<<<<<<< Originally Posted by
Steve91T
I’m in Myrtle Beach right now. Place is dead. The hotel is only open for us right now and they are closing up as soon as we leave in a couple of hours. I get that you don’t want to wait too long but it’s still a long ways away.
MCO closed last night. That’s completely unnecessary. >>>>>>
"MCO closed last night. That’s completely unnecessary."
How much notice do you think would be required to shut down an airport like this for equipment, staff and passengers?
What minimum lead time to make the decisions?
This is one of my Pet Peeves. Closing down airports when it's absolutely unnecessary, as was Orlando. And they close both MCO and ORL (executive).
At NO time, was the weather at the airport OR the forecast weather for Orlando so bad that it was not flyable.
This is clearly a knee jerk reaction of some politician that doesn't know anything about flying. And, often, airports are closed by the owner (often a county or city that is run by beaurocrats, not aviation folks. Even the airport manager is often not an aviator and they can close it.
Granted, if you need to restrict operations that require security or airport services, they will have to be restricted... most likely airline operations. But even closing them early is not appropriate.
And there's general aviation, corporate aviation and military that can certainly operate without all the services that airlines require... let THEM decide when to fly or not.
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Had this same knee jerk reaction with my local airport during Irma a few years ago. They closed the airport because it was owned by the county and the county commissioners made the decision to close early which was equally as stupid as above. After closing the next 36 hours the airport was clear and light winds and operations could have easily been conducted.
I called the head of the commission and got her to send the Sheriff down to unlock the gate on the next day so I could fly two of us out of harms way and keep my plane from getting caught in a possible flood, as Irma was a Cat 4 at that time. My flight didn't impact anyone and was super simple.
This year was different and the commissioners got the message and allowed the airport to be open under much more reasonable terms.
There's would be nothing wrong with just leaving ALL airports open and let the pilot and/or dispatcher make their own decisions.
It also works well in bringing in help and supplies after a storm where a plane can get in quite often many times faster than any other transportation.
..... off my soap box.