Hey, Tower, Do I Amuse You?
I’m a controller, enroute and I work in Safety. I think every controller should be pilot rated and I think the FAA should pay for it. Some of our best trainers are pilot rated controllers. We have had several aircraft saves in the past with a pilot rated controller at the helm. It helps that controller to know what the pilot in trouble is dealing with on the other end of the radio. In the same light, it would help to have more pilots visit towers or air traffic control facilities to become familiar with what we do and see. Sometimes, the pilot rated controller can be a little “too confident” and present like he’s “above the rest” but, so can any other controller. We all tend to have Type A personalities. There is something to be said for what I call “bi-lingual”. If I had it to do again, I would have become pilot rated.
Michelle T.
Comment Decorum
To Kate, Russ and Paul: Recently all three of you have addressed in one way or another the issue of comment decorum. Thank you for doing so, and thank you for moderating. Moderated forums make the difference between readable and unreadable, being able to participate and not.
John K.
Poll: Was It Right To Cancel AirVenture Because Of COVID-19?
- EAA was in a no-win situation. People were going to complain no matter which way they decided to go. Whether it was the “right” decision is immaterial. It was the prudent decision given the unpredictable nature of this disease.
- Logistically I feel it was the right call. Attendance, safety of the guests and the vendors along with the crowd shaming that would most likely ensue would make it not worth it. Would I feel safe if I went? Yes. With the proper precautions and respect towards others it would be a nice respite to the lockdown madness that seems to have affected us all.
- The decision should have waited till the end of May. Oshkosh would have undoubtedly been a lesser event under the circumstances. Americans and the world should have been give the opportunity to gather with the advisory at your own risk if the curve continues to flatten with factual data.
- I think they had little choice due to travel restrictions and the prep needed, but maybe a later date could have been better.
- State of Wisconsin made it an easy call. They would not be legal given the staged phase back in place. Jack Pelton directly stated this as the reason. It was a no brainer.
- No, I think it was premature and may have been possible, even modified as necessary.
- Tough call, but given what we are provided for facts, it was the logical liable decision. Neither science nor politics is pure, both presently appear further from it than ever.
- It was the right call for planning purposes and regulatory uncertainties.
- Society is shut down – logistics impossible.
- There was no chance that they would hold the event in this environment.
- Change to Sept/Oct.
- No choice. The state is locked down until the end of May.
- In any case, attendance and participation would be low.
- There’s no right answer. It the one they made, so it what you have.
- Good call – too much unpredictability to attendance and vendor participation.
- It was the best all-around decision.
- Another nail in coffin for general aviation.
- Yes. Not just risk but due to low attendance and many major vendors/sponsors pulling out.
- No, but some creative options should have been offered and “conditions” attached to anyone wishing to attend.
- Too many risk factors for a fun and successful AirVenture.
- I think the local government forced their hand.
- Yes. On-site planning/preparation traditionally begin in May, but is not possible this year as Wisconsin is still under stay at home order. Also, Wisconsin may extend the order – and it is not possible to predict whether such orders will be lifted by late July.
- Large groups in close contact = hot spot.
- Hard call. A lot of people in one place. Only history will tell.
- It was right because too many unknowns.
- Yes, in addition to the risks, there is a huge possibility that the crowds will not support the expenditure and time it takes to put the event on.
- Fly-in only would have provided social distancing.
- They were forced into it by wacko politicians.
- No. Should have been smaller. Not so commercial.
- If local rules did not allow them to work *now* they had no choice.
- Yes. They had no choice due to the stay-at-home order, and a less-than-100% show wouldn’t be worth it.
- Pelton didn’t have any choice, due to rules in Wisconsin. There was no decision to be made by him, it was done by state government.
- Too early to cancel.
- Yes. There is too much we don’t understand about this virus.
- It depends on how many thousands of people you are willing to kill.
- No. It should have been a personal decision… If you’re old or immune compromised don’t go, if not you were going to remain healthy… Or limit the number of people inside the expo buildings.
- Better to be safe than sorry.
- Too soon to decide since it was not scheduled until July.
- Right and wrong call.
- Vendors were nervous.
- It is a combination of things. Being bullied by idiot politicians and facing the reality that the crowds would not be there.
- I guess they had to.
- Yes, but not because of virus, because of lawsuits.
- No! Let’s wipe out several of our honored elder aviators!
- Corona isn’t going away. We will have to learn to live with it.
- Yes – too many complications for timing.
- I think the fear and lack of international attendees would make it a disaster.
- Uncertainty over gummint action makes it a wise move.
- Yes. And all the vendors pulled out. No other choice.
- No, should have waited 2 more weeks to see if Covid is in remission in US.
- Travel and work restrictions prohibited preparations.
- I wasn’t going anyway, so no problem.
- Yes, as long as international borders remain closed.
- Really odd you’re even asking this question.
- It would have been a great experiment in herd immunization.
- Yes. It’s expensive for the vendors and attendance would be down.
About the UFOs, I while back, late one night, I caught an amazing British documentary on flying saucers on PBS. I sure wish I could find this film again on some streaming service to share with all of the UFO conspiracy theorists because it explained the whole reason that the American public associates flying saucers with aliens.
Towards the end of WWII, we all know that the German’s were a good deal ahead of the Allies in aerospace tech and had developed jet aircraft and many other amazing things. One thing that has been largely forgotten was their flying saucer program. (Amazon does actually sell a book on this.) Germany was developing a disk-shaped, long rage bomber with the intent of bombing New York City. Berlin fell before this could happen and when it did, there was a rush by the US and British forces as well as the Russians to gather up both the German aerospace engineers and their work. The cold war was beginning and both sides rushed in to try and gather these assets before the other. As an aside, my grandfather was one of the troops who was sent in to some of the labs to gather and box documents as quickly as possible after the fall of Berlin. Anyway, the Russians were able to get the scientists who were working on the disc shaped bomber program and in the proceeding years, continued to develop these aircraft into some working models. By the following decade, the cold war was raging and Russia had a working prototype which they apparently sent to the US on spy missions as it was spotted over the Boeing plant in Washington and a few other places on the west coast. Not wishing to cause a panic and let on to the American people that there were Russian aircraft over US cities, the US government came up with an ingenious cover. They knew the American people would not believe any denial from their government so rather than denying the existence of Russian aircraft over US soil, they held a press conference and denied that the flying saucers people had spotted were being piloted by aliens. The press conference was unbelievably successful. It completely derailed the idea in America’s mind that Russians might be flying over US cities, and refocused people’ minds on little green men.
Anyway, I suspect that the current UFO sightings are something along the same line, tech from some foreign country.
Helen