Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Tower rises to level of danger

From: [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 11 Sep 2003 14:58:38 -0400

Tuesday, September 09, 2003

Tower rises to level of danger

Small-plane pilots are right to worry about a new, 1,996-foot radio 
transmission tower that's been built near Hoyt in Adams County. It's one 
of the tallest radio towers in the country and also close to Front Range 
Airport, a very busy general aviation field.

The radio tower built by Hunt Broadcasting of Lakewood is meant to boost 
the signals of several Denver-area FM radio stations. As part of the 
deal, Hunt Broadcasting is allowing Adams County to put new transmitters 
on the tower to eliminate "dead spots" in law-enforcement 
communications. Janice Hunt and her husband, Jim, also promised to 
contribute $400,000 toward building a control tower for the county-owned 
airport.

The tower is equipped with strobe warning lights, but several 
small-plane pilots told Post staff writer Jeff Leib that it's hard to 
see in a haze, and so are the tower's guy wires, even though they're 
marked with large, orange balls.

Pilots of small aircraft flying out of Front Range tried unsuccessfully 
to get Adams County and the Federal Aviation Administration to halt 
construction of the tower 30 miles east of Denver International Airport 
because they fear flying into the tower or the guy wires. But the FAA 
determined the tower doesn't pose a threat to aerial navigation and 
approved the project after public hearings.

The top of the tower, nearly three times as high as the tallest 
skyscraper in downtown Denver, is at 7,000 feet above sea level. That's 
the highest altitude at which small planes are allowed to fly in the 
area. The airspace above 7,000 feet is reserved for commercial flights 
from DIA.

Eventually, the new tower will be listed in navigation charts and the 
famed Jeppesen guidebooks for pilots.

Some private aircraft are equipped with on-board computer databases that 
show potential hazards, but most small planes don't have such 
sophisticated equipment, according to Warren Morningstar, a spokesman 
for the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association. Automated systems that 
would warn of hazards (similar to transponders that beep warnings to 
commercial aircraft) are "20 years in the future" for small private 
planes, he said.

Some aviators Leib interviewed said the tower might be more visible if 
it were painted orange and white. But the FAA didn't make that a 
requirement in approving the project, according to Mike Fergus, an FAA 
spokesman.

Even though it will be several months until the tower is marked on 
navigational charts, the FAA has chosen not to issue a "Notice to 
Airmen" about the tower, Fergus said, but it is faxing a letter to all 
fixed-base operators, fuel service stations and airports, as well as the 
Web page of the Flight Standards District Office.

True, the tower will serve a large public interest by improving 
commercial radio transmissions to an ever-growing metro area, in 
addition to eliminating "dead spots" in emergency and police radio 
communications. But the tower also should be made more visible to all 
aviators. People's lives shouldn't be in danger just so more listeners 
can hear the top 40, news, weather and sports.

http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~417~1619009,00.html

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