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Who owns the runway? We often say a runway is "closed," but that's seldom the case. You can use whatever runway you want if you accept the risks.

Article Excerpt
A reader recently wrote to complain. Upon a recent arrival, he found his home airport closed for no apparent reason. There was no NOTAM before he took off and the weather was good. There were no disabled aircraft and the airport was eerily quiet. He suspected that the airport had been closed because of the impending arrival of some VIPs known to frequent the place, but he couldn't know for sure.

What would you do if, after a long day, you arrive at home only to find the field closed even though it seems perfectly safe to you? You may have more options than you think.

Who's in Charge?

The airport and its runways, taxiways, ramps, etc., are all owned by the airport operating authority. In most cases, this is a local city, municipality or county government agency. It's their airport and they can do with it as they please. (Just ask the beloved mayor of Chicago.)

The FAA and ATC have nothing to do with this process. The role of the FAA is strictly regulation, standardization and certification of facilities. They don't get into daily airport operational issues. ATC, of course, does have operational control over the aircraft that might use an airport. But the facilities of the airport itself are beyond the control of even ATC. Thus, ATC cannot actually close a runway or an airport.

Can't Tower Close it?

Tower can't close an airport (usually). Imagine Jussright Field, a nice little airport with north-south and east-west runways, arranged in a T. There is a parallel taxiway for each, with the ramp, hangars and a greasy-spoon restaurant at the center. Each runway is 7000-feet long. It's summertime and as it happens, an isolated thunderstorm is moving through the area. For the moment, it's parked just west of the airport, at about a three-mile final for Runway 9. Winds are 20, gusting 30, out of the south.

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Obviously, ATC is not using Runway 9/27. Traffic is being assigned Runway 18. One might even say that 9/27 is closed due to the weather,...