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TheNoonans · 01-16-2009, 05:20 PM

Hi Mee-n-Mac,

I'll see if I can answer the questions in the order they were asked:

There is no reason other aircraft can't depart or land while the skydiving aircraft is climbing to altitude.

Our hourly rate of take offs and landings, at peak times, would be 2 per hour. Possibly 2.5, but that's highly unlikely.

I believe someone quoted in an above post that Laconia has 97 operations per day during peak weekends.

Our primary preference for landing would be one of the small (approximately) 100x100ft postage stamp sized grass areas out in front of the hangars. Specifically, whatever hangar we end up leasing or buying. Not the grass between the runway and taxiways. Our parachutes are that accurate, and we only expect at most 4-6 parachutes in the air at any one time, for a duration of 5-7 minutes, twice an hour or so.

The question if anything is suitable near by is a valid one, and it's a two part answer. The first half of the answer is that if there was a location off the airfield available, it would require at a minimum, a commercial vehicle, a driver, fuel and insurance, thereby increasing the fixed and variable costs per skydive disproportionately high. It's simply not economically feasible to expect to have to shuttle hundreds of people back and forth all season. Would a flight school be able to survive economically if they could take off from Laconia, but had to land at a farm and shuttle the students back by car? People may agree or disagree with this, but it is a legitimate business concern of any aviation business. The second part of the explanation is a little more complicated. The Laconia Municipal Airport accepts federal funding, and as such is bound by federal funding grant assurances. The federal funding is the reason the airport is the gem that it is. The FAA has gone to great lengths to spell out the fact that if an airport such as this accepts federal funding, they are required to accommodate all aeronautical activities, and they clearly spell it out in an Advisory Circular, that they consider skydiving to be an aeronautical activity. My wife and I pay federal taxes just like everyone else, and as such our federal tax dollars go in part to fund the Laconia Municipal Airport. We have a federally protected right to land our parachutes on the airport, and we are simply pursuing our rights to do so.

Blue skies to all and to all a good flight,

Tom

01-16-2009, 05:20 PM	#16
TheNoonans Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Daytona Beach, FL - Bedford, NH Posts: 136 Thanks: 0 Thanked 219 Times in 57 Posts	Skydive Laconia Hi Mee-n-Mac, I'll see if I can answer the questions in the order they were asked: There is no reason other aircraft can't depart or land while the skydiving aircraft is climbing to altitude. Our hourly rate of take offs and landings, at peak times, would be 2 per hour. Possibly 2.5, but that's highly unlikely. I believe someone quoted in an above post that Laconia has 97 operations per day during peak weekends. Our primary preference for landing would be one of the small (approximately) 100x100ft postage stamp sized grass areas out in front of the hangars. Specifically, whatever hangar we end up leasing or buying. Not the grass between the runway and taxiways. Our parachutes are that accurate, and we only expect at most 4-6 parachutes in the air at any one time, for a duration of 5-7 minutes, twice an hour or so. The question if anything is suitable near by is a valid one, and it's a two part answer. The first half of the answer is that if there was a location off the airfield available, it would require at a minimum, a commercial vehicle, a driver, fuel and insurance, thereby increasing the fixed and variable costs per skydive disproportionately high. It's simply not economically feasible to expect to have to shuttle hundreds of people back and forth all season. Would a flight school be able to survive economically if they could take off from Laconia, but had to land at a farm and shuttle the students back by car? People may agree or disagree with this, but it is a legitimate business concern of any aviation business. The second part of the explanation is a little more complicated. The Laconia Municipal Airport accepts federal funding, and as such is bound by federal funding grant assurances. The federal funding is the reason the airport is the gem that it is. The FAA has gone to great lengths to spell out the fact that if an airport such as this accepts federal funding, they are required to accommodate all aeronautical activities, and they clearly spell it out in an Advisory Circular, that they consider skydiving to be an aeronautical activity. My wife and I pay federal taxes just like everyone else, and as such our federal tax dollars go in part to fund the Laconia Municipal Airport. We have a federally protected right to land our parachutes on the airport, and we are simply pursuing our rights to do so. Blue skies to all and to all a good flight, Tom