As a 23-year-old charter pilot, I got called out to fly right seat in a Beechcraft Baron 58 to pick up a passenger at the John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. It was a beautiful day and I’d never been to JFK before, at least as a pilot. Intimidated? Not much. Excited? You bet.
I was the newest pilot at the company, which meant I often sat in the right seat on revenue legs and flew the empty Part 91 flights to/from our Maryland base. It was a great way to build time and learn all about the charter/corporate flying business.
On the day we went to JFK, the captain I was flying with hadn’t flown a Baron in some time, so he flew the first deadhead leg from our base to reacquaint himself with the airplane. He mentioned he had been to JFK before and that made me feel more comfortable. We landed on Runway 13 Right at JFK, using just a fraction of the available 14,500-foot runway. Upon clearing the runway, Ground advised us to join the parallel taxiway and taxi to the “G.A.T.” (General Aviation Terminal). Unfortunately, where we cleared the runway was at a confluence of about five taxiways with lots of signage that was a little confusing.
This is where things got ugly. My captain, having been to JFK before, started heading down what I thought was the wrong taxiway, since it didn’t parallel the runway we just landed on. “I think we’re supposed turn left on taxiway Quebec,” I prompted.
“No, the G.A.T. is right over here,” he said. So here comes that conflict all pilots new to crew operations get: Do I trust this guy, or is he leading me down the wrong path? After all, he said he’s been here before, he should know, I thought. Did I mention that this captain was also an FAA check pilot? Who was I to doubt him? But, I was working the radios and I specifically heard the controller tell us to “join the parallel” taxiway and “taxi to the G.A.T.” Apparently, all that the captain heard was the “taxi to the G.A.T.” part. Luckily, we had arrived at JFK in the middle of the day, which is a slow time there. We were the only airplane moving on this section of the airport. As the captain approached where he thought the G.A.T. was, we stopped.
Only at this point did he reach for the Jeppesen book with the airport diagram. After staring at it for a spell, he asked me to get progressive taxi instructions from the controller.
“Sure,” said the controller. Then he asked the $64,000 question, “Where are you?”
Good question, I thought. We looked around for taxiway signs for a clue, but the only one we could see was for a crossing taxiway, not the one we were on. The controller claimed he couldn’t see us, but that could be because we weren’t where we thought we were. Plus, it’s simply hard to find a minnow in a sea of whales.
We tried in vain to have the controller locate us by explaining what we saw, even saying “behind the Air India 747 that’s facing southeast at the gate.” The controller had enough and finally threw in the towel.
“Baron One-Two-Three, just stay where you are, I’m sending out a vehicle to lead you.” How embarrassing! My first time at JFK and we blew it—big time. Fueling the fire of shame was the controller, broadcasting on Ground control, instructions to the operations driver: “You’re looking for a light twin that’s lost somewhere between 13R and the G.A.T.”
The “follow-me” truck came out in a few minutes and we sheepishly followed it to the G.A.T., which had been recently moved to the northwest corner of the airport near Runway 13R. Lessons learned? Plenty. I learned not to blindly trust somebody just because they’ve been there, done that. Moving the FBO to a new location is not a big deal in itself. Getting lost at a huge airport, however, is a big deal. I’m just glad the place was slow that time of day.
After that red-faced incident, I always use the airport diagram when I visit an airport that’s big enough to have one. It’s invaluable information that can save you from an embarrassment such as this or a runway incursion, which is currently one of the hot buttons for the FAA. Our crew resource management (CRM) broke down that day. The captain wasn’t listening to my doubts that we were going the right direction and followed his instincts based on previous experience. I could have done a better job of communicating with the captain by being more assertive. We could have avoided the whole debacle in the first place if we had simply briefed our plan while we flew to JFK. Part of a good approach brief is to look at the airport diagram and plan your likely taxi route to the destination on the airport.
Overall, it was a bad day since our passengers never showed up. Looking back, however, we both learned valuable lessons as pilots that day without bending metal or injuring anything but our egos.
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