Pilots Share Guidance on Challenging Airports

Business aircraft operators are often tasked with being able to fly virtually anywhere at any time. With that in mind, the best pilots do all they can to prepare for each airport’s unique and sometimes challenging operational characteristics. As members of bizav’s tight-knit community, many flight crews make a point of sharing what they’ve learned over the years.

Gulfstream G650 contract pilot Steve Thorpe defines a challenge as “anything that takes you out of your normal habit patterns.” Thorpe, who is retired from a major northeast corporation, mentioned his guidance on approaching San Francisco International Airport (SFO). “On arrival, we want to be down at 10,000 feet by 20 or 30 miles and at 180 knots by 10 or 15 miles. Sometimes ATC starts us down late and then they squeeze us into a closely spaced visual approach.”

Prepare Alternative Procedures

At Colorado’s Aspen/Pitkin County Airport (ASE), according to an East Coast-based Gulfstream 600 pilot, takeoff weight “is limited due to the required client gradient, if you lose an engine when flying the normal departure procedure.”

He said Aircraft Performance Group’s (APG) alternative procedure offers a reduced climb gradient and, consequently, a higher takeoff weight. “To make it work, we depart with two flight plans loaded in the FMS [flight management system]. If we lose an engine on departure, the second in command can quickly switch to the APG procedure.”

Shooting a Rotorcraft IFR Approach

Rotorcraft pilots come with their own set of factors and resulting guidance. “A helicopter is not a jet and can’t fly in all weather,” said an East Coast-based helicopter pilot who flies an Agusta AW139 for a large company. “It can’t deice. It can’t really tanker a lot of extra fuel, so quite often we make a no-go decision because we don’t have good alternates, even though we can fly to minimums at any airport. The helipads, though, only have visual flight components.”

He also spoke to the challenges of shooting an instrument approach to airports in the New York City area, to get beneath the clouds. “We’re right in the IFR mix. I might have a [Boeing] 757 in front of me and a [Boeing] 737 behind me, with ATC’s telling me to use max forward speed, about 150 knots. After I break out, I slow down abruptly and sidestep to a taxiway to get out of the way of the jet behind me.” This Agusta pilot says he always flies with two pilots and prefers IFR over VFR. “If it’s less than a 2000-foot ceiling, I file IFR and get in the system.”

Reach Out to Your Network

Fixed-wing pilots also discussed challenges they face when flying to airports for the first time. Thorpe said he’d often call an airline friend because “the airlines have committees of technical pilots and engineers that calculate out what we should do if an engine fails. In general aviation, we’re left to our own devices to figure that out.”

He spoke about what he learned about Seletar Airport (WSSL) in Singapore. “There’s no instrument approach to Runway 3/21. On the downwind, you’re sandwiched against military airspace that you can’t violate, and the turn to the final needs to be within a mile or a mile and a half. In Singapore, there are also curfews because of the local flight training school. The curfews last about four hours spaced throughout the day. Sure, it’s NOTAMed, but oftentimes if you’re coming from a long way away, and your timing is off, even a bit, it’s a problem. Also, departing Seletar when it’s warm and the runway is wet means you’ll need to plan a fuel stop in the Middle East. Heading east, you’ll never make Anchorage, [AK,] without a fuel stop in Japan or the Philippines.”

Leverage Simulators If Available

The Gulfstream 600 pilot said his aviators plan for trips to unusual places by practicing on simulators first to acquaint crews with what’s coming up. “We have access to FlightSafety [International] here in Wilmington, [DE,] where we practice approaches to familiarize ourselves with the conditions before we get there,” he said. His company brought in a Cirrus SF50 Vision Jet simulator to familiarize crews with airports they haven’t visited recently. “We don’t always use Beijing or Shanghai when we fly to China. When using a lesser-known airport, we often rely on the international handler in case of any confusion. We let them talk on the radio in Chinese and all of a sudden, everything is fixed.”

Sometimes the SF50 simulator time is spent just learning a specific airport, “like Madrid,” the Gulfstream 600 pilot said, referring to Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport (MAD). “It’s a huge airport that can be overwhelming. We offer new pilots training to familiarize them with the taxi situation, where I think there are three airport charts alone. You often must change continuously to see all the taxiways, not to mention change frequencies as you move across on the surface. Sometimes it takes 30 minutes to taxi from the runway to the ramp. All that taxiing also calls for precise fuel planning.”

Review the NBAA Buyers Guide for simulator-based training providers.