Nobody's Happy About That

EAA, NAFI, and IAC members, along with other general aviation groups, learned about a planned expansion of the Detroit Class B airspace at an FAA public hearing on April 27. The plan shows an expanded area to the northeast and the southwest, plus raising the Class B airspace ceiling from 8,000 feet to 10,000 feet MSL. The Class B area due east of the airport that lies within Canadian airspace will not be modified and those ceilings will remain at 8,000 feet MSL due to international agreements.

Historically, FAA has not altered their Class B airspace proposals based on public comments. In this case, EAA encourages air traffic officials at the FAA Great Lakes Regional Headquarters and at the Detroit Air Route Traffic Control Center (ARTCC) to consider logical public comments on the proposed changes. EAA specifically recommends moving the proposed southwest border two miles to the north to allow the existing glider operations at Lada Airport to continue flight operations; moving the northeast sector line from the middle of the Detroit River to the western shoreline to allow for VFR transitions; and raising the floor of the proposed new outer areas from 4,000 feet MSL to 5,000 feet MSL to allow for greater VFR access to the underlying general aviation airports.

In a separate management issue, EAA also encourages the FAA planners to develop appropriate VFR transition corridors as they work on expanding the Class B airspace. Only by combining both management processes will commercial and general aviation users be able to effectively use the new airspace structure when it is put into effect.
The FAA asked the groups to study the proposal and return on May 18th for follow-up discussions.

FMI: www.eaa.org