Thanks for your comments. Paul’s comment jogged my own memory, about waiting 15 minutes once for an IFR release from Republic. These are special cases, though, because although these airports are small, they are very close to busy ones — an IFR departure from KCDW interferes with the departures and/or arrivals at Newark and Teterboro a few miles away, and an IFR departure west or northwestbound from Republic interferes with departures and/or arrivals at LaGuardia a bit to the east (and maybe Kennedy as well). Paul’s delay from Monmouth, though, does seem more simply a matter of NY approach being overloaded.

Paul’s rebuttal is an interesting anecdote but, speaking of ‘proof’, what correlation is there between the 20 minute delays and the existing ATC system? Just becuase the weather wasn’t bad doesn’t mean that there were not airspace/runway limitations somewhere else along the planned route … and holding on the ground is much preferable to holding in the air. It seems to me an apples to oranges comparison.

More runways are needed, the FAA collected money for many years ow in the ‘trust fund’, but the ‘trust’ in the name doesn’t have it’s common meaning and very few runways are getting built. The majority of delays entoute would not be significantly altered with some magic new system of routing, but even if I’m wrong on that, everyone who got to their destination faster still has to get x miles in trail of the guy in front … kind of like highways in Boston where 8 lanes merge into a two-lane tunnel … paving the roads won’t cure the log jam.

I’ve twice flown IFR out of airports near New York City, KCDW and KBLM, and both times I’ve had to hold on the ground for 20 minutes or more waiting for a clearance. The first time it was a perfect VFR day and I had a huge lineup waiting behind me at the hold short line (because when I’d called clearance delivery they’d told me the clearance would be available momentarily), and I should have just said I’d depart VFR and pick up the clearance over ETX or something.