DotM January 2022

NOTAM: JUN 5 2021

Hello MacAir, as some may have already noticed. The website may be "missing" a few things you are used to seeing. This was done intentionally.

Steve K. has worked very hard on providing an amazing event in celebration of our anniversary.  To ensure we keep the integrity of the event intact we have removed the list of completed pending pireps for the public to see.

We realized that it is possible for pilots to see trends in submitted pireps and discover the location of the event. This will have no affect on your ability to submit pireps and have them accepted in a timely manner.

I appreciate everyone understanding. I will take this opportunity to thank Steve K. again for putting it all together and hope everyone participates.

MacAir COO 

Joe A.

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January DoTM  
 

Airport: M46 (KM46) – Colstrip Airport, Montana

Division: GA Charter Flight

I tried a “random airport generator” program to determine our DOTM but kept getting small grass fields or other places I couldn’t take you.  After about 20 attempts, M46 popped up.  I was also going to pass this up until I looked at the town.  ‘Going green’ will have a substantial impact on its survival.

Colstrip was established as a “company town” by the Northern Pacific Railway in 1924 to provide coal for steam locomotives through strip mining (Coal + Strip = Colstrip?).  When trains converted to diesel the town began to dwindle until a coal burning plant was built to supply electricity to a large part of the Pacific Northwest.  Four plants were built becoming operational between 1975 and 1986.  This was a big boom for the town until recently when global warming became a thing.

Today Colstrip again fears its existence may fade from the maps.  In 2019 the plant was the 6^th largest source of greenhouse emissions in the US.  In January 2020 plants 1 and 2 were shut down.  Plants 3 and 4 will close within 5 years.  Colstrip’s only hope for survival is if their existing electrical transmission lines can be converted for use with wind energy.  This region is full of rolling hills which will make it an ideal location for wind farming on an incredibly massive scale.

This month we’ll just take a little recreational trip in our Cessna’s or other GA craft of choice, and fly up into this fairly scenic area.  100nm rule applies.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Because this is a small airport, make sure you type in KM46 as the destination for your charter flight… M46 will be the destination code when flight planning in your sim.

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WHERE IN THE WORLD IS CAPTAIN MAC LEG #4 !!! 
 

Leg # 4 – 2MW cutoff date = 31 Jan 22

1. This airport’s city sits by a large lake bearing its name, although it’s not the lake’s official name.

2. There is a race track near the airport that rams objects together at high speed.  It is also where “Triple W” came from.

3. The airport has one hard runway.  It wasn’t long enough for modern jet aircraft so the owning country actually ‘traded’ land with a neighbor in order to build the runway to its current length.