Published
in Rio Linda Elverta News October 14, 2004
Flight
pattern complaints noted
Helicopter and
fixed wing aircraft flight patterns
by Erwin Hayer
I have attended both of the North Highlands Visions meetings that
discussed the Helicopter School. The first on 2 Sept was very
tense and I did speak. The second on 7 Oct was more civilized,
but the Helicopter portion of the NH Visions was closed while I had my
hand up to speak.
The helicopter flight pattern has been moved to stay west of Dudley
Boulevard, which is a southern extension of 34 th Street and east of
Runway 16-34. The northern boundary for the helicopters
practicing landings and takeoffs is Freedom Park Drive, formerly E
Street. This should keep the lowest flying helicopters away from
North Highlands Homes east of Watt Avenue and north of Freedom Park
Drive.
The pattern for fixed wing aircraft is Left Hand for Runway 34 (340
degrees magnetic heading, takeoff and landing to the north) and Right
Hand for Runway 16 (160 degrees magnetic heading, takeoff and landing
to the south) and at 1000 Feet AGL in the downwind portion of the
pattern. During calm winds RWY 16 is to be used. This
places all of the fixed wing downwind traffic over the eastern Rio
Linda and Elverta areas.
The Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) requires rotary wing (helicopter)
aircraft to use the opposite side of the runway for their pattern.
My concern is a midair collision between any aircraft flying into and
out of the McClellan Park Airfield, which does not have an operational
control tower. The FAA calls this "Operations at Nontowered
Airports".
I have reported 3 near misses (20 June, 26 June and 24 Sept 2004) that
I have personally observed in the last six months. Only one of
the near misses that I observed involved a helicopter from Helicopter
School.
If anyone sees an unsafe or low operation of any aircraft, a phone
number, 565-0139 will record your info and you will be contacted.
If anyone has any questions, please contact me.
eeh625@hotmail.com
PS: Following are URLs to Non-towered Airport Operation for anyone
interested.
Acronyms
AOPA = Aircraft Owners & Pilots Association.
ASF = Air Safety Foundation.
FAA = Federal Aviation Agency.
Operations At Non-towered Airports, FAA News Reprint, 20 page PDF
File. Includes fixed wing traffic patterns, figures 1 and 2 on
page 6. http://www.faa.gov/avr/afs/news/Reprints/Nontrwd.pdf
Pattern operations revisited, Which way did you go? AOPA. A radio is
not required at a nontowered airport, noted Steve Reinsch, who pointed
out that, "Nontowered airports attract planes that do not have
or do not use radios." Reinsch goes on about choosing a different
runway. "Doing something nonstandard [at an airport where] pilots
assume you will do
the standard routine is dangerous. You should always work within the
standard routine because there is no tower to warn of or solve
nonstandard
problems." http://www.aopa.org/asf/publications/inst_reports2.cfm?article=4767
Collision Avoidance, Strategies and Tactics, 16 pages. AOPA Operations
& Proficiency No. 4 Safety Advisor http://www.aopa.org/asf/publications/sa15.pdf
Airport Operating Plan, Burning Man 2004, Black Rock City Airport, 11
pages. http://www.brc-dpw.org/documents/airopss.pdf
AOPA ASF Instructor Reports Index http://www.aopa.org/asf/publications/inst_reports.cfm
AVOIDING MIDAIR COLLISIONS. Brought to you byEastern Avionics
International, Inc., Air Transport Association, & Ryan
International Corporation http://www.avionix.com/collis2.html
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