"Jessica Taylor" wrote in message
...

RME (Griffis NY) is an airport in Class G airspace (ceiling 700ft). An
overlying TRSA goes down to the surface at this airport. (Another nearby
airport is in Class D airspace, which also has the TRSA going down to the
surface).


Well, this is certainly very interesting! I have a 1987 New York sectional,
Griffiss AFB was still open then. At that time Griffiss had a full-time
Control Zone and a control tower, what we now call Class D airspace. What's
really interesting is that there've been no changes at all in the
configuration of the TRSA. None! The boundaries and altitudes of the
various areas are all the same. Notice the semicircle cutout ESE of UCA
where the floor of the TRSA is at 2000'? That was to accommodate Riverside
Airport. The airport is gone but the cutout remains. There's a small,
almost rectangular area northeast of RME where the floor of the TRSA is also
2000'. That was part of the Griffiss Control Zone, so the floor of the TRSA
was about 1500' above the floor of controlled airspace in that area.

I have to wonder if it's an oversight. When the TRSA was established
Griffiss had a SAC bomb wing and a TAC interceptor squadron, one assumes the
TRSA was configured to accommodate them. Their departure would seem to
warrant some changes in the configuration. Having a TRSA extend to the
surface beneath a Class E 700 area serves no useful purpose. ATC cannot
assign an altitude to any aircraft and can only vector VFR aircraft and only
upon pilot request.