Frederick, MD tower opening

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Mattl

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Matt
So as those that are based in Maryland most likely know, the tower will open in early May.

The air safety institute and AOPA will be holding a informational/educational session this evening at the Frederick Holiday Inn (next to the Francis Scott Key Mall in Frederick) from 7-9p tonight.

So who is gonna be there?

-Matt
 
I haven't heard that rumor- but I'm at the event now, waiting for it to start- there must be 300-400ppl here.
 
Mattl said:
I haven't heard that rumor- but I'm at the event now, waiting for it to start- there must be 300-400ppl here.
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Wow. I'm actually just down the road from you now in Charles Town, WV. Out here on work. Are there lots of GA pilots out here?
 
I had to miss it, but a couple of my friends are there.

Thank HEAVEN for the tower!!!!
 
Not to rain on the parade, but...I flew into Frederick back in '04 (?), and don't recall there being a screaming need for a control tower. Has GA traffic increased since then? (If so, it would be one of the few airfields in the country to experience such growth.)

They just opened a control tower here in Georgetown, TX (GTU) last year, and in San Marcos, TX (HYI) this year. Both seem to be completely absurd -- I've never been in the pattern with ANYONE at Georgetown, and have seen at most two other planes in the pattern at San Marcos.

So what's going on here? Are these new towers being seen as "shovel-ready" make-work projects for the Feds, or is there some legitimate metric that the FAA is using to justify the construction of these new facilities?
 
Jay Honeck said:
Not to rain on the parade, but...I flew into Frederick back in '04 (?), and don't recall there being a screaming need for a control tower. Has GA traffic increased since then? (If so, it would be one of the few airfields in the country to experience such growth.)

They just opened a control tower here in Georgetown, TX (GTU) last year, and in San Marcos, TX (HYI) this year. Both seem to be completely absurd -- I've never been in the pattern with ANYONE at Georgetown, and have seen at most two other planes in the pattern at San Marcos.

So what's going on here? Are these new towers being seen as "shovel-ready" make-work projects for the Feds, or is there some legitimate metric that the FAA is using to justify the construction of these new facilities?
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There is a screaming need. And the screaming you hear is from IFR pilots who have to wait on the ground 10 - 15 minutes for a release!

There is a lot of traffic, too--including blimps, gliders, and helos, but that isn't the real problem.

Lancaster and Easton have less traffic, and they have towers.
 
spiderweb said:
There is a screaming need. And the screaming you hear is from IFR pilots who have to wait on the ground 10 - 15 minutes for a release!

There is a lot of traffic, too--including blimps, gliders, and helos, but that isn't the real problem.

Lancaster and Easton have less traffic, and they have towers.
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This is very accurate- on a normal day it's not uncommon to have 3-7 planes in the pattern, a falcon jet calling a 7 mile final, and don't forget the gliders, P-40 and the SFRA.

No 121 service that I'm aware of, (unlike Lancaster) that does have the 121.

That being said, I don't know that a tower is required, it was built with shovel ready dollars, and my understanding is the opening was delayed because the FAA didn't want it and didn't want to staff it. FDK did to get additional business traffic that's currently going to Leesburg.

I don't think that it's going to hurt things, but I would imagine that Westminster (KDMW) is going to get a whole lot busier!
 
Mattl said:
I don't think that it's going to hurt things, but I would imagine that Westminster (KDMW) is going to get a whole lot busier!
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Fine with me! I'm sick of sitting on the ground adding up the dollars I'm spending on idling while I wait for a release and a chance to get in the pattern and outta there!
 
spiderweb said:
There is a screaming need. And the screaming you hear is from IFR pilots who have to wait on the ground 10 - 15 minutes for a release!
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The tower is only going to slighting improve that by decreasing the propagation delay a bit caused by the delay in the pilot calling in to close his IFR after landing and delivery of the release of the next guy.
 
spiderweb said:
There is a screaming need. And the screaming you hear is from IFR pilots who have to wait on the ground 10 - 15 minutes for a release!
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I don't think the tower is going to fix that - as there's no increase in radar coverage and it will still likely be a one-in, one-out thing. Potomac is who provides the releases into the controlled airspace, whether via RCO or the tower.

I learned to fly at Frederick, and have been there often since. It's a busy airport, and a Tower will help keep it orderly, but it was certainly never scary to me.
 
Mattl said:
This is very accurate- on a normal day it's not uncommon to have 3-7 planes in the pattern, a falcon jet calling a 7 mile final, and don't forget the gliders, P-40 and the SFRA.

No 121 service that I'm aware of, (unlike Lancaster) that does have the 121.

That being said, I don't know that a tower is required, it was built with shovel ready dollars, and my understanding is the opening was delayed because the FAA didn't want it and didn't want to staff it. FDK did to get additional business traffic that's currently going to Leesburg, which doesn't have a tower, but is closer to DC.

I don't think that it's going to hurt things, but I would imagine that Westminster (KDMW) is going to get a whole lot busier!
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Comment in bold added.
 
I was at the seminar last night. A lot more people showed up than I thought. I can see the need for a tower. There are times when people just randomly call 1 mile for the 45 and they seem to just pop up out of nowhere. Or I'll be doing sim engine outs and right as I turn base someone is doing an IFR 3 miles out in a plane a little faster than mine.

In other words, it'll be nice to just have a little more organization out there. However, this will slow my solo efforts. I was ready to go Saturday, but couldn't due to bad crosswinds. Now I'll have to wait until I'm good enough to communicate with the tower on my own. Shouldn't be bad. I'm a swift learner.
 
anyone know if the Mid Atlantic Soaring Association is going to stick around?
 
Someone was asking about gliders before I left. I wouldn't think they'd dismantle glider ops at the airport. There are always tons of glider flights when I'm there.
 
TMetzinger said:
Comment in bold added.
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I guess I should have added "as is what I was told why the city of FDK wanted a tower"

Interesting........

Everyone wants their "share" of the tax revenue.
 
I didn't go to the seminar. Was there anything notable mentioned outside of normal class D ops? I trained at HEF so I'm used to a tower. I read that the non-movement areas are bigger at FDK once the tower opens.
 
HerrGruyere said:
Someone was asking about gliders before I left. I wouldn't think they'd dismantle glider ops at the airport. There are always tons of glider flights when I'm there.
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I can't imagine a control tower and gliders being terribly compatible. Over the long run, they will drive each other crazy.
 
Jay Honeck said:
I can't imagine a control tower and gliders being terribly compatible. Over the long run, they will drive each other crazy.
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I would have thought that too, but then did some research a while back and there are a number of towered airports that handle soaring ops, just fine. The controllers know the right-of-way rules and quickly learn the performance capabilities. Powered pilots seem to behave in the videos I've seen.

Plus, towers exist for number of airport "operations". More ops, no tower closure.
 
i've only operated gliders from a controlled field once, at the aerobatic contest in kansas city. It worked well enough with some briefing ahead of time in person with the controllers. Hopefully they can work something out that will work long term for everyone.
 
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