Longest airport walk

[Flyinthrew]

This! For years we would book flights through CLT to EWN to see my wife’s family, and had to truck it from some high B gate to E-infinity with two kids and the accompanying strollers and whatnot to get to a delayed/cancelled DHC-8. It was the worst walk ever.

I think the real problem is that we were going to EWN, and we had to get to the gate to prove that we actually wanted to go there. Funny, though how AA/USAir used to fly it with a -8 and when those went away the leg got a -700...but still goes from the tip of E.

 

[BobDDuck]

I think the real problem is that we were going to EWN, and we had to get to the gate to prove that we actually wanted to go there. Funny, though how AA/USAir used to fly it with a -8 and when those went away the leg got a -700...but still goes from the tip of E.

Even when it was a PDT base with Dashes, PSA still flew 200s and 700s in there pretty regularly, starting in maybe 2008 or 2009. It's a really pretty airport to fly in to.

 

[Flyinthrew]

Even when it was a PDT base with Dashes, PSA still flew 200s and 700s in there pretty regularly, starting in maybe 2008 or 2009. It's a really pretty airport to fly in to.

If you don't count NKT, EWN has been my home airport for 9 years. I've done all of my CFI/MEI'ing there, and I got my PPL there back in 2003. I'm moving next week, and I am sad to be leaving, but not sad enough to stay.

 

[DPApilot]

I feel like SLC’s design should be the #1 on “Garbage Airport’s” list.

 

[Richman]

If you don't count NKT, EWN has been my home airport for 9 years. I've done all of my CFI/MEI'ing there, and I got my PPL there back in 2003. I'm moving next week, and I am sad to be leaving, but not sad enough to stay.

I was based/lived in EWN in the early 90s with PDT (they had just changed their name from Henson).

A couple of years ago, we went back through EWN as part of a vacay, and that it was way different than back then.

These days, every small town thinks it’s the next touristy hotspot, and they pour a lot of money sprucing the place up (or trying to) and making sure the “Abe Lincoln’s Dog Slept Here” signs are all polished up. Or sometimes some out of the way place becomes semi-trendy because “it’s purdy” and boom, it’s the next Asheville.

That’s what EWN is trying to be, but it just seems like they’re trying a bit too hard.

Back in the day, it was just this small NC town that was too far from the interstate to attract anything but the locals. It really was “local”. And cheap. It definitely looked like it’s best days were behind. You could get a townhouse on the water with a boat slip for about $40k.

People forget how far east NC sticks out. It was at least an hour drive west to get I-95. Let that sink in. And there is was really nothing around. Jacksonville, NC was hardly a garden spot. Cherry Point MCAS and the fun that brings. Atlantic Beach wasn’t all that once you made the 5 minute pass through town. If you wanted the college scene, I guess you could go up the road to Greenville, NC to ECU. The whole area was really a place out of time, and that was in the 90’s.

Airport was uncontrolled, with a “local” FSS on the field. It was actually one of the very last unautomated FSS to close. The old terminal (with the big “Birthplace of Pepsi” mural) wasn’t much, but there was a lunch counter that made a killer club sammich, and you could call your order in on the in-range call.

They certainly spruced the place up. When they put the new bridge in, lots of new money apparently poured into the place, and now it looks like every other touristy place on the coast with all the same stores as everywhere else.

It is a pretty area. It was quaint getting your clearance through Flight Service (“ATC clears...”) and talking to Cherry Point. I think the ILS has this FAF that was WAY lower than normal...like 1200’.

Lots have changed there, but it’s still WAY off the Interstate, tho.

 

[zmiller4]

I was based/lived in EWN in the early 90s with PDT (they had just changed their name from Henson).

A couple of years ago, we went back through EWN as part of a vacay, and that it was way different than back then.

These days, every small town thinks it’s the next touristy hotspot, and they pour a lot of money sprucing the place up (or trying to) and making sure the “Abe Lincoln’s Dog Slept Here” signs are all polished up. Or sometimes some out of the way place becomes semi-trendy because “it’s purdy” and boom, it’s the next Asheville.

That’s what EWN is trying to be, but it just seems like they’re trying a bit too hard.

Back in the day, it was just this small NC town that was too far from the interstate to attract anything but the locals. It really was “local”. And cheap. It definitely looked like it’s best days were behind. You could get a townhouse on the water with a boat slip for about $40k.

Airport was uncontrolled, with a “local” FSS on the field. It was actually one of the very last unautomated FSS to close. The old terminal (with the big “Birthplace of Pepsi” mural) wasn’t much, but there was a lunch counter that made a killer club sammich, and you could call your order in on the in-range call.

They certainly spruced the place up. When they put the new bridge in, lots of new money apparently poured into the place, and now it looks like every other touristy place on the coast with all the same stores as everywhere else.

It’s still WAY off the Interstate, tho.

Not as far off the interstate as Morehead/Beaufort!

Although 70 now has a “future interstate” designation and the bypasses make the trip faster already.

I love going to see my wife’s family on the coast, but it takes legitimately half the time to get from our house in Houston to the cayes in Belize as it does to get to her folks’ place.

 

[Richman]

Not as far off the interstate as Morehead/Beaufort!

Although 70 now has a “future interstate” designation and the bypasses make the trip faster already.

I love going to see my wife’s family on the coast, but it takes legitimately half the time to get from our house in Houston to the cayes in Belize as it does to get to her folks’ place.

Yup. Beaufort is WAY the heck out there. I’d get bored and drive out there every once in a while. Small town Coastal Carolina for sure. More like SC than NC.

These days, you drive out there and the overdevelopment in some spots is almost comical.

 

[BobDDuck]

I I think the ILS has this FAF that was WAY lower than normal...like 1200’.

The statute of limitations has probably expired by now...

The closest I've come to dying in an airplane happened on that ILS. Was flying a CRJ in there from Charlotte, and had planned to land on the GPS the other way with an 8 knot headwind. ASA was in front of us on the GPS and was just about at the FAF when tower gave out the visibility, which was below mins. They pressed on, but we requested vectors to the ILS. They requested the ILS about 5 seconds later.

They vectored us first, but kept us in tight to that super low FAF in order to get ASA in quickly too before a line of weather hit. We were at 3000 agl trying to get down, fully configured with the boards out and idle thrust. We were still about 500 feet high at the FAF, so we went around.

Every go around I'd done (sim or otherwise) in that plane had been level flight or on GS, and spooled up. This one was from nose down at 3000 fpm and idle thrust. The normal pitch up for a go around (which I did) was way too much for the change in pitch and spool time, and we ended up at REF-20 before I realized what was happening and pushed the nose over.

Fun times!

 

[Richman]

The ILS 4 at EWN has bitten quite a few, leading to some WTF moments for sure.

 

[gotWXdagain]

When the new SLC is fully built out it’s going to be a joke, especially if Delta keeps any gates on B. Designed like DEN or ATL except with no people-mover or possibility to make one without ripping out alot of concrete.

 

[Richman]

When the new SLC is fully built out it’s going to be a joke, especially if Delta keeps any gates on B. Designed like DEN or ATL except with no people-mover or possibility to make one without ripping out alot of concrete.

Back in the day, the TCBY near the D concourse made a mean smoothie.

 

[bike21]

When the new SLC is fully built out it’s going to be a joke, especially if Delta keeps any gates on B. Designed like DEN or ATL except with no people-mover or possibility to make one without ripping out alot of concrete.

Haven't made the journey yet over to B, is there no people mover at all?

 

[n156499000]

Haven't made the journey yet over to B, is there no people mover at all?

Just an inadequate number of moving walkways. Oh, and the tunnel that connects the center of A and B won't open for another 2-3 years (they're still diggin it) so if you have to go to high numbered B gates or the remote C/D gates, you get to clear security, walk almost the entire length of A, go downstairs to the temporary tunnel, then walk back the near entire length of B.

Lots of "don't judge it until it's finished" but there's no plans for anything other than moving walkways even in the new tunnel as far as I can tell. And last I read the current west end tunnel will close so if your connections are end gates to end gates you'll still have a schlep since Delta is staying in B and A once it's all done.

But according to their website " [p]assengers are never more than 150 feet away from the next restroom facility." So there's that.

 

[gotWXdagain]

Just an inadequate number of moving walkways. Oh, and the tunnel that connects the center of A and B won't open for another 2-3 years (they're still diggin it) so if you have to go to high numbered B gates or the remote C/D gates, you get to clear security, walk almost the entire length of A, go downstairs to the temporary tunnel, then walk back the near entire length of B.

Lots of "don't judge it until it's finished" but there's no plans for anything other than moving walkways even in the new tunnel as far as I can tell. And last I read the current west end tunnel will close so if your connections are end gates to end gates you'll still have a schlep since Delta is staying in B and A once it's all done.

But according to their website " [p]assengers are never more than 150 feet away from the next restroom facility." So there's that.

I mean the restrooms are nice.

But you’re telling me they’re only planning ONE connector?! The “people movers” are one-lane-per-direction moving walkways and for every hundred feet of them there’s at least 200 feet of tile floor between.

I get dropped off on Lyft on every trip i do, which means I get dropped off on the bottom floor. This is also where the light rail station will be once complete. To drop a bag, you then have to go to the third floor, and then back down to the second to clear security and go to the gates. For the whole “SLC Shuffle” you have to do, the place well better look nice.

 

[n156499000]

I mean the restrooms are nice.

But you’re telling me they’re only planning ONE connector?! The “people movers” are one-lane-per-direction moving walkways and for every hundred feet of them there’s at least 200 feet of tile floor between.

I get dropped off on Lyft on every trip i do, which means I get dropped off on the bottom floor. This is also where the light rail station will be once complete. To drop a bag, you then have to go to the third floor, and then back down to the second to clear security and go to the gates. For the whole “SLC Shuffle” you have to do, the place well better look nice.

They've gone back and forth about whether the current west tunnel will remain open for passengers when the main tunnel is completed. I think the latest plan has it staying open but before the new terminal opened it was only planned to be open until the main tunnel is completed. Probably realized it would be a nightmare making tight connections if they closed it.

They are planning a tram for the main tunnel, but supposedly that only gets installed IF they build a third concourse.

 

[gotWXdagain]

They've gone back and forth about whether the current west tunnel will remain open for passengers when the main tunnel is completed. I think the latest plan has it staying open but before the new terminal opened it was only planned to be open until the main tunnel is completed. Probably realized it would be a nightmare making tight connections if they closed it.

They are planning a tram for the main tunnel, but supposedly that only gets installed IF they build a third concourse.

They need a tram between concourses and a tram along each.

 

[Polymox]

The A concourse in DTW is a straight line 0.9 miles end to end. I have walked it just because.

 

[Luigi]

When I use to work at DFW I remember getting in one night on a delayed EWR flight at about 1am. The train shut down and I think I walked D to the far end of B to get the employee parking shuttle. That was a hike.

 

[gotWXdagain]

Allright I officially •ing hate the new SLC.

First off, my scheduled Lyft was 20 minutes late which used up all my buffer time. That’s not on SLC, but arriving at 7:15am for an 8:20am departure with priority check in and TSA precheck may cut it close at most airports, but should get me on the airplane.

Arriving at 7:15, the Priority check in took 15 or 20 minutes. The TSA precheck line…

Took at least 20. This was running the checkpoints, all of them, at max throughput. After I got through, I sprinted from the checkpoint out to my gate, which lucky me was B25, or one of the remote gates. Which meant that even though I showed up at the podium at 8:10, boarding had already closed because “we close it earlier because we bus out to the plane.”

Gate agents were unaware the security backup was so bad, but nothing they could do to help me other than put me on the next flight out, so here I sit. Oh well.

 

[ozziecat35]

I lost my company ID while running through ATL once when I “self released” off a dead head…that was fun.