Flying Carpet

Mixing with the 'big guys'

"These will be our first out-of-town visitors to Flagstaff!" Jean exclaimed as she hung up the phone. I too was pleased; we were eager to show off our new home. There was a small complication, however--our guests would arrive on Thanksgiving morning. That meant picking them up by Flying Carpet at Phoenix Sky Harbor International, the sixth busiest U.S. airport, on the heaviest travel weekend of the year. With our longtime Phoenix home within driving distance of Sky Harbor, I hadn't flown there in years. Sure, I could land at nearby Falcon Field and retrieve our friends by car, but that seemed complicated and inelegant.

After conferring with other pilots, I phoned my friend, Phoenix Approach controller Steve Hadley, for guidance. "Landing at Sky Harbor shouldn't be a problem on Thanksgiving," he advised. "Just plan your arrival after 10 a.m. following the first bank of airline flights, and depart before the 4 o'clock rush. File an instrument flight plan for the most expeditious handling." Next I called Cutter Aviation, the general aviation facility at Sky Harbor. Their charges proved reasonable for a major airport--pay a $15 ramp fee or buy 15 gallons of avgas. Cutter welcomed our visit and would shuttle our passengers from the airline terminal.

I'll admit to apprehension as Thanksgiving approached. While I wasn't worried about safety, big airports are no place to screw up. Traffic delays are common, and ground navigation can be challenging if you must taxi far. Thankfully Jean volunteered to assist on the flight. "I figured you'd appreciate help," she offered, "especially if there's much air traffic or ground vectoring involved."

Upon taking flight that sunny Thanksgiving morning, Jean and I relived past trips together into major airports. To my surprise, she didn't remember flying into Sky Harbor previously. "Actually, we landed there together," I reminded her, "visiting from Indiana years ago in the aero club Cessna 210."

"Really? I thought we landed at a smaller airport on that trip."

"Sky Harbor was smaller at the time. Consider how Phoenix has grown since then." We rattled off other past big-airport destinations--St. Louis International, Salt Lake City, San Jose, and Las Vegas McCarren. Our first-ever instrument flight through clouds was to Toronto's Pearson Airport. Upon returning we'd cleared U.S. Customs at Indianapolis International.

I'd experienced other major airports during my stint as a regional airline pilot. Based at Los Angeles International, I flew frequently into San Francisco and San Diego--Phoenix occasionally, too. But such flights differed greatly from ours today. Those big airports were designed to handle airline traffic. Two professional pilots shared duties in each cockpit, and both knew every airport's routine.

Previously, I'd flown a corporate twin-engine Piper Navajo to places like Boston Logan, Teterboro, and Houston Intercontinental. Private airplanes had unrestricted access to Washington National back then, and Chicago O'Hare was a regular destination. But such trips weren't without incident.

After starting the Navajo one rainy morning at Washington Dulles International Airport, I received a labyrinthine taxi clearance to the middle of 11,500-foot Runway 1L/19R for an intersection takeoff. Along the way I noted an intermittent transmitter, raising fears that leaking rainwater might threaten all our radios. Dulles is huge, and while taxiing for what seemed like miles I twiddled and tested until arriving at the designated intersection. By then I was satisfied that the radios were fine, but in the meantime I had lost focus on my assignment.

"Cleared for takeoff," said the tower, so I rolled onto the runway and applied power. "Navajo Seven-Five-One," said the tower, "you're taking off on Runway 19 Right, but I assigned you Runway 1 Left." Horrified, I slowed the airplane.

"Stop the plane, turn around, and take off in the other direction," the controller ordered. Fortunately nothing came of it, but it was a potentially dangerous mistake and certainly embarrassing. After that I more diligently recorded taxi clearances, followed taxi progress on my airport charts, and invited along safety pilots to busy destinations.

Another challenge when flying light planes into airline airports is to avoid interrupting jet traffic. Like a sparrow among eagles, our Flying Carpet moves slower at cruise speed than do most airliners on final approach, so both pilot and controllers must be careful not to gum everything up. I once landed a Cessna 172 at O'Hare. The controllers vectored me tight onto downwind and assigned a short approach to landing. To minimize runway time I planned my touchdown to roll out on a high-speed taxiway. Even then I imagined teeth gnashing in the control tower.

Before taking off from Flagstaff, Jean and I had organized all our flight and taxi charts; along the way we'd carefully recorded each clearance. Now I tuned Sky Harbor's recorded arrival information and copied down the active runways; together we sorted out the tower and ground frequencies associated with each. Requesting "the 'south side' for Cutter Aviation," I checked in with Phoenix Approach. "I have your request" came the reply.

Two controllers later we were released to the tower. "Follow the Bonanza at 2 o'clock. You're cleared to land on Runway 7 Right." This southernmost runway lies adjacent to Cutter Aviation. Turning final alongside a USAirways Boeing 737, we noted a long line of airliners waiting to take off on the parallel runway.

"This is the life!" said Jean, as we rolled from our runway directly onto Cutter's ramp. Our passengers climbed aboard, and when we departed minutes later for Flagstaff most of those airliners were still waiting. "I never guessed you could pop in like this at a major airport!" exclaimed one of our passengers while photographing Camelback Mountain after takeoff. If only he knew the lessons and planning that went into it. But we are supposed to make flying look easy, right?

Greg Brown was the 2000 National Flight Instructor of the Year. His books include Flying Carpet, The Savvy Flight Instructor, The Turbine Pilot's Flight Manual, Job Hunting for Pilots, and You Can Fly! Visit his Web site.