You’ve probably all seen this already, but today the Gimli Glider takes its last flight as an Air Canada aircraft, almost 25 years after its famous power-off glide to a landing in Gimli, Manitoba.
The original pilots and some of the crew members are on board as it heads from Montreal to Tucson on its way to a bone yard in the Mojave desert.
Here’s a statement from the U.S. Air Transport Association (ATA) — the airlines’ lobby group — about variable landing fees for U.S. airports (e.g. higher at peak times, lower other times):
“Unfortunately, [the policy] does nothing to fix the primary cause of delays - our nation’s increasingly antiquated air traffic control system,” ATA CEO Jim May said. “Additional fees . . . will only increase the cost of flying for the consumer.”
Yes, the U.S. ATC system is antiquated, and yes, higher peak-hour fees at big airports may mean higher ticket prices, but how is ATC the problem? Flights don’t get delayed because a controller has to use a voice line to coordinate hand-offs or stare at a cold-war era radar screen; they get delayed because runways at big hubs can handle only a limited number of landings per hour. The proof is in the fact that there are almost never delays flying to small airports. (Ever had a ground hold waiting to fly to Massena, NY? Didn’t think so.)
Let’s make it really easy for the ATA:
Give the FAA as much new shiny technology as you want, but if there aren’t enough runways, it won’t help. Do you really want to be flying heavy jets a minute apart or less? Fancy navigation technology won’t get rid of wake turbulence.
OurAirports now includes heliports and floatplane bases as well as fixed-wing airports: in the last 24 hours I’ve added 828 floatplane bases and 5,911 heliports, all from Canada and the U.S. (and a couple of U.S. dependencies like Guam).
Here’s a screenshot of a map of the Vancouver area — you should be able to make out 3 floatplane bases, 7 heliports, and 6 airports (you can jump to the live map to explore further):
Thanks again to George Plews for collecting the Canadian data. Does anyone have a good reference for heliports and floatplane bases outside of Canada and the U.S. (or even for more fixed-wing airports)?
Any logged-in member can now add placemarks to the map for local spots at an airport (FBOs, visitor parking, fuel, restaurant, customs, or whatever), and more importantly, anyone — even Anonymous Flyers — can comment on those spots.
Take a look at Ottawa Rockcliffe or Teterboro to see some examples, then mark some of the spots at your local airport so that I’ll know where to park, fuel up, and eat next time I fly in.