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Old 9th October 2002 | 23:49
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SASless
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From: Downeast
Or....like Seattle does it....you call for permission to enter the controlled airspace...he rattles off a line of prattle of which you understand about next to nothing....you say....on field destination is Galvins...(the FBO at one end of the field...) he says call the gap....you say ok....you fly up the highway at a height below the plateau the airport is on....turn to overfly the "gap"...squeak in your callsign and say "at the gap landing Galvins"...they say "cleared to land". Takeoff is really hard....notify the tower...at Galvins, ready for departure VFR to....and next thing you hear is cleared via the gap VFR to .....maintain VFR below 500 feet report clear of the controlled airspace. But golly...gee.....there ain't an H anywhere on the airport that I know of.....except at the Weyerheauser corporate hangar maybe.

This system got worked out because some scruffy helicopter pilot made a visit to the tower and over coffee suggested a way to make everyone's life easier.....controllers being civil service employees and having a real aversion to work....loved the concept. Anyone offered to buy the tea for the tower bunch at Gatwick?
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