On Sep 17, 3:14*pm, Mark Hansen wrote:

* Also, if the FSDO guy was wrong, what would you do if you were a lowly tower controller in a small town airport? Especially if
you weren't sure whether the FSDO guy was correct? Do what the FSDO guy said? Probably - just to be safe.

That sounds plausible, but, it couldn't have happened that way in this
case. The FSDO guy didn't tell them what to do. He just called them to
see if they had reported the incursion for the guy who walked onto the
taxiway to take a picture of the B-17 (Sentimental Journey). They
replied to him, while I was standing next to him, that they had
reported two runway incursions including one against a homebuilt
Velocity that taxied all over the place, made a 180-degree turn
practically under the nose of the B-17 and then reentered the taxiway
somewhere down the line without clearance.

We all saw him roar right up to the bomber (after nearly striking his
wing on final...are they all that unstable?) but we weren't aware
until then that Tower had reported it as an incursion until the FSDO
rep--a furloughed airline pilot, not some guy who couldn't get a
flying job--said so.

I told him "It's not normally that chaotic here. The B-17 is visible
from the freeway so everybody's coming over to see." He said "It's
August." Then he said that it's not nearly as bad as places like
Aspen and Oshkosh, where certain elite types act as if they're above
basic safety and courtesy procedures, let alone regulation.

This all occurred on August 7. (I checked the date on the photos I
took of the bomber swinging the gear.)

BTW, the guy with the Velocity was an a-hole. He practically taxied
INTO the group of people in the parking area even after the fuel guy
was trying to wave him off. There was absolutely nowhere for him to
go; he had the bomber to his left, a bunch of Cessnas to his right and
a building in front of him. He had to turn around. Several of us
including a couple of the CAF guys offered to help turn him around,
but, instead, he started his engine, jacked the throttle and made a
180-degree turn spraying the B-17, the maintenance guys working under
it, the public and FBO staff with propwash and tarmac debris before
dashing off in a huff and then wandering back onto the taxiway. The
woman that was with him looked clearly distressed, but she left with
him the next day.

-c