Check NOTAMS... seriously folks...

denverpilot

denverpilot

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DenverPilot
- Flying to KGXY this last weekend, Runway 35/17 was NOTAM'ed closed.
- That NOTAM showed up in Foreflight, and also was on the AWOS recording.
- It was NOT in FIS-B data, by the way... interesting... I looked. Only the other approach related NOTAM-Ds showed up in there, not a single thing about a runway closure.

But... the info was definitely available both in pre-flight form, and also in-flight from the AWOS.

- Wind is light out of the north... something like 330@3. Very light.
- Everyone is using 10/28 of course.

Some doofus shows up in a Baron saying he's on the RNAV to 35. Fine... it tingled my spidey senses a little bit, but numerous folks were doing practice approaches on that lovely VFR day, so I thought less of it than I should have. The Pilatus kids from Denver constantly fly the approaches to 35 at KGXY and go missed all the time. Nothing new or interesting for KGXY. Folks flying crossing approaches is pretty common for practice... just take some SA and paying attention to where the frack everyone is.

As we all continue making announcements on the CTAF (I'm just entering the downwind for 10 about this time, and there's someone on a 2 mile final or so for 10 also) the Baron pilot exclaims...

"Well, if you're all using the other runway I GUESS we'll break off the approach and enter the downwind for Runway 10!" He actually sounded annoyed... hahaha...

Before I could say anything a different voice, the airplane on 2 mile final for 10 comes on and says, "Considering that Runway 35 is closed, you're going to be going around anyway..." I'd give him a 9 out of 10 for "controlled snark" and excellent accenting of "CLOSED", "from the Russian judge"... even though I'm supposedly German. :)

I guess it would have been entertaining to see the Baron pilot's reaction to the freaking giant Xs on the runway if he hadn't given away that he was flying the RNAV 35 to a LANDING enough that one of us could stop hinting and actually TELL him the runway he wanted was closed... sigh...

Folks... seriously... at least use a tool that highlights NOTAM information like, oh... the freaking runway is closed... even on a nice VFR day...

I was both laughing at the response from the other pilot who was on a straight-in for 10, and banging my head on the glareshield of the 182 wondering "WHY U NOOO CHECK NOTAMS U DUMB BARON PILOT!" LOL...

Maybe he'd check NOTAMS if he was flying a LearBaron @Ted DuPuis ? :) Jumping Jeebus on a pogo stick...

It wouldn't have been as funny if the Baron pilot wasn't MAD that we were all using the "wrong" runway... hahahaha... dumbass. But we'll give him credit for whining on the CTAF so we could all figure out what HIS major malfunction was... with apologies to R. Lee Ermey, may he RIP.

Maybe he was relying on his FIS-B data... which FAA has clearly said... "Don't do that." I can tell you *I* was surprised that a runway closure wasn't mentioned ANYWHERE in the KGXY information on the screen of the GTN... but then again, I know how to open the iPad before a flight and hit "Brief"... sheesh. Even "Pack" worked since it triggered a big red banner on the airport page "Runway Closed by NOTAM"... :)
 
Surprises me not. I went into Deming, NM one time and noted that one runway had Xs on it. There were no notams, anywhere, though the Unicom was kind enough to advise. I was only mildly annoyed as headwinds had eaten into my fuel reserve and left me less comfortable than I normally would have been. Well that and the only open runway was quite some distance from the FBO (who's vending machine was near empty). Was very glad to have a totalizer that day.
 
Don't depend on AWOS or ASOS for NOTAM information, not all of them are capable and they are not an ATIS service. They are an automated weather station, that some have the ability to add a recorded message. Ours does not.

Working on an airport, you'd be amazed at the number of people that don't read NOTAMs. Makes us wonder why we even bother sometimes. So much emphasis from the FAA on airports to have accurate and timely NOTAMs, but pilots never use them.
 
I've been known to key the mic and something along the lines of "confirm right traffic for runway...". Similar would work for closed.
 
I check NOTAMs before every flight, even if it’s just pattern work. Plus for at least one nearby field, just in case a divert is necessary.
 
It happens. We're all human. I used to get worked up over stuff like that, but I try my hardest these days to remember that I make mistakes, too.

Like the time I was flying into a popular lunch run destination which is uncontrolled with a single north-south runway, with a standard pattern:
Occasionally some dufus will come in and make right traffic because it works out better for him, as if he has a choice - which inevitably screws the pooch for everyone else. Usually someone speaks up and it gets worked out. So there I was tooling along inbound. The wind was out of the north, and they were using 34. I'm about 15 out and I tune to the CTAF and hear some dufus call right downwind for 34. So I jumped in, "you know it's left traffic...". I must've been jumped on by at least five guys: "Not today, buddy...", "Read your NOTAMs...", "Did you check the AWOS?", etc. Holy crap! I hadn't bothered to tune in the AWOS yet. It turns out there was an aerobatic box in effect west of the airport, and they were making right traffic to 34! It was clearly stated on the AWOS. Now who's the dufus? Yep, this guy. I quickly apologized. I actually continued on and landed, and subjected myself to a lot of grief from everyone at my table.

So, reading this post about the Baron guy doesn't get me twisted up. He made a mistake, it happens.
 
denverpilot said:
- Flying to KGXY this last weekend, Runway 35/17 was NOTAM'ed closed.
:)
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You civilized types better stay out of the BJC LMO FNL GXY corridor if you don't want your sensibilities hurt. I was headed to FNL one day and called about 10 miles out and they had NOTAM'd the field closed to repaint it black. It wasn't on the AWOS or FF. The guy on the ground with a radio called it out. I am certain that I would have noticed the X's by then.
 
pburger said:
So, reading this post about the Baron guy doesn't get me twisted up. He made a mistake, it happens.
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I wasn’t exactly “twisted up” but his attitude was the funny part. “Well if you all are going to use the WRONG runway [for the three knot wind] I GUESS I’ll HAVE to...”.

I can’t adequately describe his huffiness over having to use the “wrong” runway here. LOL. He was all sorts of grumpy. He really wanted that RNAV 35 straight in, bad. LOL.
 
10/28 has traffic to the north so you overfly the National Guard base. They don't like it much.
 
ejensen said:
10/28 has traffic to the north so you overfly the National Guard base. They don't like it much.
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Seriously? Probably the last thing I would care about in the slightest in all the years I’ve been flying in and out of GXY.
 
denverpilot said:
Seriously? Probably the last thing I would care about in the slightest in all the years I’ve been flying in and out of GXY.
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Yep, left on 10 and right on 28. But folks coming from the south for lunch can't be bothered to fly the correct pattern
 
ejensen said:
Yep, left on 10 and right on 28. But folks coming from the south for lunch can't be bothered to fly the correct pattern
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No I meant not caring in the slightest about what the National Guard wants. Ha. That airport has been there a long time before that silly armory was built. :) The PD range is right across the street too.

Colorado has this weird thing with putting Armories at airports. Ostensibly so they can fly stuff in and out easier when the SHTF and they need the Guard, but you’re saying the Guard thinks the airplanes overhead are some sort of OpSec issue for them? Good lord. Then build it somewhere else and pour a helipad. Sheesh.

Never heard that complaint out of the Armory at KFTG either and the pattern definitely flies over that one.

About as dumb as Sierra Nevada leaving their hangar door open at certain airports and whining that users of the airport saw some secret squirrel airplane they made a fortune on by installing STCs for special gear on them for three letter agencies. Here’s an idea, close the fracking door. Doofuses. LOL.

Knew a guy who said the Customs folks regularly do the same thing at his home airport. Freaked them the hell out when an airplane with a GoPro mounted to a wing strut taxied past their hangar door, wide open with all their equipment on display for whatever they were trying to keep secret. Dummies.
 
This GXY base mission is Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) including space
 
ejensen said:
This GXY base mission is Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) including space
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Even Schrieber only has airspace protected to 1,000 agl and they are 24/7, not just part timers.
 
WannFly said:
'bout that giant X on the runway... was that @SixPapaCharlie 's giant X? :d
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I've got two great stories about the giant X.

A while back we had an airport notam'd closed until 4PM for runway work. At 4:01 some yahoo in a Bonanza taxis out and takes off narrowly avoiding hitting the guy removing the large portable X from the end of the runway. The moral of the story is no matter what the NOTAM sasys, it ain't open until the guy is done removing the X from the runway.

Many years back I was standing at the intersection of P3 and P at Oshkosh during the show. A guy shoots by me and I'm thinking, "Why the hell is he taxiing that fast." Then I realize he's just landed on the taxiway. The next day a bunch of guys show up with paint rollers and paint and are standing on the end of the taxiway having a prolonged discussion. I asked the guy next to me if they were having problems figuring out how to spell "X".
 
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