Jay Honeck
Touchdown! Greaser!
First, let me start by thanking the hundreds of EAA volunteers who did an OUTSTANDING job in Oshkosh, dealing with a cataclysmic flood. They performed a Herculean effort this year, and (as always) I tip my hat to them.
I would also like to thank EAA itself, for reacting admirably to a terrible situation. They were able to react and move quickly and efficiently in the face of astoundingly bad field conditions.
All the good stuff said, I think it's time to discuss the p*ss-poor and downright dangerously bad bureaucratic response to Jack Roush's crash in Oshkosh. Once again, both on the ground and in the air, the FAA (and, possibly, EAA -- it can be hard to discern the dividing line at Airventure) has proven how dangerously rigid they can be. Let me 'splain what I mean...
First, an FYI: When the accident occurred, our group was firmly ensconced in our nightly "airshow cocktail" ritual, enjoying the arrivals and departures from our campsite. As any OSH veteran knows, this is the REAL "air show" at Oshkosh, and we've enjoyed it for decades.
There we were, enjoying hops and grains while accompanied by heavenly aircraft noise from all over America, when suddenly things got very quiet. We were far from the Rwy 18R accident site, sitting out in our soggy North 40 camping area (adjacent to Rwy 27), but we knew immediately that something bad had happened when arrivals and departures abruptly ceased at the height of their post-air show pace.
So, we tuned in the tower on our handhelds, and listened to see what we might learn.
The LAST time something like this happened at OSH, several years ago, I was one of the poor saps that got stuck in the Rush and Green Lake "holds". As arrivals continued to pour into the FISK approach from Ripon, the holding pattern grew and grew, until we had a truly unsafe condition developing around those lakes. At times we were three and four planes ABREAST, circling the lake -- a dicey situation, indeed.
Back then, the FISK controllers were apparently allowed to say NOTHING about what was happening on the field. All they would say is "the field is closed, and we expect it to reopen any time". This uninformative statement kept the floodgates of arrivals open, since SURELY it meant that the field was going to reopen soon -- right?
Wrong. If the controllers had only said "There's been an accident on the field, and we don't know how long it will be closed", half of the planes in the hold(s) would've bugged out, heading for Fond du Lac, Appleton, or any of half a dozen other "relievers". Instead, ATC remained mum, and a terribly dangerous situation was allowed to develop over the lakes.
To their credit, the FAA controller in the tower this time around was allowed to explain the situation, mentioning that their had been an "incident" on one of the runways. We were unable to hear the FISK approach controller from the ground, but we presume they, too, were being allowed to tell the truth of the situation, which hopefully helped to relieve the developing situation somewhat.
Still, all of this confusion was caused by bureaucratic bungling of the worst kind. Even though both the Roush and earlier accidents had occurred on Runway 18R, the FAA (and, possibly, EAA?) mandated that the ENTIRE airport be shut down, immediately after the accident. The reason given for this? Because Oshkosh Airport had "insufficient emergency response vehicles and personnel to handle TWO accidents, should a second one occur."
WTF?
(For those who don't know, those enormous fire trucks you see at airports are made in Oshkosh, at the Oshkosh Truck factory. As if EAA couldn't find any other airport fire fighters who wouldn't jump at the chance to work the show for a week, in exchange for free admission?)
So, because a "dangerous situation" MIGHT develop on the ground, the bureaucrats assured that one WOULD develop in the air. Brilliant.
Fast forward several years, to Sploshkosh 2010. Jack Roush has now-famously pranged his bizjet into the concrete on Rwy 18. Once again, conditions on the ground are nearly identical. You've got an accident off to the side of one of the three runways serving arrivals, completely out of the way of arrivals or departures on the two remaining runways, but the FAA/EAA closes the ENTIRE airport, immediately.
Within minutes, a dangerous situation begins to develop. Once again, due to governmental intransigence (or, perhaps, ignorance), a relatively minor problem on the ground is allowed to create a major problem in the air. Dozens, perhaps hundreds of aircraft are in the air, with no where to go.
Worse, this time you've got an incredibly pent-up flow of arrivals, due to the terrible field conditions caused by the rains earlier in the week that resulted in a closed field. This was one of the first evenings that camping arrivals were being allowed to land, so you had pilots from all over the country streaming up the FISK approach after the daily airshow, suddenly with no where to go.
All because ONE runway, over a mile away from Rwy 27, was closed? The ignorance and stupidity boggles the mind. The excuse that OSH simply could not handle another emergency should one occur is unacceptable, given the consequences of closing the airport, and IMHO this sort of unsafe reactionary procedure MUST be corrected if Airventure is to continue in Oshkosh. But I digress...
As time ticked past, and pilots on the ground (who still had their engines running) started to become vocally irate, the controllers ultimately relented and allowed departures to resume -- but then they served up the ultimate coup de grace.
8 o'clock inexorably rolled around -- normal field closing time during Airventure. It is light in OSH until 9 PM at this time of year, but did the controllers in the tower (and FAA bureaucrats on the ground) even CONSIDER maybe keeping the field open an extra 30 minutes, to accommodate all those poor guys sitting on the ground (and circling the lakes) endlessly? Did the bureaucrats even CONSIDER that this minor adjustment to their sacred schedules might help dozens (hundreds?) of pilots who had been trying to get to OSH all week?
Hell, no. The clock struck 8, and that was that. If you weren't on the ground, engine shut down, or off their runway and departing, it was "screw you and go away". Those of us sitting in the North 40 were absolutely incredulous when we heard this on the radio. What kind of an ass would DO that?
I, for one, have now seen this sort of self-induced mess happen twice at OSH. Twice, in a matter of a few short years, the FAA has created a truly dangerous situation over Rush and Green Lakes, simply by over-reacting to an incident on the field. By suddenly and completely closing the busiest airport on earth, at the peak arrival time, THEY became the problem -- not Jack Roush -- and someone could have died because of it. To me, that is simply not acceptable management, and we need to make our displeasure known.
I would also like to thank EAA itself, for reacting admirably to a terrible situation. They were able to react and move quickly and efficiently in the face of astoundingly bad field conditions.
All the good stuff said, I think it's time to discuss the p*ss-poor and downright dangerously bad bureaucratic response to Jack Roush's crash in Oshkosh. Once again, both on the ground and in the air, the FAA (and, possibly, EAA -- it can be hard to discern the dividing line at Airventure) has proven how dangerously rigid they can be. Let me 'splain what I mean...
First, an FYI: When the accident occurred, our group was firmly ensconced in our nightly "airshow cocktail" ritual, enjoying the arrivals and departures from our campsite. As any OSH veteran knows, this is the REAL "air show" at Oshkosh, and we've enjoyed it for decades.
There we were, enjoying hops and grains while accompanied by heavenly aircraft noise from all over America, when suddenly things got very quiet. We were far from the Rwy 18R accident site, sitting out in our soggy North 40 camping area (adjacent to Rwy 27), but we knew immediately that something bad had happened when arrivals and departures abruptly ceased at the height of their post-air show pace.
So, we tuned in the tower on our handhelds, and listened to see what we might learn.
The LAST time something like this happened at OSH, several years ago, I was one of the poor saps that got stuck in the Rush and Green Lake "holds". As arrivals continued to pour into the FISK approach from Ripon, the holding pattern grew and grew, until we had a truly unsafe condition developing around those lakes. At times we were three and four planes ABREAST, circling the lake -- a dicey situation, indeed.
Back then, the FISK controllers were apparently allowed to say NOTHING about what was happening on the field. All they would say is "the field is closed, and we expect it to reopen any time". This uninformative statement kept the floodgates of arrivals open, since SURELY it meant that the field was going to reopen soon -- right?
Wrong. If the controllers had only said "There's been an accident on the field, and we don't know how long it will be closed", half of the planes in the hold(s) would've bugged out, heading for Fond du Lac, Appleton, or any of half a dozen other "relievers". Instead, ATC remained mum, and a terribly dangerous situation was allowed to develop over the lakes.
To their credit, the FAA controller in the tower this time around was allowed to explain the situation, mentioning that their had been an "incident" on one of the runways. We were unable to hear the FISK approach controller from the ground, but we presume they, too, were being allowed to tell the truth of the situation, which hopefully helped to relieve the developing situation somewhat.
Still, all of this confusion was caused by bureaucratic bungling of the worst kind. Even though both the Roush and earlier accidents had occurred on Runway 18R, the FAA (and, possibly, EAA?) mandated that the ENTIRE airport be shut down, immediately after the accident. The reason given for this? Because Oshkosh Airport had "insufficient emergency response vehicles and personnel to handle TWO accidents, should a second one occur."
WTF?
(For those who don't know, those enormous fire trucks you see at airports are made in Oshkosh, at the Oshkosh Truck factory. As if EAA couldn't find any other airport fire fighters who wouldn't jump at the chance to work the show for a week, in exchange for free admission?)
So, because a "dangerous situation" MIGHT develop on the ground, the bureaucrats assured that one WOULD develop in the air. Brilliant.
Fast forward several years, to Sploshkosh 2010. Jack Roush has now-famously pranged his bizjet into the concrete on Rwy 18. Once again, conditions on the ground are nearly identical. You've got an accident off to the side of one of the three runways serving arrivals, completely out of the way of arrivals or departures on the two remaining runways, but the FAA/EAA closes the ENTIRE airport, immediately.
Within minutes, a dangerous situation begins to develop. Once again, due to governmental intransigence (or, perhaps, ignorance), a relatively minor problem on the ground is allowed to create a major problem in the air. Dozens, perhaps hundreds of aircraft are in the air, with no where to go.
Worse, this time you've got an incredibly pent-up flow of arrivals, due to the terrible field conditions caused by the rains earlier in the week that resulted in a closed field. This was one of the first evenings that camping arrivals were being allowed to land, so you had pilots from all over the country streaming up the FISK approach after the daily airshow, suddenly with no where to go.
All because ONE runway, over a mile away from Rwy 27, was closed? The ignorance and stupidity boggles the mind. The excuse that OSH simply could not handle another emergency should one occur is unacceptable, given the consequences of closing the airport, and IMHO this sort of unsafe reactionary procedure MUST be corrected if Airventure is to continue in Oshkosh. But I digress...
As time ticked past, and pilots on the ground (who still had their engines running) started to become vocally irate, the controllers ultimately relented and allowed departures to resume -- but then they served up the ultimate coup de grace.
8 o'clock inexorably rolled around -- normal field closing time during Airventure. It is light in OSH until 9 PM at this time of year, but did the controllers in the tower (and FAA bureaucrats on the ground) even CONSIDER maybe keeping the field open an extra 30 minutes, to accommodate all those poor guys sitting on the ground (and circling the lakes) endlessly? Did the bureaucrats even CONSIDER that this minor adjustment to their sacred schedules might help dozens (hundreds?) of pilots who had been trying to get to OSH all week?
Hell, no. The clock struck 8, and that was that. If you weren't on the ground, engine shut down, or off their runway and departing, it was "screw you and go away". Those of us sitting in the North 40 were absolutely incredulous when we heard this on the radio. What kind of an ass would DO that?
I, for one, have now seen this sort of self-induced mess happen twice at OSH. Twice, in a matter of a few short years, the FAA has created a truly dangerous situation over Rush and Green Lakes, simply by over-reacting to an incident on the field. By suddenly and completely closing the busiest airport on earth, at the peak arrival time, THEY became the problem -- not Jack Roush -- and someone could have died because of it. To me, that is simply not acceptable management, and we need to make our displeasure known.
