Another General Aviation airport goes down
It's unfortunate that the leaders of Monterey Bay Academy have decided to throw the local GA pilots under the bus by allowing Airspace Integration to effectively close the airstrip to GA operations. It is especially frustrating to those of us who have donated hundreds of hours to the upkeep of the strip starting 7 or so years ago. Volunteer pilots from WVI and Frazier Lake regularly mowed the strip, eradicated gophers, filled holes, and helped clear brush. And volunteers have routinely supported education events for MBA students including activities like fly-ins to discuss and demonstrate aircraft, and a group tour of the worlds largest wind tunnel at NASA Ames. Volunteers advocated for equitable access to the strip, but the current "access by reservation" system seems unworkable. Requests to open the airstrip on Sundays, the day after the Seventh Day Adventist Sabbath, and a day that never sees drone operations, have fallen on deaf ears. Airspace Integration just doesn't want us there. MBA promotes GA in the classroom and curtails it in practice. They're not setting a very good example; at least not in my opinion.

