PHL-CAW
9/15/2004
You get real !!!! ---
I received this email on Sunday night from local pilot.
Dear Mr. Donato;
Allow me to preface this Email with two statements: 1) I grew up in New Castle County (Alapocas) and currently live in an area of Chadds Ford near the PHL Runway 9 ILS2) I am a professional pilot. Aircraft making a precision approach to runway nine at PHL are established on a radio beam over your neighborhood called a localizer. Aircraft have been doing this for over 40 years! Those of us that grew up in north New Castle County lived with and accepted aircraft flying over our homes at 2000 feet.
The localizer was in place years before you moved into your neighborhood. The safety of thousands of lives depend on the accuracy of the localizer, associated glide slope and pilot skill. Bringing tons of metal, fuel and human lives onto a runway with a 200 ft ceiling and low visibility at 140 KTS depend on the components of the ILS system. According to Al Mascitti, you call yourself an "expert"...have you ever been in the front end of a jet during a precision approach down to minimums? Of course not! So you are no-where near an "expert".
If you ever have the opportunity to experience what we do on a precision approach, you will be impressed, and fascinated, by the professionalism of the crew and the accuracy of the on-board equipment. From a pilots perspective, you want us, or the FAA, to compromise our safety so you can have a noise free bar-be-cue in your backyard. What you propose is a non-precision approach that follows the river then side-steps to the runway. Get real. My advice: Do yourself and the flying public a favor and move to Wyoming.
My response to the pilot:
I hope that you can fly better than you read. I never claimed to be an expert just a concerned citizen. What I am proposing is the replacement of the ILS with MLS now --technology that is used by the military and British Airways for the "precision approach" you describe over the Delaware River. It is 2004 not 1965. Get real. While the Hemi-powered Belvedere was "state-of-the-art" in '65 --we have engines today with half the displacment making almost as much horsepower using modern electronic control systems.
The 1965 Plymouth Belvedere, Hemi and Max Wedge powered, this Mopar was a known terror on the street and at the track --designed when the slide rule was king. This vintage car would look great in my garage or trailored behind my 5.9 Limited Grand Cherokee on the way to Englishtown, NJ for some racing. However, the technology used to run it is... let's just say... vintage as well. Sort of like the 40 year old radio beacon technology used by the FAA to bring in jets in over Northern Delaware.
Read more about the Microwave Landing System (MLS)
Stephen Donato
www.phl-caw.org
Dear Mr. Donato;
Allow me to preface this Email with two statements: 1) I grew up in New Castle County (Alapocas) and currently live in an area of Chadds Ford near the PHL Runway 9 ILS2) I am a professional pilot. Aircraft making a precision approach to runway nine at PHL are established on a radio beam over your neighborhood called a localizer. Aircraft have been doing this for over 40 years! Those of us that grew up in north New Castle County lived with and accepted aircraft flying over our homes at 2000 feet.
The localizer was in place years before you moved into your neighborhood. The safety of thousands of lives depend on the accuracy of the localizer, associated glide slope and pilot skill. Bringing tons of metal, fuel and human lives onto a runway with a 200 ft ceiling and low visibility at 140 KTS depend on the components of the ILS system. According to Al Mascitti, you call yourself an "expert"...have you ever been in the front end of a jet during a precision approach down to minimums? Of course not! So you are no-where near an "expert".
If you ever have the opportunity to experience what we do on a precision approach, you will be impressed, and fascinated, by the professionalism of the crew and the accuracy of the on-board equipment. From a pilots perspective, you want us, or the FAA, to compromise our safety so you can have a noise free bar-be-cue in your backyard. What you propose is a non-precision approach that follows the river then side-steps to the runway. Get real. My advice: Do yourself and the flying public a favor and move to Wyoming.
My response to the pilot:
I hope that you can fly better than you read. I never claimed to be an expert just a concerned citizen. What I am proposing is the replacement of the ILS with MLS now --technology that is used by the military and British Airways for the "precision approach" you describe over the Delaware River. It is 2004 not 1965. Get real. While the Hemi-powered Belvedere was "state-of-the-art" in '65 --we have engines today with half the displacment making almost as much horsepower using modern electronic control systems.
The 1965 Plymouth Belvedere, Hemi and Max Wedge powered, this Mopar was a known terror on the street and at the track --designed when the slide rule was king. This vintage car would look great in my garage or trailored behind my 5.9 Limited Grand Cherokee on the way to Englishtown, NJ for some racing. However, the technology used to run it is... let's just say... vintage as well. Sort of like the 40 year old radio beacon technology used by the FAA to bring in jets in over Northern Delaware.
Read more about the Microwave Landing System (MLS)
Stephen Donato
www.phl-caw.org
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