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Timbeck2

Final Approach
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Nov 4, 2015
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Vail, Arizona
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Timbeck2
Some of you may have seen or heard information that Ryan Field (KRYN) is closed until further notice. The Air Traffic Manager there, who was a friend of mine that worked with me at Davis Monthan for many years until she retired, has died of COVID. It was very quick from diagnosis until her death. I got the call from another ATC friend of mine last night. Very sad indeed.
 
If it was a female voice then I'm sure she was. She was the only female there.
 
Wow, that’s very sad, I’m sorry to hear! :(
 
Thanks fellas. I didn't post this for my own personal reasons. It was just that if you guys were wondering why Ryan tower is closed, that's the answer. She was a friend but we didn't hang out together or exchange Christmas cards.
 
Sorry to hear. Why is the airport closed? A moment of silence so to speak, or was she that critical that they can't operate without her?
 
After hours it reverts back to unicom which I assume is still the case now. Its the tower that is closed, I assume the airfield is still open.
 
I work in the medical imaging business ... this kind of news is happening far too often. Have several family members recovering and one that didn't make it. I doubt there will be anyone that hasn't been "touched" by this virus when all is said and done:(
 
The hits just keep on coming. Tucson tower just had 9 of it's 12 controllers go down for COVID19 by either contracting it and/or being exposed to it. They have one of their three controllers working in the tower at a time now and they go ATC zero every two hours for 30 minutes. Between 10pm and 10am its unicom. We've had our own issues at Davis Monthan but expect to be "healthy" as far as manning goes the week after Christmas. There will be several days still when we will be working alone. I have five coming up starting this Sunday.
 
KAPA (Centennial south of Denver) went shorter hours a few weeks ago due to staffing issues.
 
Working alone today I decided to dial up Tucson's CTAF just to listen while the tower is unmanned. Its funny to hear the airliners revert back to their uncontrolled phraseology. Most of them did really well. Only one Mooney pilot gave the old, "any traffic in the area..." thing.
 
My normal weekend attire, shorts and a tee shirt. I just heard a conversation between Bernie and Tom on the CTAF while a Airbus was trying to land. Apparently Tom is retiring in March and Bernie was wishing him well. The captain of the Airbus didn't say anything but I'm sure he wanted to say the same thing I wanted to which was, "shut up."
 
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