Guys,
First off, I am not here to flame. I am a huge supporter of you guys and the rest of our military. Frankly, I am jealous, I wish I would have taken your route to the skies!
Tonight as we were loading my plane for our regularly scheduled route in South Texas, there was an Air Force T-1 which started up in front of me. The guys sit right there on the ramp at what seems like a high idle speed for 10-15 minutes. I suppose running checklists, etc. Positioned behind them on the ramp, my ground crew and I couldn't communicate due to the noise and the exhaust fumes made my ground crew and I nauseous. I have had this happen numerous times. When I used to fly air ambulance, I was parked behind another T-1 which started as I stopped. I had a very sick baby who we could not unload into the hot, windy, and noxious exhaust. I walked around and tried motioning to the guys flying to cut the engine, and finally had to call ground to get them to cut off the engines so we could unload the kiddo.
I have seen Navy aircraft from Corpus and Kingsville do this as well, so I suppose it is standard practice on military bases. Given that civilian fields are different than military fields, I think you guys may not realize that your jet blast interferes with civilian operations when you sit on the ramp for extended periods of time.
Would it be possible to move to an area other than a ramp to run the checklists? Or another any other solution. . . .
I only write this friendly post here because I don't know who to call and discuss it with.
Thanks!