Originally Posted by SkyHigh
Good for you!! Perhaps you have some merit after all. What kind of plane what base?
Besides what good does an approach do for a 207? How is a Super cub suppose to benefit from ATC when they never get higher than 300' and don't have a transponder? What good is a GPS when you are flying 100' or less above the ground? What good is an ATC system when the 135 minimums are legally lower than an ILS Approach? (Special VFR 1 mile and clear of clouds.) I remember standing on the ramp with some pax while waiting for an Alaska Airlines flight to arrive at Dillingham that had to miss all the while Penair planes were coming and going via Special VFR. Try explaining that to lower 48 pax.
Man they liked me up there. I went out there and did the job. I was trying to make a point regarding your safety comments. If you were to closely adhere to the rules nothing would ever get done in AK. Maybe you should read a little closer as well?
SkyHigh
I fly IFR Caravans, IFR Navajos & VFR Saratogas for PenAir in Dillingham. If we don't have VFR weather, we go IFR. Pretty straight forward. I use GPS approaches all the time. It's the difference of fighting weather from departure to destination, and easily cruising along in the clouds, until the MAP, then landing or going home. If you want to talk about flying around at 100', that's not (for the most part) legal part 135 flying, nor is it smart. I now understand why your ex-coworkers at airlines with such standards have a high mortality rate. If you want to make up your own rules, you will have problems. 99% of the time, if I can't get in on an ILS, I'm not out there flying VFR. (Maybe 1% of the time the approach end of an 8000' runway is foggy, but I can still get in VFR in the middle of the runway.) We do a pretty good job of following the rules. As a result, we do sit out some weather days. As you know, Dillingham has no ILS.
Did you fly here? For whom? Depending on how long you've been gone, you might be interested to hear Koliganek, Ekwok, Leavelok, Clark's Point & Egegik have new runways. New Stuyahok's is under construction. Koliganek & Egegik have AWOS's and GPS approaches.