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Ok, which one of you 'Coupers up there in the NW was playing with the Blackhawk...stand up! ;-) --Mitch Hines N6369V The follwing post was copied from rec.aviation.piloting: It was a beautiful, sunny day here in Seattle, so I went flying after work. I flew north, then crossed Puget Sound and headed for Jefferson Co. Airport in Port Townsend. Carefully dodging between the TFRs (there are four of them between my home airport, Boeing Field, and Jefferson County), I landed at Jefferson County without incident. It was a quiet evening, not much happening, a very relaxing stop. After stretching my legs for a few minutes, I climbed back in the plane, started up and taxied to the departure end of runway 27 for the 30 minute flight home. As I taxied towards the runway, I heard an Ercoupe call in entering downwind. Then a second Ercoupe called in behind him. I'm in no hurry, so I figure I'll just wait there and watch 'em land. What could be a prettier sight on a nice summer evening than a couple of old airplanes (even older than mine!) in a flight of two? So I'm sitting there next to the runway. The first Ercoupe lands. While the second one was on final, the first one turned off the runway and called "hey, bob [don't recall the name actually], you got a blackhawk on your tail." Hah, hah, I thought, very funny, just a couple of buddies with Ercoupes out for a nice flight on a beautiful summer evening having some fun on the CTAF. The second Ercoupe lands, rolls out, and turns off the runway. I take a look up towards the approach end of the runway, and there's no sign of any other arrivals, so I get on the CTAF and I announce that I'm taking the runway for departure. As I start to pull onto the runway, I look over the middle of the runway, and see - and then hear - a Blackhawk settling down midfield, he comes on the CTAF saying "aircraft about to depart, please stand by." OK, I'm not going anywhere with a helicopter settling down halfway down the runway, I reply that I'm holding where I am (even though I'm sort of half on the taxiway, half on the runway). The blakhawk hover-taxies over acoss the taxiway and ramp, following the Ercoupes to the gas pumps. No additional radio chatter from anyone. I wait 30 seconds, clear the area for traffic, announce that this time I really AM taking the runway for departure, and I take off. As I'm climbing out, I see the two Ercoupes parked at the gas pumps, the pilots looking a bit worried, with the blackhawk approaching them. As I'm departinging, I hear soemone else on the radio asking what has happened. No replies from anyone. So I respond, two Ercoupes came in to JeffCo, and a blackhawk came in and landed midfield, unnanounced, by the way, looks like somebody may have busted one of the many TFRs around here, etc. THEN the blackhawk opilot comes on CTAF and says sorry about that. I respond that it would be nice if they self- announced arrivals at civil airports, just like everyone else does (never mind the fact that they came in at 90 degrees to the runway and traffic pattern, popping in over the runway). He comes back and says they don't like to announce their arrivals in cases like this, 'cause the person they're chasing might get away. I let it drop and flew home, but the more I thought about it, the more it possed me off. I'll be the first to admit that I have a very bad attitude about the continuing airspace restrictions around here. There is absolutely no justification for the continuing TFRs: they don't contribute to security one iota, they inconvenienc law-abiding pilots and put them at risk (by funneling traffic into increasingly narrow corridors), and the whole political climate of stupidity and hysteria about anything that flies just makes my blood boil. But putting that all aside (as much as I can)...what the hell did the blackhawk pilots really think - terrorists in two Ercoupes brushed the edhe of one of their TFRs? OK, so it's their job to follow the orders no matter how stupid they may be, and pursue these great threats to the nation's security. Why do they have to come busting through an airport traffic patern unannounced? Do they think that if they flew a standard traffic pattern and announced themselves the two Ercoupes would have made a run for Canada and escaped? How fast do they think an Ercoupe really goes? With the resources of the US and Canadian military (quite thick around here) they couldn't catch an Ercoupe they were already following? It sems to me that this incident is just another example of how the military has taken over our airspace. Standard procedures and a concern for safety? Nah, can't bother with that, we're at war! We gotta catch Osama in his Ercoupe - come in across the runway at treetop level and don't bother with that radio. If that Cessna rolls down the runway without turning on his radio (it's a non-towered field), whose fault would it be if the Cessna slammed into the blackhawk as it popped over the treeline across the runway. Collateral damage in our brave war to rid the world of evil-doers, I guess. ================================================================== TO UNSUBSCRIBE go to: http://ercoupers.com/lists.htm
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