Class Bravo

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teethdoc

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teethdoc
Got my first class B experience today in Memphis. LOT of FedEx heavies. I thought it was awesome and not as intimidating as I expected. Just follow the instructions. It was less intimidating than a busy Class E. At least I had an idea where everybody was.
 
teethdoc said:
Got my first class B experience today in Memphis. LOT of FedEx heavies. I thought it was awesome and not as intimidating as I expected. Just follow the instructions. It was less intimidating than a busy Class E. At least I had an idea where everybody was.
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Bravo's are not that bad....... When you have great controllers working with you....Glad you had a good experience...:yes:
 
I fly Boston New York and several other class Bs and find them usually very easy to handle.there are some controllers who when busy can make it harder than it has to be.most of the time they are more than happy to work with us ga pilots.
 
My experience with Memphis controllers has always been positive; whether transitioning to Tunica or landing at MEM. Great folks all around.
 
Memphis was my first foray into a Bravo as well. It's not really that busy unless it's a FedEx push.
 
Hi TeethDoc. A little early for duck hunting :).

Glad you had a good experience over MEM. I think the Memphis controllers are tops. Great people here.
 
N801BH said:
Bravo's are not that bad....... When you have great controllers working with you....Glad you had a good experience...:yes:
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+1 when the controllers are doing well. Doing Flight Following when departing out of KDTO (under DFW's 4000 foot shelf), I nearly have them clear me into the Bravo if my route and desired altitude is going to put me into that space. Often this clearance comes as part of my initial instructions.
 
I wish I knew why flight instructors made Class B so scary. There really is very little to it.

I transitioned KSFO just a few hours after the Asiana crash. NorCal wanted me over the coast, which is unusual. It was fogged; I reported so and got vectors all the way across.

I have yet to experience a transition that was anything but a good experience.
 
I flew some hours in FL this summer. Being a non native European pilot I was a bit worried by your flight rules.

I was really astonished by the quality of air controllers who can accept and mix in a very efficient way GA traffic and commercial ones. Communications in class B airspace are efficient and vectoring is a dream.

On my side of the Atlantic, ATC tends to segregate heavily small planes and commercial ones. Do not expect to overfly a commercial airfield if you are just VFR: they will ask you to fly large go-arounds following published VFR transits far away from the "biggies" . Things are improving here ... but slowly.
 
I have had almost all of my close calls with other aircraft landing/departing at uncontrolled fields. I consider uncontrolled fields to be the most dangerous phase of many flights.

I love the B's, C's, basically any larger airport. Memphis makes a great stop going CC.
 
EdFred said:
Memphis was my first foray into a Bravo as well. It's not really that busy unless it's a FedEx push.
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Mine too, sorta. Just clipped the very edge of it.

I was out of OLV heading for TYS. Had my climb out all planned to level off below the shelf. Called up approach and unbidden was told "Cleared into the Bravo"
 
We landed and went to Wilson Air. Very nice people. I just wish I would have had time to grab some Rendevous ribs while in town.
 
I might hijack this to ask a question: I'm planning to fly into PHL on Monday (Labor Day), say hello to a couple of friends, then head off to Ocean City NJ for the day, back to Philly in the evening, and then depart.

For those curious on costs, I talked with Atlantic and their fees don't seem insane: $10 landing (x2), $20 security (x1, good for the day), and $40 ramp (waived with 15 gallons). I realize PHL fuel prices are on the obscene side, but I rent "wet" and reimbursement isn't pegged to local prices, so if overpriced fuel paid by somebody else (sort of) saves me $40, so be it.

Anyway, the question: What's my best way to figure out when to fly in to get in the way of as few people as possible? I'm comfortable in bravo, happy to "maintain best forward speed", looked over the airport diagram, etc., but have no idea what their Labor Day schedule is like, and if showing up an hour earlier or an hour later would save some congestion or headache, I'd like to do that.

Every time I've called ATC on the phone, it's been for clearances and the like and seemed very much like a radio conversation in that everything was quick and to the point. Is there a number to call to just ask "if I'm showing up Monday VFR, what times will you be particularly busy?" Or am I better off just calling on arrival and expecting to get vectored around a bit if need be?
 
Flightaware used to have a graph that showed the number of arrivals/departures per hour, and you could pretty easily see when the "pushes" were from that.
 
I've only had positive experiences with Bravos. I fly around DC, so I get to deal with them a lot. On departing JYO Eastbound through the SFRA the other day, I asked if I could go through the Bravo up to 2000. The controller said something like "Great, you've come to the right guy! Sure, why not. Cleared through the bravo at 2000."
 
I take it the guy at MEM with the corncob up his **** is no longer there?
 
EdFred said:
Memphis was my first foray into a Bravo as well. It's not really that busy unless it's a FedEx push.
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Ditto, Memphis was a good experience. I've heard fables of spamcans being cleared thru ATL bravo but I've never gotten it. In fact, I just file AHN when flying southast and HEFIN southwest.
 
mcmanigle said:
For those curious on costs, I talked with Atlantic and their fees don't seem insane: $10 landing (x2), $20 security (x1, good for the day), and $40 ramp (waived with 15 gallons).
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Jesus!

That's $70 is you don't buy fuel?!

And what the heck is "security"
If carry can I just provide my own "security"?

Hope you get a complimentary BJ with the FBO cookies and coffee :dunno:

MAKG1 said:
I wish I knew why flight instructors made Class B so scary. There really is very little to it.
.
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Agree

I think CFIs make a big deal of it because many have little experience them selves and have even less experience with class B.
 
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NineThreeKilo said:
That's $70 is you don't buy fuel?!

And what the heck is "security"
If carry can I just provide my own "security"?
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Agreed, but I'm not going to blame the FBO for "security"; I've heard similar things at most of the big airports and my understanding is that it's imposed by others.

I don't know; as I see it:

$10 per landing, presumably imposed by the airport authority - pretty reasonable, and not under the FBO's control
$20 security fee - pretty ridiculous, but not under the FBO's control
$40 for the FBO - I've heard a lot worse at big int'l airports; I won't blame them, and am pleased they'll waive it for 15 gallons

So, is $30 / $70 cheap? Cheap enough that I won't ask my friends to rent a car to drive out to Brandywine and say hello there. But expensive enough that I briefly considered it. Which is probably pretty perfect, as I'm likely just at the level of riffraff that they don't mind at the airport, but don't want too much of.
 
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Bill Jennings said:
Ditto, Memphis was a good experience. I've heard fables of spamcans being cleared thru ATL bravo but I've never gotten it. In fact, I just file AHN when flying southast and HEFIN southwest.
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I got it, but I was VFR 5500 from 4A7 maybe to RYY.
 
I flew into PHL about 18 months ago in a Cirrus:
http://www.pilotsofamerica.com/forum/showpost.php?p=853124&postcount=27

Also, check out this detailed post:
http://www.pilotsofamerica.com/forum/showthread.php?t=47930

To answer your question about when to fly in, it's not so much of an issue at PHL. There's a separate runway used mainly for GA (Runway 26, 5000x150') and Approach will issue you vectors to keep you out of the way of 121 traffic.

mcmanigle said:
I might hijack this to ask a question: I'm planning to fly into PHL on Monday (Labor Day), say hello to a couple of friends, then head off to Ocean City NJ for the day, back to Philly in the evening, and then depart.

For those curious on costs, I talked with Atlantic and their fees don't seem insane: $10 landing (x2), $20 security (x1, good for the day), and $40 ramp (waived with 15 gallons). I realize PHL fuel prices are on the obscene side, but I rent "wet" and reimbursement isn't pegged to local prices, so if overpriced fuel paid by somebody else (sort of) saves me $40, so be it.

Anyway, the question: What's my best way to figure out when to fly in to get in the way of as few people as possible? I'm comfortable in bravo, happy to "maintain best forward speed", looked over the airport diagram, etc., but have no idea what their Labor Day schedule is like, and if showing up an hour earlier or an hour later would save some congestion or headache, I'd like to do that.

Every time I've called ATC on the phone, it's been for clearances and the like and seemed very much like a radio conversation in that everything was quick and to the point. Is there a number to call to just ask "if I'm showing up Monday VFR, what times will you be particularly busy?" Or am I better off just calling on arrival and expecting to get vectored around a bit if need be?
Click to expand...
 
Alexb2000 said:
I have had almost all of my close calls with other aircraft landing/departing at uncontrolled fields. I consider uncontrolled fields to be the most dangerous phase of many flights.

I love the B's, C's, basically any larger airport. Memphis makes a great stop going CC.
Click to expand...

Agreed. The closest I've come to a midair was on short final to my private strip, and I'm supposed to be the only one using it.

I actually enjoy the exercise of Class B operations, I've never had any issues with it. I operate in the DFW airspace pretty frequently in a 172.
 
I've been through Boston Bravo quite a number of times with no real big deal. Last April, I flew a Schweizer 300 into Logon for a FAA STEM Expo. Landed at (well, near, blowing right through the location the tower controller gave me) the taxiway intersection and taxied over to the expo. It was a very cold day made worse because we were missing the right (my side) door and it was 32 and windy.
The tower controller didn't seem to have much of a problem with the landing. She did chide me on missing the spot.
Departure was a breeze (literally and figuratively). Position departure NW towards the CG base in the harbor, then Fenway outbound.
Next year, maybe the Piper!
 
mcmanigle said:
I might hijack this to ask a question: I'm planning to fly into PHL on Monday (Labor Day), say hello to a couple of friends, then head off to Ocean City NJ for the day, back to Philly in the evening, and then depart.

For those curious on costs, I talked with Atlantic and their fees don't seem insane: $10 landing (x2), $20 security (x1, good for the day), and $40 ramp (waived with 15 gallons). I realize PHL fuel prices are on the obscene side, but I rent "wet" and reimbursement isn't pegged to local prices, so if overpriced fuel paid by somebody else (sort of) saves me $40, so be it.

Anyway, the question: What's my best way to figure out when to fly in to get in the way of as few people as possible? I'm comfortable in bravo, happy to "maintain best forward speed", looked over the airport diagram, etc., but have no idea what their Labor Day schedule is like, and if showing up an hour earlier or an hour later would save some congestion or headache, I'd like to do that.

Every time I've called ATC on the phone, it's been for clearances and the like and seemed very much like a radio conversation in that everything was quick and to the point. Is there a number to call to just ask "if I'm showing up Monday VFR, what times will you be particularly busy?" Or am I better off just calling on arrival and expecting to get vectored around a bit if need be?
Click to expand...

Depending on your plans, you might also want to look into flying into PNE. Also a few FBO's, and I imagine a much smaller landing fee.
 
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