Safety
Tragic Crash Highlights Debate Over Airspace Redesign
December 5, 2011
Listen to the NBAA Flight Plan podcast interview with CFI and author Tom Turner
The Thanksgiving Eve crash of a Twin Turbo Commander into the Superstition Mountains east of Phoenix has sparked renewed debate over the 2007 implementation of redesigned airspace surrounding Sky Harbor International Airport.
“It shouldn’t have happened,” lamented Jim Timm, executive director of the Arizona Pilots Association. “When the airspace was being designed, a lot of us felt it would only be a matter of time before an accident.”
At issue is the Class-B airspace east of Sky Harbor. In the redesign effort, the floor of the Class B was lowered from 8000 feet MSL to 5000 feet. The Superstition Mountains, at their highest point, rise more than 5000 feet above the ground.
“You can’t take a direct route from some airports. You have to make a route change to avoid rising terrain,” Timm said.
A spokesman for the FAA said, if warranted, the airspace design would be included as part of the crash investigation and promised that changes would be made if they are necessary to safe flight. Other FAA sources indicated that, as a matter of routine, airspace redesign takes years.
“We have to work with what we have,” said Tom Turner, a noted CFI and author of an aviation blog called “Flying Lessons.”
“Aircraft departing eastbound from Falcon Field can divert south by just five degrees and they’ll avoid the terrain altogether,” Turner explained.
Turner suggested that, for many pilots, the advent of GPS and electronic flight bags has changed the way many operators plan their flights. “We can do a flight plan on our computer, we can program it in to our GPS. We see the magenta line and off we go.”
But that often negates a step Turner said shouldn’t be ignored.
“Lay the charts out on a table or on the floor and draw a line along your route. Study the terrain. Certainly at night, it’s a real good idea to see if there are any obstacles and if there are any quick ways to get around them.”
