking tactics were supported by President Obama, whose main political goal continues to be to impose as much sequester pain as possible on the public to force Republicans to raise taxes again.

 

So in the weeks ahead travelers will likely experience the frustration of flight delays, cancellations and closed airports. It won't happen by accident or out of fiscal necessity, but because Washington Democrats refuse to prioritize federal spending.

 

Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page 11

A version of this article appeared March 26, 2013, on page A12 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: The Senate After Dark.

 

I hear you Fantom.  I am hardly of the opinion that one party is squeeky clean and the other party is the villian.  I think our government is working together together very poorly for quite some time.  I repeat that I like enough many of the things that our government supports, that I am willing and happy to have government to be of a size that is large enough to support them.  These include, (not comprehensive) air traffic control, public education, hospitals in parts of the country that may not be large enough to have entirely private hospitals, and many other things.

 

Whomever you  may blame (collectively "you"- not you specifically Fantom - just using your email to pivot on for talking points), my point in raising things like loss of education and hospitals in my area is to just point out that this is much bigger than aviation even if this is an aviation forum.  More detail of our diminishing education here in Potsdam NY - the high school in town has 450 kids in it, and it had 6 english teachers just a few years ago but will have 2 english teachers next year.  I don't know which positions will also be cut of the 9.5.

[1964-M20E]

I can not speak for your local school system.  Maybe they are grossly mismanaged and I am sorry that your son is not getting the education he deserves.  Take this up with the local school board investigate where the money is going most likely any cuts that are made do not affect the top level bureaucrats in the system only the teachers and the lunch room.  I know of multiple private schools, some quite good, here in the KNEW area that have ceased to exist over the last 20 years due to mismanagement and decreasing enrolment.  I know it is expensive to run an education program but unfortunately there is money mismanagement at all levels of gov’t and in many private businesses the difference is in the business world if they mismanage their money they cease to exist (unless the gov’t bails them out) while gov’t just keeps looking to dig deeper into the pockets of the productive citizens of society.

 

Every dollar spent by gov’t is ultimately removed from the pocket of a productive citizen in the workforce.  By the way most everyone here is productive in some fashion since most of us can afford to own and fly our planes.

 

The problem with the gov’t spending money at deficit rates is you cannot keep doing it forever and we have been at it for many years and the amount we owe keeps getting bigger.  I’d be glad to see all monetary foreign aid reduced by 25%.

 

There is a great deal of bureaucratic overheads and waste in the gov’t that can be eliminated.  This can be done and mostly exclude capital and infrastructure type expenditures.

 

Unfortunately gov’t and taxes are necessary evils in society and there are some things the fed can do better than the states or locals such as national defense and interstate transportation.  Bottom line is we are talking about 2% decrease in fed spending this is a drop in the bucket.  The American people lost 2% of their salary to the feds starting Jan 1 of this year.

[DonMuncy]

We just got word today that the Texas Dept of Transportation is going to fund some of the towers that were to be closed. I haven't heard all the details yet, but my home drome, RBD is going to get a reprieve.

[Mike A]

Its your opinion not mine that government needs to shrink. I disagree. I think the degree to which we are doing this right now will shrink our economy and ruin our position in the world stage.

In my town they are laying off teachers for the third year in a row, "9.5" teachers this year. There is also serious discussion in our town that the middle school will close. It has been several years since the library is unmanned by a librarian, and gone are the speech teacher, and music program. This year they are laying off science, english and math teachers. My son's middle school science teacher is already gone. His science is now covered round robin by several other teachers such as the english teacher who covered environment, (and got a lot of the science wrong I can say - but I guess that is okay because now the english teacher will be laid off). Lake Placid about 50 mi away is likely to close its emergency room, and it is the only emergency room for many miles around. So much for access to education and medical. The teachers and doctors can go join the air traffic controllers in the unemployment line. But far from it do I think that these jobs are jobs programs. I believe they are leverage to educate folks to be our future scientist and business leaders. Our transportation system is also a large part of the viability of our economy. Loss of access to medical - well that is just upstate ny rolling back to a third world country. Just don't break your leg skiing at the former olympic venue at Lake Placid. If I hear one more time a politician's sound bite say that a federal budget is just like a household budget and it needs to be balanced I think I will scream. That has been a good and successful campaign rally to push an agenda. I do not believe in the economic viability of it. I admit that I am a Keynsian to large degree.

There are so many things wrong with your statements I do not even know where to begin.

1) We are not shrinking government. The big bad awful sequester does not cut spending. It merely slows the growth of spending. What you and everyone else who complains about it is saying is that every single dollar the government spends is absolutely vital to our country and without it our country will go into ruin. That is absolutely ridiculous. Yes the government should balance its budget like a normal family. How anyone can possibly believe that spending money that we do not have is a good thing blows my mind. Being that I am probably one of the very few people on this forum under the age of 30, it is going to be my generation that is going to be stuck holding the bill when it comes due for the previous generation’s gluttony. And trust me, it is going to come due. Without a doubt, the greatest threat to our country is the runaway spending.

2) The schools in your town in NY are not affected 1 bit by the sequester. Zero effect. Nada. [Hate to break it to you, but not your fire departments, police, or libraries either] Your schools are closing because you (collectively) elected officials who in turn allowed your teachers and other education personnel to take benefits that are so outrageous that there is no chance that they could ever be maintained. Massive health care plans and incredible pension plans are ruining your schools. Your teachers union does not allow ineffective teachers to be disiplined or fired. The US spends more per capita on education with nothing to show for it:

Now before you go saying "You're just a union bashing Republican", know that I am not a republican and my mother, 2 aunts, and 2 cousins are all teachers/principals/educators. I have a great respect for teachers. Unions promised filet mignon when all we can afford is bottom round from last weeks cow. That is why they are laying off your teachers.

3) Unless you live in MA, government spending has little effect on your hospitals. It is simple supply and demand. The demand for the hospital is not there, so therefore they reduce the supply. If that hospital could find a way to make a profit, it would stay open. The fantastic government that we have now just instituted a new law, Obamacare, which exacerbates the situation by cutting payments for medical services. Genius. But that’s what (probably) you and your Kenyensian friends voted for. Welcome to the age of the low information voter and the free handout.

4) As I have said in other posts, the private sector will do everything the government can do better and more efficiently. You are probably of the thought that without the government there would be no roads. Private roads are everywhere. Come visit Florida. The Turnpike (which I will admit is private/public) and MDX are great examples of privately funded roads. You want to know what roads are the most out of date and have the biggest potholes? Check the interstates. The Turnpike and MDX are both top of the line roads (minus the 826/836 interchange in Miami, but that’s because they are improving it). If it will help with commerce, the private sector will advance it. Same goes for air travel. If the closing of your local tower had that great an influence on commerce or was that important to enough people, it would be privately funded and stay open. The free market is never wrong.

5) There is no difference between Democrats and Republicans. One wants to spend your money on social projects, the other on the military. In either case, they feel they can spend it better than you can. Being from NY, do you really enjoy paying upwards of 50% of your income back to the government? Do you really think that you get that much benefit from it? Name 10 programs that you really feel are worth the money. You can’t because they don’t exist.

Our government is an embarrassment to our country. We would be better off with a group of monkeys making the decisions.

[aviatoreb]

>There are so many things wrong with your statements I do not even know where to begin.

 

There is nothing wrong with what I am saying.  It is a fact what I am saying all the things that are happening to services in our town.

>1) We are not shrinking government. The big bad awful sequester does not cut spending.

 

Did I say sequester?  I don't believe I did, not in this thread anyway, although towers fall under that cut.  What I described is indeed the consequence of several years of austerity.  I was raising the points just as counter point to the tower discussions here that always seem to go toward many folks here saying smaller government is good and balancing a federal budget is just like balancing a household budget.  There is an environment of cutting at state and federal levels and I am unhappy with what is happening to many programs I hold dear.  I do believe in the concept of a government program that is good.  It is not a bad word, and it is that which I am speaking out against the general clamor I hear here.  In fact the large fraction of the damage done to our regional schools is coming from many years of cuts from Albany, and it is a Democratic governor in Albany, Cuomo, whom I will vote against in the next election.

 

It merely slows the growth of spending. What you and everyone else who complains about it is saying is that every single dollar the government spends is absolutely vital to our country and without it our country will go into ruin. That is absolutely ridiculous. Yes the government should balance its budget like a normal family. How anyone can possibly believe that spending money that we do not have is a good thing blows my mind. Being that I am probably one of the very few people on this forum under the age of 30, it is going to be my generation that is going to be stuck holding the bill when it comes due for the previous generation’s gluttony. And trust me, it is going to come due. Without a doubt, the greatest threat to our country is the runaway spending.

 

>[Hate to break it to you,]

why the rude tone?  Is it because you disagree with me? 

 

> The US spends more per capita on education with nothing to show for it:

 

How so?  I do believe that in the last century we have been a technological leader in the world, as well an economic power house in the world.  I work closely with kids from around the world.  I am a professor who heads the graduate program and we have kids from India and China and Europe who regularly enter our program - kids with outstanding undergrad records.  Our kids from our colleges and our usa based training do well.  Ok, this is anecdotal.  Similarly when I travel to international conferences of scientists in our field, the US scientific contingents are definitely at the very top of the innovations leadership.

 

>Now before you go saying "You're just a union bashing Republican", know that I am not a republican and my mother, 2 aunts, and 2 cousins are all teachers/principals/educators. I have a great respect for teachers. Unions promised filet mignon when all we can afford is bottom round from last weeks kill. That is why they are laying off your teachers.

 

>:-)  I was going to say union bashing Republican but you stopped me just in time.

 

Actually, my main point of raising my voice, I repeat is to speak a counter point since I have heard overwhelmingly one point of view on here.  I don't expect to convince you, and maybe you won't convince me, but I just felt the need to speak up.

 

You do point out a good deal of financial problems with teacher union jobs, and it is part of the problem.  In this state, there has been dramatic reductions in state support for education over many years.  Unions or no there would be teachers fired.  Now as far as teacher compensation packages, salary and health care and so forth are part of a package.  We can't expect good people to pay to get college educated and not take a higher paying industry job to educate our children, and not get some kind of compensation package whether it be salary, or health or retirement.

 

>2) Unless you live in MA, government spending has little effect on your hospitals. It is simple supply and demand. The demand for the hospital is not there, so therefore they reduce the supply. If that hospital could find a way to make a profit, it would stay open.

 

Now, on this one, I am speaking just of what I have heard in the radio and newspaper, so I am outside of my element.  It is because they have reduced demand.  The rap on the street is that a large part of the problem with that particular installation is that reductions in medicare have caused people who may need healthcare to not seek healthcare which then effects the hospital bottom line.  I am not saying that as a position statement so we can figure out if we should blame democrats or republicans. I am merely responding to this thread about towers closing that a lot more nasty shit is going down out here in the trenches.  Yes, not all sequester caused.  Maybe the other way around.  The sequester is just more of the ongoing food fight in washington - and albany.

 

>The fantastic government that we have now just instituted a new law, Obamacare, which exacerbates the situation by cutting payments for medical services. Genius. But that’s what (probably) you and your Kenyensian friends voted for. Welcome to the age of the low information voter and the free handout.

 

I remain a Kenyensian.  Whether or not a specific policy may work does not mean to me that the whole notion must be wrong and so we should do the opposite.

 

Separate note: The government we have now is not just Mr Obama, it is the executive branch, the legislative branch and the judicial branch.  As far as I have seen, the two chambers of the legislative branch don't work well together, and they certainly don't work well with the executive branch. Its an ugly disfunction.

>3) As I have said in other posts, the private sector will do everything the government can do better and more efficiently.

 

If the government makes them.  There will not be roads throughout the usa.  Just certain higher profit routes.

 

>The free market is never wrong.

 

I disagree.  The free market does not educate inner city kids.  It just would send them to jail in 15 years.  The free market will not care for disabled and mentally handicapped, unless made to by the government.  The free market might make a police force to protect us against invading countries, but I am not sure I want a free market army.  The free market showed us 100 years ago how the cover making our food source safe.  They don't.

 

But in any case, here we see our fundamental difference.

>Our government is an embarrassment to our country. We would be better off with a group of monkeys making the decisions.

 

I think we changed topics.  Now you are speaking about the leadership of our government.  The leadership of the three branches.  On this point I agree with you - I am embarrassed

with the food fight and never ending manufactured engineered melodramatic crisis.  Throw the bums our and bring on the monkeys.  I want to lead monkey from the movie Madagascar.

[Mike A]

Sorry if my tone was pointed.  It was not my intention to be rude.

 

This topic is one that really gets my blood boiling.  

 

A few followups then I'm done:

 

1) I would argue that our technological advancements were not a direct result of the education system in this country.  It is innovation brought by the free market.  For an example, Steve Jobs quit college, and there are many other examples of high school dropouts who have gone on to be extremely successful in their time.

 

2) You're characterization of how disabled and mentally handicapped people would be treated completely ignores that people are compassionate.  Also, the same lessons and class experiences could be handled by a private school [more effectively I would argue].  You are assuming that when people become capitalist they lose their soul.  I think its the opposite.  The more money that I am able to earn, the more of it I give away to charities.  If you logic prevailed, no corporations now would donate to worthy causes and would not push their employees to volunteer.  That would eat away at the prized profits that you speak so sorely on.

 

As for the inner city students, I would also argue that the biggest detriment to their development is the government.  There has been study after study showing the negative impact of free government benefits on the inner cities.  Call it the "ghetto mentality".  You make the able body families work for their housing and meals and see how quickly their mindset changes.  Everyone agrees that we can't let our own starve and suffer, but a community will rally around those less fortunate naturally.  We don't need Big Brother forcing us to do so.

 

"The free market does not educate inner city kids.  It just would send them to jail in 15 years."   - Seriously?  That is ignorant.

 

 

3) On to roads.  Yes there would be toll roads.  But there are now.  The setup would not be that much different that it is now.  Would you buy a house in a neighborhood that didn't have roads and wasn't connected to the community?  Would businesses open where people could not reach their stores or had to pay a high price to get there?  .No.  Its not good business sense.  In my opinion, the issue with the Kensyian point of view is that it is too narrow.  They focus on a single entity rather than the broader picture of society as a whole.

 

I'm done.  Now how can we save the towers that need saving..........

[aviatoreb]

>I'm done.  Now how can we save the towers that need saving..........

 

Hi Malexandergt.  A thoughtful response.  Thank you.  Rather than say that I disagree with you on some points and more importantly why, let me step away from the specifics of this part of the discussion I opened since I know it is not a politics forum.  As I said the purpose was to simply say two things. One, the current sequester is on a backdrop of much larger changes happening here and elsewhere too I am sure, not just a vacuum.  So seen as a whole, my perception is it is all together lot, and not just 2% as I know the sequester is. Two, I wanted to speak out the counter point side that we exist, whose goal is not smaller government per see.  Those who wish a less active government rather than a smaller government would do well to recognize us respectfully. 

 

I have often felt in recent times that the current political environment is to boo-down the opposing view.  I have seen that behavior by a few even here even on mooneyspace.  It is endemic of American politics today.  Malexandergt, you and I have opposing views as how to deal with today's current environment, but I can clearly see in your thoughtful words that you and I could work together if we were actually in a place to do so - if somehow you and I were in the Senate or House.  We would haggle and find a middle ground that is acceptable to all.  Separate from policies, looking just at the "game" of politics, I am so disappointed that all of the folks in Washington these days.  They are all responsible for the disfunction of boo-ing each other rather than working with each other.  

 

Until the politicians remember to work together to work for all of us, whether we be Democrats or Repulicans, we will suffer arbitrary tower closures and other funky games.  

 

Clearly some towers do not need to be manned. I have been to some of those.  Some being closed are very active and I am not looking forward to the consequences.

[gregwatts]

Can't we all just ..............fly ROP?

[Hank]

Can't we all just ..............fly ROP?

I just did. :-) Logged 2.0, HTW --> FAY. Speed was ~170 knots at 9000, dropped to 152 at 7000. Flight time ~1:45 for 270 nm. Pretty good for a 140-knot plane.

Was it bumpy everywhere today? Very smooth 7500 and up, rough as a cob below that, smoothing some at pattern altitude. The transition was abrupt and weird, IAS held steady, VSI dropped to 100-200 fpm, lots of bumping and rocking for 30 seconds or so, then VSI came alive and the ride became smoother than my car.

[Hector]

Me too! Flew to Hernando County Airpot (KCRG to KBKV) for a fishing trip in the gulf. As I write this my buddy is frying over 20 pounds of Dolphin fillets. Took him 4 hours to trail his boat here. Took me 55 minutes in beautiful severe clear weather to fly here in the Mooney. I do feel a bit guilty about that