ROANOKE, Va. (July 12, 2010)--The largest pilots’ organization in Western Virginia, the IFR Pilots' Club, has registered concerns with the FAA over the proposal to place windmills on Poor Mountain.
“As a result of our review, we believe the proposed windmills present a potentially deadly hazard for pilots and passengers trying to land in the Roanoke Valley,” says Matthew Broughton, airline transport rated pilot and IFR president. Broughton also is a Roanoke aviation lawyer who holds a commercial transport pilot’s license.
Broughton says that the primary approach corridor to the Roanoke Regional Airport extends a few miles north and west of Poor Mountain. The placement of 15 or more windmills on the mountain would likely force the FAA to raise the minimum vectoring altitude of all aircraft, commercial or private, trying to land in Roanoke through this approach corridor.
“We believe that the windmills would create additional delays of aircraft trying to get into the Roanoke Valley during adverse weather,” says Broughton. “This is both a safety issue and travel inconvenience for those flying in and out of the Roanoke airport.”
According to Broughton, the Poor Mountain approach corridor leads to runway 6. It is the longest runway in Roanoke and it also has the lowest minimums, making it is the runway controllers and pilots use most often in poor weather conditions.
“Unfortunately, Roanoke already has much higher minimums than our competing airports, such as Lynchburg and Greensboro,” says Gordon Ewald, a master flight instructor and member of the IFR Pilots’ Club. “The potential adverse affects of raising these minimums would hurt both pilots and passengers alike because it would reduce the days when aircraft could successfully and safely get below the clouds to land in Roanoke and force more deviations to other locations, such as Lynchburg and Greensboro.”
Broughton says that the IFR Pilots' Club is strongly opposed to any additional interference with the flyable airspace in or near the approach corridors, since the placement of these extremely tall structures could lead to aircraft accidents and endanger the lives of pilots, passengers and individuals on the ground.
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The IFR Pilots’ Club was founded 1990 as a non-profit voluntary organization of both instrument rated and visual rated pilots. Its purpose is to promote safety in aviation through pilot education and review of accidents and safety violations in western Virginia.
As you probably know, the project is under review by the FAA. It's timely that the FAA director made comments to Congress on the matter of wind energy sites just last month. Read it here:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.faa.gov/news/testimony/news_story.cfm?newsId=11562
I learned some new facts today. Warning lights are not required on "all" windmills. And the ones that do require warning lights only put the lights on the "hub". The blade of the windmill sticks up, and out, 165 FEET from the hub! If these structures are placed in the approach corridor of our airport it will only be a matter of time before a plane or helicopter hits one. Don Giecek,spokesperson for Invenergy, called me today after the media coverage to ask questions about our position. I explained to him we are simply concerned with aviation safety. I told him (as a trial attorney) I could not imagine a company being warned about the degree of danger locating these structures near an approach to a runway and still building them. Are they wealthy enough (or can they buy enough insurance) to address the potential massive exposure they have in this situation? I seriously doubt it.
ReplyDeleteEveryone should keep in mind these facts:
1. Roanoke already has some of the highest "minimums" in the country! 405ft compared to Lychburg and Greensboro's 200ft! So if the weather is bad (ie low clouds) you are much more likey to not land in Roanoke than our competing airports
2.The FAA could possibly approve the windmills by raising the minimum vectoring altitude. But it would really put more pilots and passengers at risk because the higher you go in winter the colder and more likelihood of icing on the plane which can render the plane unfliable. Also the higher you go the more risk you have in case of thunderstorms.
3. Roanoke will lose businesses/jobs if we fall asleep and allow the windmills to be built. Successful companies often own airplanes. If an airplane is a key part of their travel then a dependable airport is crucial. If business executives can not return home at night to be with their families, what incentives would they have to live and place their business capital in our Valley?
4. I don't blame Invenergy for trying to put these structures where they can make the most money. But I do suggest they reconsider and find somewhere that does not risk the lives and business atractiveness of our Valley.