Favorite/hardest airport to land at

triple7

triple7

Well-Known Member
I havnt been to too many airports that really gave me a run for my money, but I would have to say that the approach and landing at KAIY--bader field atlantic city is up there. The approach over the casinos and then descent into a hornets nest of WIND SHEAR......nice x-wind landing on a shorter than normal strip. whats the worst/ most exciting place you have flown into in a single engine, twin, widebody or otherwise? mike D---your stories are expected
 
TN98 - Skyranch Airpark in Knoxville, Tennessee. 1700' of grass, on an island, with trees and a hill at one end, geese and other creatures on the runway, and no where to go but in the river if things go wrong.

Lots of fun, good people, really cheap club airplanes, and I only paid $2 for fuel and $15.00 a month for tie down when I had my PA28 based there.
 
Flew the Roaring Fork Visual to runway 15 at Aspen in a Turbo Seminole once. We received a stepdown from FL200 to 13000, and then were cleared for the visual. The hardest part about this approach was 1. Going down and slowing down at the same time, and 2. Keeping the turbos warm. It's a very satisfying feeling when you do touch down though.

As for the airport itself, my buddy and I left fairly quickly. The people there were snobs, and the fuel/oxygen prices were atrocious. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif
 
Flying here in Florida has lots of challenges. The thunderstorms are almost every day in the summer. But back to the topic. My favorite airport to land in is Key West (EYW). It's paradise 2 1/2 hours away from me in s skyhawk. Land there take a quick 5 minute cab ride to Mallory Square and watch the sunset party every night.

The most challenging airport that I have come across in florida has to be Cedar Key (CDK). It is 2300 feet, runway is in ok shape. It's on an island so if you don't have good short field you might have to swim.

Now both Key West and Cedar Key are great places to visit. Key West is well known. Cedar Key is a small little town, good seafood, if you have a girlfriend or wife who likes antiques, you can earn bonus points by going here. There are lots of small craft shops with very interesting art pieces that in my opinion are better then Wyland. And alot cheaper!!
 
When I interned with S.C. Johnson, I jumpsat the approach into one of their frequent camping destinations in Northern Wisconsin. I'll let you put 2 and 2 together:

Runway Length: 3,709 feet
Aircraft Utilized: Falcon 900

Funny story: The Falcons are getting older, so SCJ was contacting various manafacturers for information. Gulfstream was hot to sell them a GV, so when SCJ voiced its concern that it couldn't get into the airport described, GS offered to demonstrate that it was possible. The demo pilot did manage to land it, but said he would NEVER do it again. GS then offered to pay for a runway EXTENSION at said field if SCJ would buy the GV...They decided not to.

J.
 
For San Francisco Bay Area pilots:

Carmel Valley was always fun the first time!

Kern Valley could be challenging on a hot &/or windy day (high elevation, located in an raising and narrowing mountain canyon).

JR
 
Gnoss field up in Novato was the toughest of the small selection of airports I've landed at. Winds coming around an adjacent hill make all 3 of the windsocks point in different direction /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/spin2.gif !
 
GUA. Guatemala City, scenic, high elevation and tight. Always some weather for night arrivals.

DCA. River visual, great. LDA to minimums, not great.

LGA, to 31 was lots of fun.

Hardest to me was MDW circle to 22 with weather down to minumums. Usually doing it because of high winds. Sporty..
 
Avalon.

Carmel is now closed. (just flew over it yesterday though! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif )
 
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Flying here in Florida has lots of challenges.

[/ QUOTE ]

All the airports in FL are way too easy to mix up. They are all set up with the same configuration.

Either a set of parallel runways pointing at the beach, with a runway crossing at a 45 deg angle. Or the "crossed triangle" set up from when they were built in WW2.

I've lined up on the wrong airport a few times, but I've never touched down. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif



The most challangeing runway I've ever used was the 3000' grass strip where I flew jumpers. It dosent sound bad at first, but we were maxed out every time and it had a large dip in the middle. So the first half of the take off was downhill. By the time I would acctually get off the ground I was at the bottom and had to out climb the rising second half and clear the wires at the far end. Serious pucker factor every time.
 
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Avalon.

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I'll agree with Avalon. I also found Agua Dulce Airpark to be a little tricky going in the first time. Oh, Santa Paula too!!! "...Cessna***, downwind over the junkyard..." Hehe, good memories.
 
Santa Paula is the Best! The approach is tricky, with the buildings and trees right by the numbers for 22. I also love all the old guys that don't give a hoot about anything and fly their planes with no radios and cut you off. Good Times! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/spin2.gif
 
For all you Mid-Atlantic pilots:

Try Clearview.. 2W2

Short, narrow, sloping runway.. surrounded by trees..

Make sure to stop by the "FBO," as its usually staffed by some real old timers. Transports you right back to the 40s..

Cheers!
 
Hazard, KY is pretty interesting at night.... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

It's even more difficult for me once I'm out of the airplane there at night.... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif
 
And THAT'S why they call it Hazard, ha ha! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cwm27.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cwm27.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cwm27.gif

Uhh...

Ok...
 
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
Ba-doomp doomp, CRASH!!!
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif
 
[ QUOTE ]
Hazard, KY is pretty interesting at night.... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

It's even more difficult for me once I'm out of the airplane there at night.... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

What, does Daisy show up in those shorts and distract you? How are Luke, Bo, Uncle Jesse, Coy, and Vance these days?

God, sometimes I scare myself.

As for an airport to fly into, I'd love to fly into this one.

Wainwright Airport, Alaska
 
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