Hi Jay, here are some responses to your comments, thanks for taking your
time to read and post.

Is a capacity of 30,000+ the key to the creation of a TFR? A Nextel Cup
worthy racetrack would be more along the lines of 130,000+ in terms of
capacity. Of how large a diameter would such a TFR be?

For starters, let me say I am not opposed to the track, it could be a
wonderful thing for us here. It just needs to be farther from the airport
and that isn't as convenient or cheap. The TFR over such events is 3 miles
and 3000ft to the surface, based on seating capacity and not actual
attendance, and all of these sites are 2 miles or less from the airport.

Arlington is an uncontrolled airport and probably 30% or more of all
operations there are ultralights, gliders and fixed wing/gyros with no
engine driven electrical and thus no radios or transponders. Many of these
are vintage aircraft lovingly restored to near perfect condition by their
owners.

Commercial aircaft under ATC control are exempt from TFR restrictions except
in cases where the agency controlling the TFR protected facility denies
overflight permission. Arlington is first and foremost a GA airport, there
is NO tower, and if there were, all the gliders, ultralights, and non
electrical vintage aircraft would be grounded, probably a crippling blow to
aviation in this area.

I ask this because (at least as far as commercial air traffic goes) the
sports arenas/stadiums near KPHX (Sky Harbor) seem to be fair game for
flying right past.
Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe (home to the pathetic NFL Cardinals) is just
barely south of the extended centerline to the east of Sky Harbor Airport
and both the baseball stadium and the basketball arena are just north of
the
extended centerline to the west. If there are TFRs over these locations,
they don't seem to have much of an effect on aviation. At least not
commercial aviation, but some say that Sky Harbor is a very GA UN-friendly
airport to begin with so it may be a moot point as regards GA.

That is the very crux of the issue, even if we are allowed to operate GA at
the airport with a track less than 2 miles away, what happens after another
orange terrorist alert or even small scale GA scare? Once the Track is in
place next to the airport we are at the every whim and fancy of Homeland
Security and the TSA, who answer to no one but the President as far as I can
tell.

Your friends at Nascar and the ISC all have free waivers, so any GA looking
traffic you do see, IFR or otherwise during, before, and after events is
probably owners, drivers, families, and associated crew coming into and
leaving the venue. The Arlington airport is great for these folks but, we
have to stand on the ground and watch them use OUR airport as a convenient
commuting option.

Again, aircraft you see at Sky KPHX is most likely commercial and under ATC
control. It is the same situation here in Seattle with KSEA, Boeing Field
and our 2 sports stadiums.

In fact, we often look for America West a/c flying past the open roof of
Bank One Ballpark (BOB) in order to superimpose AmWest sponsorship
messages
as they fly by. We also look forward to the nightly British Airways 777
that roars right over us on their non-stop to Heathrow.

Are commercial carriers exempt from TFRs around sporting events?
Or are only certain events (of national significance) subject to TFRs
(Superbowls, NASCAR Races, World Series, College Bowl Games, etc...)

Any major event would probably shut down the airport because of the seating
capacity, not actual attendance. Again, Arlington doesn't have any
commercial carriers that I'm aware of, it's all GA and a large portion
operate w/out radios or transponders. Imagine what would happen when all
the business jets come in and helicopters start buzzing around during race
days? Especially considering the weather here is only suitable for events
3 months out of the year.

You can be sure "other" events will be frequent so ISC can recoup their
investment in the facility. I don't have data to back any of this up
right
now, but during the intial salvos of this conflict at an airport
commision
meeting tonight, someone mentioned an airport in the Arizona area that is
shut down almost 200 days a year due to a large venue near it.

Seriously? I'm not aware of where that would be. Like I said, flights
into
and out of Sky Harbor pass right next to over 130,000 potenital sporting
event attendees and I've never noticed a reduction in traffic when a game
is
in progress at any of them.

Again, that is probably commercial commercial traffic you see, that and
traffic in and out of the race for drivers, families, etc... Arlington is
a whole different situation as a non-towered airport populated by 90% GA
aircraft.

They probably will want to attract "touring" series to race on Friday
and/or
Saturday nights. They'd be lucky to draw much of a crowd for these races
however. Do there have to be 30,000+ live bodies actually at the event to
warrant a TFR? A NASCAR Nextel Cup weekend is only four days (when the
track is actually "hot" and being used.) Touring series race nights are
usually one and done.

No, it is seating capacity driven and event based. Practice days and other
associated days of a race are usually included, so it can mean several days
of closure for one event. But other major outdoor events are also highly
likely to generate TFRs as well.


FWIW, GA certainly has a friend in race team owner/P51 pilot Jack Roush
(he
of the ultralight accident and subsequent miraculous rescue/recovery
fame...) Driver Rusty Wallace is also a pilot as is Dale Jarrett ...
perhaps a letter writing campaign to these and other Owner/Driver-Pilots
might get a positive response?

If you have contact information or other methods of passing along input to
Rusty and other guys would might be supportive of us, please pass it along.
My email is padriance(remove this . I will forward it
to an alliance of pilots that is forming to urge the city to move the sites
at least 3 miles from the airport.

I'm afraid you are facing the 400Lb Gorilla of sports series. The amount
of
revenue generated by a NASCAR weekend is mind boggling and I'm sure all
those dollar signs can have a blinding effect.

Let me reiterate; a lot of us are fans ourselves, and we would love to have
a nearby NASCAR facility for major events but, we're pilots first and this
is our only home here. Hopefully, arrangments can be made to move the
facility just a mile or 2 farther and allow the airport and NASCAR/ISC to
operate and coexist together.

I don't know how much support you could garner, but I hope you can find a
way to let the poloticians know that (at least among their constiuents who
fly...) voting for the track will be the loss of said constituency.

This is actually the largest problem, our local officials ARE blinded by
dollars, they see the airport TFR issue as a problem to chip away at, not as
a reason to reconsider siteing the facility there. They know where they
want it, and probably when they send their reports to the ISC it will not
mention the airport commision opposing it or the full city meeting halls
with homeowners, pilots, and neighboring businesses that don't want to see
the facility near the airport. It will probably mention some "concerns over
possible impact to the airport" but that NASCAR, ISC, and associated groups
have TFR waivers anyway, so to them it's not an issue.

Thanks again for responding Jay, it's a pleasure to hear that we have
possible aviation allies to help us here. I hope to hear back from you,

Paul Adriance