A HIGH PERFORMANCE TURBOPROP PILOT REPORTS THE ZZZ ARPT MGR CLOSED THE RWY FOR MAINTENANCE PRIOR TO THE OFFICIAL CLOSURE TIME; HAMPERING HIS TKOF.
Synopsis
A HIGH PERFORMANCE TURBOPROP PILOT REPORTS THE ZZZ ARPT MGR CLOSED THE RWY FOR MAINTENANCE PRIOR TO THE OFFICIAL CLOSURE TIME; HAMPERING HIS TKOF.
Narrative
DEPARTED ZZZ AT XA59Z. THE TIME WAS SYNCHRONIZED WITH THE AVIONICS ABOARD THE ACFT WHICH ARE RPTING ATOMIC CLOCK TIME VIA THE GPS SATELLITE SYS; AND ARE RELIED UPON FOR PRECISION FLT NAV. PRIOR TO THE FLT; I CHKED WITH ONE OF THE CONTRACTORS INVOLVED WITH THE RWY IMPROVEMENT AT ZZZ. DESPITE OUR REQUEST FOR A 'MIN OR TWO' OF FLEXIBILITY; HE INDICATED THERE WAS 'NOT ONE SECOND' OF FLEXIBILITY AND THE RWY WOULD CLOSE AT XB00Z. HE MADE IT QUITE CLR THE RWY WOULD STAY OPEN UNTIL THE 'X' CLOSURE SIGN WAS POSITIONED ON THE RWY. AT APPROX XA58Z A JET LANDED IN FRONT OF ME; PREVENTING TKOF. ONCE THE JET CLRED; I TAXIED INTO POS FOR DEP. AT THE TIME OF DEP AN UNIDENTED VOICE ANNOUNCED THE ARPT CLOSED. AS I WAS DEPARTING; THERE WAS NO 'X' ON THE RWY; AND THE TIME WAS BEFORE THE NOTAM. I IGNORED THE ANONYMOUS CALL; NOT KNOWING THE SOURCE; AND REALIZING ZZZ IS CLRLY AN UNCTLED FIELD. THE ARPT MGR IS MAINTAINING HIS AWOS TIME IS THE TIME WHICH TAKES PRECEDENT FOR THE CLOSURE. HE CLAIMS TO HAVE CONTACTED TENANTS OF THE ARPT AND ADVISED THEM OF THE AWOS TIME BASIS. THIS CONFLICTS WITH THE FAA PUBLISHED NOTAM. WHEN I ADVISED THE ARPT MGR OF THE DISCREPANCY OF OVER 3 MINS; HE NEITHER ACKNOWLEDGED HIS TIME ERROR NOR INDICATED AN INTENT TO SYNCHRONIZE THE TIME WITH THE CORRECT TIME. THE SAFETY OF THE FLT WAS COMPROMISED BY THE UNIDENTED VOICE SAYING TO TKOF AT YOUR OWN RISK; THEN IN THE ROLL INDICATING HE WOULD RPT THE TAIL NUMBER OF THE ACFT. THIS ARPT IS UNCTLED. THE AWOS IS NOT RPTED ON THE ADDS SYS AND HAS BEEN EXTREMELY UNRELIABLE AT TIMES. AN EXAMPLE IS RPTING LOW CEILINGS WITH LOW VISIBILITY WHEN THE WX WAS SEVERELY CLR. THE ARPT METAR INFO IS NOT PUBLISHED UNDER THE FAA/NOAA SYS. THE NOTAM FOR THE ARPT CLOSURE IS PUBLISHED AND CLRLY SHOWS XB00Z. IN SUM; ARPT CONTRACTORS SHOULD NOT BE BROADCASTING UNIDENTED; HIGHLY DISTRACTING RADIO ANNOUNCEMENTS WHILE EXTREMELY HIGH PERFORMANCE ACFT ARE ON THE ROLL. THERE WAS A RECENT INCURSION INTO CTLED AIRSPACE IN THE WASHINGTON DC AREA WHERE THE DIALOG BTWN AN ATC CTLR IS AT LEAST PARTIALLY SUSPECTED OF DISTRACTING THE PLT IN IFR CONDITIONS.
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.