Kbos

[Teller1900]

This is kind of a long one...

I always have my camera with me when I fly. It's in my flight bag until I do the pre-flight, and then it moves to the map pocket for the duration of the day's flying. I have just under 700 pictures from the last eight months of flying between KLEB and KLGA (and a few others in there too). For the last three weeks, though, I've been on a new route (KAUG, KBOS, KISP) so I haven't been taking the camera in the cockpit so I could focus on learning the route and frequencies. Things have been getting more comfortable these last few days and with SEVERE clear dominating the entire area, today seemed like a good day to bring the camera along again.

Today was an easy day. 0500 show for a 0600 go. The route takes us AUG-BOS-ISP-BOS-AUG, done around 1145. Winds were whipping at about 7kts in BOS, and a whopping 3kts in ISP...and brutally clm in AUG. Visibility was well over 50 miles and not a cloud in the sky...perfect day for photos, and for flying in general.

The first photo is on extended right base for 27. They had asked for best forward speed at this point, so we were indicating 220kts when I took this...hence the blurriness. Just after I snapped the photo, Final Approach cleared us for the visual 33L (the runway they were using for takeoff). The previous approach controller had told us to expect 27, so we were a bit confused. A quick query cleared up the confusion and we were cleared for the visual 27.

Picture 2: as we make the turn from base to final we come in off the water...these are some of the houses and resorts right along the water on final.

Picture 3: final for 27. Of course we hauled all the way to five mile final when they "asked" us to slow immediately to final approach speed as we had a rather stunning closure rate on the FedEx 76- ahead of us. Those are some seriously expensive houses that line the breakwater around the airport...not bad location, I'd say.

Pic 4: FedEx parking right behind our gates. These are two of the 9 FedEx heavies that were on the ground at the time.

Pic 5: A battleship, destroyer, and sub moored in Providence...not really sure why they're there, but they've been there for a while now. We're at 9,000 feet, to give you some idea of how clear it was today.

Pic 6: The USS Forrestal on the left and USS Saratoga on the right. Both Viet Nam era ships are slated to be scuttled somewhere out in the Atlantic to create an artificial reef. You might recognize the Forrestal as the carrier from which the infamous C-130 t/o and landings occured. It's a shame to see them go.


Pic 7: Westhampton, NY (KFOK) and the late morning sunrise as we fly up Long Island toward the Hampton VOR and on back up to BOS.

Pic 8: Houses resorts and a marina at the tip of Long Island (Long Island sound on the top, ocean on the bottom).

Pic 9: The Maine coast. That's NAS Brunswick middle left with AUG 10-15 minutes to the north.

Pic 10: About five miles from the airport...the leaves are starting to change all over Maine...it's really quite impressive.

I love Boston. Their taxi instructions are awful, especially with one runway and two major taxiways closed, but the number of planes they can move at a time is incredible. On clear days, they can land two runways and takeoff one (or t/o two, land one if the demand is there) with little to no crossing needed. On days that LGA would have 2 hour ground stops and 40-50 planes in line for t/o...BOS is running smoother than most airports in the north east. Just another day livin the life.

 

[flyersfan31]

That's Battleship Cove in Fall River MA. USS Massachusetts, destroyer USS Joseph P. Kennedy, a sub I forget, and they also have an ex-East German missile boat. The power plant at the top of the frame is Brayton Point - 3 coal units and an oil unit, ex-New England Power, ex-USGen New England, don't know who owns it now. I did the acquisition and financing deals back in my working days for USGenerating.

 

[Teller1900]

Nice!! More stuff for me to read up on now. Is that a floating museum?

 

[flyersfan31]

Oh yeah baby. You have to go if you're interested in that stuff. You can even crawl into the 16" turrets in the Massachusetts and check out the "manual" gunsights. Probably the most accessible ships I've ever toured. Usually things like gun turrets and the like are off limits. You can climb into the 5" mounts, goof off with the 20mms, all sorts of cool stuff. Tour the bridge. Yeah, well worth the trip.

Enjoy the weather in West Leb. I love this time of year up there. Is Lui Lui's still open in the Powerhouse Mall?

 

[Teller1900]

Indeed it is. That was the second restaurant I ever ate at in LEB (first was Salt Hill in downtown). I've been there a few times since...love it. I'm actually up in Maine now, though. I really would like to see the colors in LEB, but I think Maine is going to be pretty good too.

 

[AdamZ]

I love Boston. Their taxi instructions are awful, especially with one runway and two major taxiways closed, but the number of planes they can move at a time is incredible. On clear days, they can land two runways and takeoff one (or t/o two, land one if the demand is there) with little to no crossing needed.

Yeah Yeah been there done that Kilo to Kilo 1 to Alpha to Foxtrot right on Kilo right on charlie right on Alpha left of Kilo 3 and Hold short at the Bravo Hold Point to runway 9 for departure. All in a C182T Oh Yeah playin in the Tall Grass with the Big Dogs, Back me up on this Andrew the small fish in the BIG Bowl he was.

Will make a flibs head spin.

 

[VtPilot]

Thanks for sharing the nice pictures matt. Heres some from my trip from Vermont to Cape Cod last summer. You might recognize the last picture, decending into Lebanon NH from the south.

 

[Teller1900]

Yeah Yeah been there done that Kilo to Kilo 1 to Alpha to Foxtrot right on Kilo right on charlie right on Alpha left of Kilo 3 and Hold short at the Bravo Hold Point to runway 9 for departure. All in a C182T Oh Yeah playin in the Tall Grass with the Big Dogs, Back me up on this Andrew the small fish in the BIG Bowl he was.

Will make a flibs head spin.

That sounds about right. 4974, runway 22R, taxi via A, K4, K, K3, give way to Comair at A...A, Z, taxi on 15R, Northwest a N will wait for you, N, hold short of 22R at N2, be ready for the back taxi to 22R.

And with BOS ground...Some how the number 4 has an "a" in it, as in "Fawty."

It's even better when you land 27 and get to go through that cluster at the closed taxiways. Props to you doing it in a single...US Air gets ****ed at us for being "in their way..." I can't even imagine what they say to ground if they get behind a lowly Cessna




VT: That's the hill on final for 18, isn't it? I kinda recognize the Cape too. We have a mx base in Hyannis, so we're out in that neighborhood a lot too. Nothing beats flying along the coast like that...I love it. That's a cool shot over downtown to the runway. Ever go to Martha's Vineyard?

 

[AdamZ]

Actually They were pretty cool and not tense at all with us. The did ask us to exit runway without delay due to an RJ on mile final to 4L behind us. Everyone there was pretty helpful.

 

[flyersfan31]

Yeah, I think they told us about 3 times about the RJ. If I taxied any faster I would have been airborne again.


And if you haven't been to Lou's Truck Stop, you haven't lived!

 

[VtPilot]

VT: That's the hill on final for 18, isn't it? I kinda recognize the Cape too. We have a mx base in Hyannis, so we're out in that neighborhood a lot too. Nothing beats flying along the coast like that...I love it. That's a cool shot over downtown to the runway. Ever go to Martha's Vineyard?

I think it was straight in runway 36. Havn't been to the Vineyard yet but its on the to do list.

 

[KennyFlys]

The USS Forestall was also the location of probably the worst ship's fire in Naval history. It started with a missile accidentally being fired on the deck at other aircraft. It really took hold when an older bomb had dropped from an A-4, having a lower "cook-off" time than was expected. It blew a hole in the flight deck and was the beginning of a substantial loss in men and equipment.

The A-4 was that of John McCain. The film is still heavily used in shipboard firefight training.

 

[HPNPilot1200]

Actually They were pretty cool and not tense at all with us. The did ask us to exit runway without delay due to an RJ on mile final to 4L behind us. Everyone there was pretty helpful.

They're some of the coolest controllers I've ever heard. Even the TRACON guys are really good, at least many of the ones I know. If John's working on one of the positions in the tower, your callsign instantly becomes "Cooooooooolgan 4974."

Taxi instructions for the smaller aircraft can get kinda crazy, but you just need to upgrade to something bigger....then you only use 2 or 3 taxiways on your way to 22R (Alpha, Kilo, November, 22R).

 

[Teller1900]

They're some of the coolest controllers I've ever heard. Even the TRACON guys are really good, at least many of the ones I know. If John's working on one of the positions in the tower, your callsign instantly becomes "Cooooooooolgan 4974."

Taxi instructions for the smaller aircraft can get kinda crazy, but you just need to upgrade to something bigger....then you only use 2 or 3 taxiways on your way to 22R (Alpha, Kilo, November, 22R).

That's the normal routing, but last weekend (or possibly the week before) they had a bunch of taxiways closed, as well as a couple runways closed for construction, so that was the routing everyone got. Everyone gets the same taxi instructions...we don't have any less priority because we're small, it's all first come-first serve with CLNDEL. Actually we get to cut in line sometimes (especially when there's weather closing down departure sectors) because we can take lower routing. Kinda nice ****ing off 20 other flight crews at once.

Flyers Fan: what's Lou's Truck Stop??

 

[AdamZ]

Talking of controllers one of the funniest was a guy in NY Andrew and I were just over JFK when the controller told this pilot of an Air Canada plane to say hi to Danny another controller and told the AC pilot that Danny also Known as Knuckles was getting married and that night was his bachelor party and did the AC Pilot have any advice for him. The AC pilot says in a classic Canadian accent Doont Doo it. When we were handed over to Maguire App I thanked the controller and told him to wish Knuckles good luck. His response was " oh man he's gonna need it"

 

[HPNPilot1200]

That's the normal routing, but last weekend (or possibly the week before) they had a bunch of taxiways closed, as well as a couple runways closed for construction, so that was the routing everyone got. Everyone gets the same taxi instructions...we don't have any less priority because we're small, it's all first come-first serve with CLNDEL. Actually we get to cut in line sometimes (especially when there's weather closing down departure sectors) because we can take lower routing. Kinda nice ****ing off 20 other flight crews at once.

Flyers Fan: what's Lou's Truck Stop??

Yea, they've been doing a lot of work to many of the runways and taxiways. They repainted a bunch of them early this morning (around 1am).

I was kidding in my last post...'Never said you get less priority when you're smaller, but I have heard many controllers screw around with the smaller aircraft before. At the opposite end of the spectrum, Kennedy ground gets pretty interesting when they have to reroute an A340-600 around taxiway Charlie. Fun stuff.

 

[Teller1900]

Yea, they've been doing a lot of work to many of the runways and taxiways. They repainted a bunch of them early this morning (around 1am).

They were still painting those giant red and white runway intersection markers at a bunch of the hold lines when we were there today.

Nice MP3, is that from Live ATC?

Adam Z: I really liked the NY controllers when it was a slow day. I've never been to JFK, but I'm guessing it's similar to LGA...I'm guessing they were too busy when you heard the tale of Knuckles? Or did they just neglect a bunch of planes .

 

[HPNPilot1200]

They were still painting those giant red and white runway intersection markers at a bunch of the hold lines when we were there today.

Nice MP3, is that from Live ATC?

Adam Z: I really liked the NY controllers when it was a slow day. I've never been to JFK, but I'm guessing it's similar to LGA...I'm guessing they were too busy when you heard the tale of Knuckles? Or did they just neglect a bunch of planes .

Yup, it's a clip from the June 30, 2006 0130z archive.

 

[flyersfan31]

Lou's Truck stop is at 120 and I89, about 1/4mi from the interchange across the road from that car dealer (can't remember the name, used to sell Chevys, Volvos and VWs. Open all the time, hot coffee and greasy food, just like gramma used to make. If she worked at a truck stop, that is.

You might also check out the 4 Aces Diner in West Leb, on the same street as State Line Sports; as I recall you'd turn left past the Mobil if coming from the aerodrome. Plus there is a really good one in WRJ by the train station, can't remember its name. It's been a few years.....

Boston controllers were great. I never got the sense that I was a FLIB cluttering their precious airspace/airport. It was very obvious that they were watching us closely, though, because even the slightest hesitation while taxiing got a helpful unsolicited tip from ground control. Not that I minded!!!