FAA holds informal meetings on ACK airspace

On August 20 and 21 the FAA held meetings at Barnstable Municipal Airport (HYA), in Hyannis, Mass., and Nantucket (Mass.) High School, respectively, to discuss plans to implement Class C airspace around Nantucket Municipal Airport (ACK). The FAA contends that seasonal traffic to the popular island resort off the coast of Massachusetts dictates the implementation of the more restrictive Class C airspace, compared with the current Class D status. The FAA’s goal, according to the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA), is to achieve radar separation for all aircraft departing from and arriving at ACK.

AOPA has argued that simply publishing the frequency for Cape Approach on sectional and WAC charts would prompt most transient pilots to use the already available radar service. According to AOPA, “Last September AOPA asked the FAA to publish the boundaries, altitudes and radio frequencies for Cape Approach on VFR sectional and WAC charts. It hasn’t. Many transient VFR pilots don’t use the service simply because they don’t know it exists.”