FAA Control tower Abandoned

"Steven P. McNicoll" wrote in
ink.net:


"beavis" wrote in message
...

There's your answer. If the tower is closed, there's no-one to issue
RVR reports; the ASOS won't do it. Further, the charts specifically
say that Cat II (and III) minimums are NA when the tower is closed.

With no operating tower, they require Cat I minimums, which are 1/2
mile for both 05 and 23.

So what they said was true: They couldn't land because there was no-one
in the tower.


No, what they said was false: They couldn't land because the weather was
below minimums for all available approaches.

What the pilots are reported to have said to their passengers is
irrelevant.

Based on the available information it would seem that the pilots made a
sensible decision, How the cranky passengers interpreted and relayed the
on-air announcement to NBC reporters doesn't change that fact. And how the
sensationalist reporter spins it is even moreso irrelevant.

If you read the story carefully, it is even possible to interpret that the
pilot announced to the passengers that the combination of the tower being
closed and the weather being below minimums left them with no safe, legal
options to land at PVD, but that the reporter left out that important
detail. After all, there is no direct quote of what the Pilot said, only a
statement that, "NBC 10's Audrey Laganas reported that the planes turned
around in flight just before midnight. The passengers said the pilots told
them they were turning back because there was no one in the control tower
at T.F. Green Airport."

But the angry mother of an infant who refused to buy formula or Daipers in
Baltimore at 1am didn't seem to complain about the diversion, just about
how she and others were left in a challenging situation as a result. And
the woman travelling with her mother didn't complain about being diverted,
only about being treated like "cattle".


A more accurate news headline would have been, "Diverted Passengers
Complain". But how much more engaging is "Southwest Planes Turn Around
Minutes From Green"...