What Would Anyone Take a Light Aircraft Into a busy Jetport?

[MIflyer]

I'd drive 50 miles or more from a small airport before I'd take my airplane into a place like Houston Hobby.


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mf3xhjXl454&feature=youtu.be

 

[XBe02Drvr]

I'd drive 50 miles or more from a small airport before I'd take my airplane into a place like Houston Hobby.


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mf3xhjXl454&feature=youtu.be

I've flown Cessnas in and out of BOS, BDL, EWR, PHL, MIA, BNA and DCA. Do your homework, plan ahead, put all the eyes onboard to work calling traffic, and don't accept any clearances you can't comply with. Use wake turbulence avoidance technique, and if you can't fly with precision, don't go there. And don't attempt it in an Ercoupe. I learned on a Naval Air Station, sharing the pattern with A-4s and P-2s, my instructor took me into MEM in the middle of a cargo push, and I got plenty of practice interfacing with jet traffic over the years. An acro instructor and I deliberately flew the 150'bat into P-3 wake turbulence repeatedly to experience the upset and perfect a minimum G recovery.
The average rural low time private pilot generally doesn't have the privilege of that kind of preparation, and should bring a pro along if planning to go play with the varsity.
Cheers,
Wes

 

[MIflyer]

The fact that they gave her a runway with an 18 kt quartering crosswind all by itself indicates to me that controllers at such an airport may be ill equipped to deal with such low performance traffic.

 

[XBe02Drvr]

The fact that they gave her a runway with an 18 kt quartering crosswind all by itself indicates to me that controllers at such an airport may be ill equipped to deal with such low performance traffic.

The fact that she let them lead her around by the nose indicates to me that she may have been ill equipped to deal with such a high performance situation. If you're being sequenced with faster traffic, you don't get to fly a country airport traffic pattern and put your flaps down at 80 knots before turning a leisurely base leg. You've got miles of asphalt in front of you and turbines on your tail, you dive for the runway clean, make a no-flap landing, and you'll still have to fast taxi to the first high speed taxiway. It requires aggressive maneuvering outside of your normal procedures, and should be practiced and perfected before it's showtime.
My normally conservative, cautious instructor had me maneuvering like a fighter pilot the night we flew into Memphis International the first time. Before we headed out for MEM, we went over to the main jet runway at the air station and shot three high speed approaches on the meatball mirror system to fast no-flap landings, at night, no less. Definitely a night to remember! The lady in the Cirrus was not prepared to do that. Her altitude and airspeed control were MIA, and her situational awareness was lacking. I would never have accepted Rwy 35 with the winds like that, and would have asked to go back to Approach after the second botched sequencing. Pilot IN COMMAND is the ultimate responsibility.
Cheers,
Wes

 

[MIflyer]

She was out of Norman, OK. While that is close to OKC, with traffic from Will Rogers and Tinker AFB on either side, it's still not very busy. It does have a control tower run intermittently by the ANG for practice, and it's a lot busier than Shawnee OK, where I learned to fly, but it cannot hold a candle to Torrance CA where I got my license.

A friend of mine described a "non standard departure" he was in once back around 1970. They were at Eglin AFB and one of the pilots said, "Let's go fly this thing. It's a blast!" They got in a Fairchild AU-23 designed for special ops in SEA and took off. They landed at a small civilian aiport and got out to have a Coke and stretch their legs. Some officious type came up, demanded to know who they were and what kind of airplane that was and why it had no markings of any kind. He told them to wait right there while he went and told his momma on them, or something.

The pilot said, "Get in the airplane. We're not waiting for anyone." They took off from the ramp.

The tower at Hobby could have pointed that Cirrus into the prevailing wind and landed her on the ramp with no problem.

Well, I got the Ercoupe annual signed off this morning. Now I gotta go put it back together.