BayAreaLondoner
8th Nov 2003, 00:59
Not sure if this is entirely the right place for this post seeing as there was a related thread (http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=106897&highlight=california+fire) in ATC Issues a little while ago.
Anyway, in the latest AOPA newsletter I received this morning, it appears that a VOR has been lost to the fires:
VITAL CALIFORNIA VOR LOST IN FIRE
When the Southern California Consolidated Terminal Radar Control
(SoCal Tracon) was forced to shut down two weeks ago by wildfires
raging dangerously close by, it caused massive but relatively short-
term disruptions. Now the FAA is dealing with potentially much longer
disruptions caused when a heavily used radio navigation aid burned
to the ground in one of the fires. The Fillmore VOR (FIM), located
northwest of the Los Angeles basin, is the primary navaid for traffic
from northern California and the Pacific Northwest heading into
Southern California. It defines portions of two high-altitude jet
airways and seven low-altitude airways. Its loss affects nine departure
procedures at six airports, 10 standard arrival routes (STARs) at six
airports, and 30 approach procedures at eight airports.
I was flying a couple of weekends ago down to Monterey from the Bay Area and the ATIS at Monterey notified us of a ground stop in effect for what sounded like all Southern California destinations owing to the evacuation of the tracon. My wife was flying commercially down to San Diego that same day and they were diverted to Palm Springs due to the ground stop. When they finally got to San Diego, she said it looked like the world was on fire, and when she was on the ground she described it as "snowing ash". Amazing. While I've seen the pictures on TV, that description really brings it home to me.
Anyway, in the latest AOPA newsletter I received this morning, it appears that a VOR has been lost to the fires:
VITAL CALIFORNIA VOR LOST IN FIRE
When the Southern California Consolidated Terminal Radar Control
(SoCal Tracon) was forced to shut down two weeks ago by wildfires
raging dangerously close by, it caused massive but relatively short-
term disruptions. Now the FAA is dealing with potentially much longer
disruptions caused when a heavily used radio navigation aid burned
to the ground in one of the fires. The Fillmore VOR (FIM), located
northwest of the Los Angeles basin, is the primary navaid for traffic
from northern California and the Pacific Northwest heading into
Southern California. It defines portions of two high-altitude jet
airways and seven low-altitude airways. Its loss affects nine departure
procedures at six airports, 10 standard arrival routes (STARs) at six
airports, and 30 approach procedures at eight airports.
I was flying a couple of weekends ago down to Monterey from the Bay Area and the ATIS at Monterey notified us of a ground stop in effect for what sounded like all Southern California destinations owing to the evacuation of the tracon. My wife was flying commercially down to San Diego that same day and they were diverted to Palm Springs due to the ground stop. When they finally got to San Diego, she said it looked like the world was on fire, and when she was on the ground she described it as "snowing ash". Amazing. While I've seen the pictures on TV, that description really brings it home to me.