[TowerTalk] planes and towers

Fri Sep 19 21:27:13 EDT 2014

On 9/19/2014 2:43 PM, Gary - AB9M wrote:

Thanks.  I can only guess, but it is far enough to the side of the 
approach path and "Highly visible" that  probably no one ever felt 
threatened by it.

73

Roger (K8RI)

> Thanks Roger for the explanation / correction regarding the Altimeter 
> deviation. It been a few years since I received the FAA explanation of 
> why encroaching or approaching within 200 feet of the free circling 
> plate would require lowering the tower or antenna (in our case we 
> could not reduce the building height sixty feet) or how the altimeter 
> correction applied.  I cannot fathom how a building 200 feet AGL and 
> just off the west end of the primary (at that time) E-W runway 4 
> blocks to the west of the airport and 3 blocks off the approach path 
> could not be reported / noticed by pilots or the CIRA airport manager 
> for twenty-five years! But my actions did result in raising the free 
> circling plate, we got our FCC license and FAA site license too.
>
> 73 & DX,
>
> Gary - AB9M
>
> -----Original Message----- From: Roger (K8RI) on TT
> Sent: Thursday, September 18, 2014 11:43 PM
> To: towertalk at contesting.com
> Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] planes and towers
>
> On 9/18/2014 9:19 PM, Gary - AB9M wrote:
>
> Being instrument rated, that minimum deviation is plus 100, minus
> nothing!  IE, you can be violated if you forgot to set the altimeter.
> Part of your clearance is the altimeter setting and you best show on
> their radar the altitude given.  For fields with out radar you are given
> the setting from a near by monitored facility.  Altimeters must be
> calibrated regularly and fixed when any discrepancy shows up.
>
> Prior to take off for IFR flights, you are required to check the
> altimeter settings. The altimeter had best show the field elevation
> (posted on the terminal building even at small airports) with very
> little deviation.   If it doesn't you best pray you don't get ramp 
> checked.
>
> Mine had the gasket on the front looking ragged.  Had to replace it, or
> get it rebuilt even though it still gave the correct reading.
>
> I had Toledo Approach call me as I was flying North into an area of
> storm and ask if I had reset the altimeter when I contacted them
> earlier.  The storm had me lower than what the altimeter said. (High to
> low, look out below).
>
> They might be low, but it can get your license yanked, or at the least a
> bit of remedial training.  My tower is directly on the center line for
> final; on 06, but I'm far enough out, I could go 190 feet, but not 200.
>
> 73
>
> Roger  (K8RI)
>
>
>> In the mid 80's or early 90's, State Farm Insurance was involved in 
>> upgrading their Corporate Headquarters Campus two-way radio system.  
>> The antenna used was some 12 feet long which would extend above the 
>> clearance lights three feet above the four corners of the 13 story 
>> building which just happened to be 197 feet tall. When I went to 
>> submit the license application to the FCC, I noticed the LAT/LONG of 
>> the previous license was incorrect, showing the building which had 
>> stood at the corner of Veterans Parkway and Washington street in 
>> Bloomington, IL for over twenty-five years, to be several miles away 
>> near the south-west split of I-55 and I-74. Given the actual building 
>> proximity to the Bloomington Airport (BMI), I was required to also 
>> notify the FAA of any changes in frequency or antenna height.
>>
>> Several weeks later I received a call from the FAA's Chicago Office 
>> informing me that I had to reduce my tower height by sixty feet! When 
>> I replied, "you don't understand", the FAA official said, "NO YOU 
>> DON'T UNDERSTAND, your tower is too close to the end of the 
>> Bloomington Airport runway"! I then replied, the antenna support 
>> structure is not the type tower you envision, but rather it is a 
>> building tower which has been in place for over twenty-five years".
>>
>> I was then required to have the site surveyed by a local engineering 
>> group. Included in the survey  were the direction and distance from 
>> the center of the runway to the clearance lights, antenna, and any 
>> other object which might project above the clearance lights. In 
>> addition to the FAA permit for the radio antenna, State Farm holds a 
>> seasonal permit to erect and extend a crank up pole supporting a 
>> Christmas tree shaped configuration of colored bulbs.
>>
>> The net result of the survey of the State Farm Executive Tower at One 
>> State Farm Plaza, Bloomington IL, was a "Notice To Airmen" published 
>> by the FAA, which changed take off and landing angles to and from 
>> BMI, as well as increasing the "free circling plate height" of BMI to 
>> 1244 feet AMSL.
>>
>> Unfortunately sometimes the FAA does not have ALL the facts or the 
>> correct facts for pilots flying near our antenna structure. As it was 
>> explained to me, an aircraft flying under limited visibility 
>> conditions has a two hundred foot clearance buffer in the "free 
>> circling plate height". Changes in atmospheric pressure or incorrect 
>> setting of the altimeter can put a plane lower in height and into a 
>> tower in the flight path to the end of the runway if the tower 
>> location and height are not accurately reported.
>>
>>
>> 73 & DX,
>>
>> Gary - AB9M
>>
>> -----Original Message----- From: Courtney Judd
>> Sent: Thursday, September 18, 2014 1:30 PM
>> To: Towertalk at contesting.com
>> Subject: [TowerTalk] planes and towers
>>
>> Looking at the W9ZUC incident and the clip below it about the
>> duster/tower made me think back about several incidents with mine. I
>> live directly in a MOA (military operating area) and 20 or so years ago
>> maybe more a F4 blew over my tower while I was working at the top
>> exceeding the speed of sound. He put a sonic boom on me which i would
>> have jumped off if i had not been securely fastened to the tower.
>> Normally it is illegal to create a sonic boom over the continental US
>> but they had a waiver in order to re-certify the F4's before giving them
>> to the national guard.  this turned out to be pretty regular for the
>> next several months. Another time I was up at daylight standing on my
>> porch looking at my 140' tower which was hidden in fog from about 50 ft
>> and up when i could hear helicopters coming my way. I could tell that
>> they were heading right at my tower. They were flying right at the
>> bottom edge of the fog. They came into my view a couple of hundred ft
>> from the tower. One broke left; the other went right. I thought was
>> going to witness a big one for a minute!  Scary! 73's Cort K4WI
>> _______________________________________________
>>
>>
>>
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>

-- 

73

Roger (K8RI)

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