Cleveland Airport board moves to post training-traffic caution, seeks input on touch-and-go limits

The City of Cleveland Airport Board voted Feb. 12 to publish a non-number-specific caution in the airport supplement warning pilots about high-volume student flight training, while continuing outreach on a proposed restriction on touch-and-go operations during busy periods.

Chair Hugh McFarland said the board has received tenant concerns about training traffic ‘‘in the Cleveland Airport area’’ and wants to reduce the safety risk created when pattern traffic grows so large that itinerant pilots struggle to enter or depart. Airport manager Eric Galindo told the board he had discussed the idea with an FAA representative, who described the approach as common and encouraged the city to submit language for publication.

Galindo read the draft regulatory language the board is considering: "Touch-and-go operations prohibited if there are [number] or more aircraft in the traffic pattern." Galindo later noted the FAA must approve any such wording before it appears in the chart supplement and emphasized the measure would be advisory at a non‑towered field: "This still needs to be approved by the FAA just for that to be published," he said.

Board members debated whether the numeric threshold should be three or four aircraft, with board member Greg Modell arguing three ‘‘is too low’’ and recommending four. Modell also proposed soliciting comments from tenants and flight schools with a short comment window before the board finalizes its recommendation to city staff. McFarland and others supported seeking user input while moving the process forward to meet the chart‑supplement publication schedule.

Although the board discussed a specific touch‑and‑go limit, the only formal action on Feb. 12 was approval to publish an immediate, non-number caution—language staff will finalize with FAA counterparts. McFarland described that action as a ‘‘common-sense’’ first step to alert itinerant pilots that Cleveland experiences periods of extensive flight training.

Next steps: staff will work with the FAA on exact chart‑supplement wording and will solicit feedback from tenants and flight schools; any numeric touch‑and‑go restriction would require further board consideration and FAA publication approval before taking effect.