Haha maybe it is the wolfman? and we can not help where we are located nor will we go anywhere. However down at our south jersey location they are right on the Philly Intl Cedar Lake arrival, and they put in an INT called JUMPP for when they are jumping to bring PHL ariv. 2 miles around crosskeys airport. I think the biggest thing is communication, I know when I fly I do not drop anyone when you guys advice traffic, and it is easy for us to see the IFR arrivals as they come the same route and your eyes get trained for it. I also visited your facility to get a better idea of how your end looks. I also think you can agree the climb I use is about as out of the way as we can get, as I have been using the same exact one for over a year now, and I am basically the only one flying the 182 this year, except days I was off work. As for an accident, yes it is always something to keep in mind, but the sky is also very large, and our jumpers are trained to also look before they jump and clear the airspace, and I know I hold when you say there is IFR traffic. One thing is for sure we are not going anywhere, as we have seen massive growth over the last 2 years alone, esp with the Kingair this year, we are looking at having a full time Otter or Caravan next season, and you will soon see us similar in size to the Ranch @ Gardner NY. I just hope we get a LOA soon to streamline the process and help the IFR traffiic/jumper traffic workout smoother, I feel this year has been 100X better than last year when it came to that.
-Rick
Originally Posted by
Ajax
if it feels like you always get the same 8 or 9 guys, its probably not far from reality. We have 41 fully qualified controllers in my area, but many of us have our "favorite" positions, and we tend to try work those more. For example, I prefer to work yardley/penns, or north arrival/penns, or either of the finals, or departure over any of the other positions. I don't particularly care much for Mugsy mostly because I rather work with the professional pilots, instead of the gazillion VFR weekend warriors that Mugsy gets. If I get it assigned of course I wont turn it down, but I don't go out of my way to get it.
I really have mixed feelings about your skydiving operation. To be totally frank....I am amazed that to this day, we haven't had an incident with a jumper going splat over some aircraft's windshield. You guys are dropping this jumpers directly over a busy arrival fix, and as much as we try to warn both you and any inbounds about the jumps, I'm always worried about it.
I'll tell you this much....I'm not the new guy from Texas (I've been here 20 years), nor am I female. However, I'm pretty sure that you'd know instantly who I am if I tell you.
