Quote:
Originally Posted by Jim14Qc
This sounds incredibly inefficient and wasteful when you compound it over decades and probably 100,000+ airports. Is it because it's safer this way? Or any other valid reason?
Maybe this particular controller on this particular day hated the French.
In any case, it was a rare event back then and probably never happens today. Most of the busy airports served by airlines see very little light airplane traffic, often a result of very high landing fees.
When I first started flying, I could go over to Dulles and practically have the airport to myself. They welcomed me because each time I landed added to their traffic count and helped justify their existence.
I remember one time (1980-ish) I went out at 3:30 am on a Saturday morning (couldn't sleep that night and it seemed like a good thing to do). I told the controller that I wanted to do some touch and goes. I will never forget the clearance I got: "Grumman 74026, you are cleared to do whatever you want, on any runway you want, for as long as you want, until further notice."
I went from one runway to another, doing touch and goes, low passes, stop and goes. It was great. After that, I parked and went up to the tower and watched the sunrise with the controller.
Last edited by W0X0F; 06-18-2014 at 04:17 PM.