Pilawt
Registered User
Vancouver, WA
A meeting was held last night at Pearson Field, at which FAA announced its new airspace change for VUO, effective October 1, 2012. This change will have a serious and negative impact upon efficiency, economy and safety of operations at Pearson Field.
It should be noted at the outset that this change is being made at the direction of a regional FAA bureaucrat in Renton. Our friends at PDX ATC are against it (as are the controllers' union, the airlines, the City of Vancouver, and all other stakeholders), but they are obliged to follow orders from Renton.
Here is the letter from FAA, handed out at the meeting last night: www.pilawt.com/FAA_letter_120930.pdf
In a nutshell: FAA has established what is known as the "Pearson Box", shown in blue on the diagram below. It extends eight miles west from PDX, surface to 2,100', and 2,500 feet either side of the PDX 10L localizer (which includes the centerline of the 10R localizer as well). Pearson Field is fully within the box. The box will not appear on any chart.
When PDX is operating on east flow (10L/R, which are the calm-wind runways and favored by winds in the fall and winter), no VUO airplane will be allowed to operate anywhere within the box whenever a PDX airplane is anywhere within the box. When PDX approaches are in progress, close enough such that they might be in the box at the time of a VUO operation, the VUO operation will be prohibited. A VUO departure will be instructed to remain on the ground, and an arrival will be instructed to remain outside the VUO Class D (yellow area on diagram below).
Delays are expected to be commonplace and lengthy; the FAA's slideshow last night indicated they are contemplating delays of 20-30 minutes for VUO operations. Controllers said they will try to create "holes" in the flow of PDX arrivals to allow VUO operations, but at high-volume times that will be impossible. VUO closed-traffic operations will frequently be prohibited, as well, effectively putting the airport's lone flight training operation out of business.
Delayed VFR arrivals will be expected to "hold" outside the VUO Class D. There are no established "holding" landmarks, altitudes or procedures. Obviously, with floor of Class C at 1,800' in that area (shaded in green below), there will be numerous light airplanes milling about in an 800' block of airspace for extended times.
The FAA "party line" emanating from Renton is that this procedure is intended to avoid wake turbulence encounters. Interestingly, however, this procedure is not limited to large aircraft -- even a Caravan or King Air or Skyhawk landing at Portland will stop Pearson operations.
In the seventy years that these airports have co-existed, there has never been a mid-air collision, near-mid-air collision, or wake turbulence event involving a PDX aircraft and a VUO aircraft. Safety Risk Management Panels have rejected the "Pearson Box" concept; rather the SRMPs, along with all other stakeholders, strongly recommended re-commissioning the control tower at Pearson that worked exceptionally well during its one year of operation between April 2011 and April 2012. FAA in Renton rammed this change through without NPRM or public comment, violating FAA's own internal orders and the Administrative Procedures Act.
Here is the Fact Sheet issued by the City of Vancouver: www.pilawt.com/COV_Fact_Sheet.pdf
If you want to get involved, send a letter to your elected state and Federal representatives. Many of them are already alerted to this issue and are on board, but constituent input is always welcome. Here is suggested language you could use in such a message:
www.pilawt.com/Letter_of_concern.doc
It should be noted at the outset that this change is being made at the direction of a regional FAA bureaucrat in Renton. Our friends at PDX ATC are against it (as are the controllers' union, the airlines, the City of Vancouver, and all other stakeholders), but they are obliged to follow orders from Renton.
Here is the letter from FAA, handed out at the meeting last night: www.pilawt.com/FAA_letter_120930.pdf
In a nutshell: FAA has established what is known as the "Pearson Box", shown in blue on the diagram below. It extends eight miles west from PDX, surface to 2,100', and 2,500 feet either side of the PDX 10L localizer (which includes the centerline of the 10R localizer as well). Pearson Field is fully within the box. The box will not appear on any chart.
When PDX is operating on east flow (10L/R, which are the calm-wind runways and favored by winds in the fall and winter), no VUO airplane will be allowed to operate anywhere within the box whenever a PDX airplane is anywhere within the box. When PDX approaches are in progress, close enough such that they might be in the box at the time of a VUO operation, the VUO operation will be prohibited. A VUO departure will be instructed to remain on the ground, and an arrival will be instructed to remain outside the VUO Class D (yellow area on diagram below).
Delays are expected to be commonplace and lengthy; the FAA's slideshow last night indicated they are contemplating delays of 20-30 minutes for VUO operations. Controllers said they will try to create "holes" in the flow of PDX arrivals to allow VUO operations, but at high-volume times that will be impossible. VUO closed-traffic operations will frequently be prohibited, as well, effectively putting the airport's lone flight training operation out of business.
Delayed VFR arrivals will be expected to "hold" outside the VUO Class D. There are no established "holding" landmarks, altitudes or procedures. Obviously, with floor of Class C at 1,800' in that area (shaded in green below), there will be numerous light airplanes milling about in an 800' block of airspace for extended times.
The FAA "party line" emanating from Renton is that this procedure is intended to avoid wake turbulence encounters. Interestingly, however, this procedure is not limited to large aircraft -- even a Caravan or King Air or Skyhawk landing at Portland will stop Pearson operations.
In the seventy years that these airports have co-existed, there has never been a mid-air collision, near-mid-air collision, or wake turbulence event involving a PDX aircraft and a VUO aircraft. Safety Risk Management Panels have rejected the "Pearson Box" concept; rather the SRMPs, along with all other stakeholders, strongly recommended re-commissioning the control tower at Pearson that worked exceptionally well during its one year of operation between April 2011 and April 2012. FAA in Renton rammed this change through without NPRM or public comment, violating FAA's own internal orders and the Administrative Procedures Act.
Here is the Fact Sheet issued by the City of Vancouver: www.pilawt.com/COV_Fact_Sheet.pdf
If you want to get involved, send a letter to your elected state and Federal representatives. Many of them are already alerted to this issue and are on board, but constituent input is always welcome. Here is suggested language you could use in such a message:
www.pilawt.com/Letter_of_concern.doc
