Tuesday, June 19, 2012

river auto-flightplan delayed out of Reagan National

At a noisy RAFOM meeting last September, airport officials spoke at length about noise from planes traveling to and from Reagan National airport.  Causing extra noise at that time was the nighttime closure of main runway 1/19.  The alternate runway 15/33 set planes out headed for Rosslyn.  Some good news is that most of the work on runway 1/19 has been finished.  The bad news is that the new Laser-1 auto-pilot guidance system, which will take flights departing northbound through the tight river airspace corridor, is behind schedule and has not yet been implemented.  At last September's meeting, airport officials stated that the new departure protocol would be operational by April.

Getting information on the status of the Laser-1 departure protocol has been difficult.  Airport officials have not responded to friendly and cheerful emails from the Ode Street Tribune's journalist.  The Tribune secured information on the status of the Laser-1 protocol only with the assistance of Stan Karson, RAFOM President.

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