Difficult Airports

[Fred Rogers]

I'm curious what people think is the most difficult / pain in the rear airport to get in and out of. If it's crowded, poorly laid out, poorly managed, record ground stops, whatever you think is the crappiest airport to fly in and out of.

My vote by the way is LaGuardia, it can be a real mess.

 

[Stealthh21]

Teterboro!!!!!

 

[PacoPollo]

..ord....

 

[Fred Rogers]

..ord....

Really? I thought that ORD was like a well oiled machine for it's size

 

[CA1900]

LaGuardia is like a breath of fresh air compared to White Plains, NY. The single worst-managed airport I've had the displeasure of flying into.

My record is 2 hours and 45 minutes waiting for a gate, after an hour and a half flight.. In a 1900. With no bathroom. At least they got me a van for the passengers when I informed gate control, after about 45 minutes of waiting, that I would be declaring an emergency and parking between two gates in five minutes if they didn't get these passengers off and to a bathroom now. I still can't believe it worked.

For those unfamiliar, White Plains has 4 gates, and no airline owns any of them. They have "gate slots." You land, you call on 122.95, and they tell you what gate you're going to. Problems arise when Chicago closes down, United and American are on gates, and aren't moving until the ground stop lifts. Which can be hours.

It's an intolerable situation, created solely by the local residents, who didn't want the new airport any bigger than the one it replaced. They reap what they sow, and when the passengers complain to me (as of course they do -- they're trapped on our plane), I write down the name (Andrew Spano) and phone number 914-995-8353 of their Westchester County Executive. The airlines aren't the ones to complain to.

It's an awful, awful place. I'd rather spend all day in Laguardia, any day.

 

[AlabamaMan!!]

Difficult........ASE, EGE

Pain in the A$$ (delays)......TEB, HPN, SDL, FLL


I know there are about 10 I left out

 

[Fred Rogers]

Woah.. HPN.. impressively irritating

 

[labbats]

Haha, HPN is the first airport that popped into my mind too. Although, that overnight is fantastic.

 

[AA717driver]

ATC at NCE. Military at LETO (Torrejon). DHS at DCA. TC

 

[coogebeachhotel]

Cle controllers are the worst. Runway switching multiple times. 35 mile finals.

 

[ACT700]

from a logistics standpoint, I agree with the above; maybe add a few California airports.

From a flying standpoint, I say BKL (Cleveland-lakefront) for non-mountainous, and Nogales, AZ for mountainous airport, as most challenging.
They are pretty tough to fly in and out of, the way they are laid out, and the way the approaches bring you in. Add to that some nasty wx, and it gets, well, interesting.

 

[Occam's Razor]

USS Midway (CV-41). Small deck, only 3 wires, and it did this funky little shimmy when it was making wind. (Come to think of it...so do I!) The layovers kinda sucked too, although it was refreshingly bereft of Air Force types.

CLE controllers make life difficult, but I think it has more to do with the layout of the airport than their attitude.

HPN for general buffoonery.

MDW when giving IOE and flying a circle-to-land cross-cockpit in strong winds.

Ok...now I'm just whining...

 

[Occam's Razor]

Wait!

DTW...if only for runway 21L. The single bumpiest piece of asphalt in Pt. 121 use right now.

 

[gt2]

seasonally...

CRW right before sunrise during the summer fog season...we had to divert about 50% of the time

 

[24 carat]

All good stuff, hope to fly into the likes of Chicago O'Hare one day in my C-152

This thred would be even nicer if people would not use only the identifier because I am sure a lot of people, like me, don't know all of those. And I don't feel like banging it into some website somewhere. Lazy me.

 

[sweptback]

This thred would be even nice if people would not just use the identifier because I am sure a lot of people like me don't know all of those. And I don't feel like banging it into some website somewhere. Lazy me.

Sorry, if you're a pilot, you'll deal with the airport codes. It kind of comes with the job.

 

[24 carat]

Sweptback, fair point. But you will have to admit that when I would be discussing the great airports of JNB, T67, VGT, MLE and ACE, you too might not know exactly where they are. Would it not be more helpful for everybody to just mention the airport as well? Or is this the equivalent of a secret handshake?

Anyway, didn't mean to hijack this thred. I enjoy it.

 

[amaineiac]

I'll agree that HPN sucks, but PHL is the absolute worst. Those controllers are the worst group I've ever come across. Stevie wonder with a case of laryngitis could do a better job.

 

[FlyingFish]

Herrera Intl (MDHE) Santo Domingo Dominican Republic...difficult because they point guns in your face when you dont pay the landing fee.

 

[FLYnMONKEYS]

Telluride....KTEX

http://www.airnav.com/airport/KTEX

I'll take LGA any day.