Hey Ajax, thanks for coming on here and sharing the info! I visited y'all in Westbury a couple of years ago (J.K. from JFK area showed me around), and it was some of the most interesting 2 hours I've ever spent. It was definitely fascinating seeing the picture from your side. I pretty much spent the enitre time in the JFK corner of the room, and didn't make it over to EWR, LGA, ISP, or Liberty. I remember it was a super windy night and JFK was landing 31R with something like 100-110KT groundspeeds on final, departing 31L during the evening push. Couple of questions:

1. Do you have any idea how arrival rates/AAR are derived? I go on the FAA website from time to time on lousy wx days and I've noticed AARs (assuming single arrival runway) can vary from 25/hour to 40/hour. I understand a heavy jet mix can impact these numbers, but do you know how they come up with these numbers, otherwise?

2. Related Q: JFK (and I pressume EWR as well), issues clearances for an IFR approach (i.e. ILS31R, VOR13L, VOR/DME22L) about 70% of the time, the rest being visual approaches. Why, then do delays start to happen when the ceiling goes to, say, 800 feet? And why would AAR go down if, say, the ceiling drops to 300-400 and the visibility drops to 1SM? Wouldn't the spacing required on final be the same, regardless?

3. Some controllers seem to be reluctant to give clearances for a visual approach. I've had cases where we call field/traffic in sight, and we continue to be vectored for an IFR approach, sometimes with nobody ahead of us for the airport (no runway change involved). Any idea why that may be? Doesn't issuing a clearance for a visual take us off the controller's hands in terms of spacing and separation?

4. At LGA it's not uncommon to be 2.5-3 miles-in-trail on a visual approach to the traffic ahead on final, but at JFK it seems we're always 5-6 miles behind whoever we're following, be it a 767 or an RJ. Any idea why JFK wants nearly 2x the spacing on final as LGA?

5. Why do things like windshear reduce AARs? I've heard how wind can cause spacing issues, but it's still a little unclear, for me at least.....

6. Why the super wide downwind at EWR? It's been awhile since I've been there, but I'm guessing it's to keep arrivals beneath and wide from EWR/LGA departures westbound?

Sorry for the plethora of questions! I had a bunch of EWR/TEB questions, but you answered those nicely, I must say. You guys do a superb job, and y'all definitely don't have it easy!