Worst Airport to Taxi Around?

[KingAirer]

Whats the worst airport to taxi at? Take in to consideration poor design, safety, and length.

DTW or DFW come to mind??

 

[mobs]

Taxiways

Has got to be Paris Charles-De-Gaulle on all counts. Esp terminal 1.

 

[Jungle Prop]

DFW is pretty easy once you get the hang of things, the ATL guys hate it because alot of them don't get out here much and it's strange at first. ORD is pretty intense if you've never been there before just because of the speed at which the controllers talk, but once you've done it a few times it's no harder than any other airport. ATL has to be the easiest airport to taxi and fly out of given the amount of traffic they have (first or second busiest).

 

[Brett Hull]

IAH

Take Whiskey Foxtrot to Charlie Alpha to Bravo Zulu to Delta Juliet, follow the 737 coming out of Mike Echo, left on Papa Quebec, right on Romeo Alpha......

Who's the jackhole who named the taxiways there? He needs a swift kick in the n*ts!

 

[stingray]

I will have to agree with ORD

 

[Gulfstream 200]

RJAA -- Narita Japan (Tokyo)

2 runways now and a real nightmare. 6-7 controller changes to taxi from runway to apron.

 

[sleepy]

DFW, IAH, and ORD.

 

[crjdude]

Have to agree with ORD.

 

[JBcrjca]

I agree with those who nominated IAH. Whoever named those taxiways should be hung by his balls. The northwest corner of the airport is completely confusing with two names for every taxiway....I just taxi to the gate and avoid other planes, to hell with the taxi instructions. They're just way too confusing. DFW, LAX, SFO, etc are a walk in the park in comparison.

 

[350DRIVER]

CYYZ- hands down... always a pain in thy a$$ when weather is down. Not very effective flows and delays are always to be had especially when one needs to get deiced- Gotta fly back there on tuesday and really not looking forward to it.


no joy-

DTW, ATL, DFW, IAH, have always been pretty effective in my opinion.
STL on some fridays have also been "no joy" -


c h e e r s

3 5 0

"while holding short of @#*#* please contact apron now on ... blah blah blah

 

[Jungle Prop]

Oh yeah I did forget IAH. What the heck were those guys thinking with those taxiway designators? Whats funny is watching us go to IAH and getting confused and then seeing Continental get confused when they come to DFW, it's just what your used to.

 

[Rank&File]

IAH SUCKS!!
But really, the names of the taxiways are logical, with the "N" taxiways being on the North side, "W" being on the West side, "S" on the South side, and "E" on the East. I've noticed the locals abbreviate the readbacks by eliminating the first letter since it is somewhat understood that it corresponds to the quadrant you are in. ...and what's the deal about the ramp controllers handing you off to Clearance who hands you off to ground?

 

[Prop Trash]

NEWARK

 

[Sphincter Boy]

CVG

Take G to 3G contact ....

 

[jetexas]

ORD is pretty easy once you get the hang of it. It goes smoothly because ground control treats you like an adult, UNLESS you mess up! Just Don't stop!
Dfw, on the other hand, could be much easier but ground control there are micro-managers. Use too much common sense and get yelled at.

 

[nimtz]

DTW, no doubts about it. Those meatheads bark five instructions at you, then dump you to another frequency. Hey guys, short term memory doesn't last longer then 8 seconds. Never had that much trouble there before, but once the NW terminal opened up it gave those guys freedom to be total pr*cks. I'll agree that IAH suxs too, especially during peak banks when everyones log jams up by 15L.

However what ever Express dude flammed EWR, you gotta be kidding me. Those guys up there will work with you through ever last detail and never once yell if you screw up or are slow on a readback. Just imagine how awesome EWR would run if it had a layout like DTW. EWR is so small, I don't see how you could really get lost or miss that critical of a turn. I wish they could clone every single New York Controller, cause it would probably solve half of our ATC problems.

 

[Typhoon1244]

Charleston, S.C. (CHS) leaves a bit to be desired: no parallel taxiways. Well, none that you can use without being in a C-17.

DFW hacks me off when they send you to the other side of the airport the long way around after landing. And you can't cross a runway until American's launched their entire fleet.

 

[Humblepilot]

Hmmmmmmmmm

I agree about ORD. Don't stop moving and don't reply when they are machine gunning clearances. LGA when it grid locks because of departure gates being shutdown and arriving airplanes landing is pretty crappy.

Humble

 

[Typhoon1244]

Oh, I almost forgot because I haven't been there in a while: George Bush Intergalactic...IAH.

What a nightmare! "Candler, exit the runway at November-Yankee, right on November-Romeo, to November-November, give way to a mad dog on Whiskey-Sierra, left on Whiskey-Tango, hold short of Sierra-Sierra..." etc, etc. Places where every taxiway has two letters drive me nuts!

 

[jbDC9]

IAH sucks ass! I'm based there and still get confused by it.

ORD I don't like, controllers talk too fast and I don't know the usual flow of things. Then they get pissy when I ask them to clarify...

DTW can fall off the planet, what a sh!thole airport! Taxiways and runways everywhere, plus 3-4 different ground/ramp controllers just to taxi out... woof!

 

[SkywayFO]

Once you know the normal flow at ORD it is the easiest airport in the world. Here is the normal conversation.

"BlueRidge 123 off 4R, we need the Box."

"Follow company to blueridge parking"

Got to love simplicity like that!!

 

[mckpickle]

EWR ROCKS!!!

and you guys bashing IAH just squat to pee! No It is a bit odd until you figure out the secret. Everything that starts with a W(whiskey) is on the West side. Everything that is a N is on the north. S is south and so on. So if they say WB to NA you know your going up the west side to the north side.

I agree though DTW sucks. Only place I've ever taxied @V1 for fifteen minutes!!!!!

 

[tarp]

ORD

"Go directly to the box."
"Nope those departure gates are closed, cross Runway 9L to the Scenic Overlook."
"Yeah that's right, I want you to take Lake Shore Drive to 22L."
"No,no,no look just head over to the Mike Pad."
"United Express aircraft off of 9L, whoever you are, Hotel, Papa, Alpha Bridge, Ground."

Now looking at my chart for ORD -

I do have a "Penalty Box" and I do have a "Scenic Hold Pad".

But the "Mike Pad" is actually labelled the "9R pad" and Lake Shore Drive is actually a route that follows taxiways "F", "T" and "S". Alpha and Bravo "Bridges" are literally taxiway bridges over the highway but in Chicago parlance means taxi eastward around the terminal!

If you are new in Chicago - you are dead meat! The controllers think everyone knows their "lingo". Oh and don't speak until you are spoken to - my ears are still ringing from the squeals and I haven't been to ORD in a week!

 

[NightFlyer]

I'll agree with mobs on Paris (CDG). That place is screwed up.

 

[Typhoon1244]

...and you guys bashing IAH just squat to pee!

Of course you're right. It's the most well-layed-out airport on the planet. Not complicated at all.

Toronto cracked me up. It was my very first international destination, and it was at night. I was taking it real easy, taxiing slow, keeping one eye on the airport diagram. They wanted me to take the parallel down to (I don't remember the taxiway names, so I'll make something up) Tango and turn right. I got to what I thought was Tango and was just starting to move the tiller a little bit...and I swear those guys in the tower must've been watching us with binoculars, because as soon as my tiller hand twitched, they called us:

"Uh no, Candler, not there. It's the next one up on your right."

Good thing they were keeping an eye on us dumb Yanks!

 

[mckpickle]

I like DFW. Sure its big and all but the taxiways all go in order except Y. From what I heard Y is the furthest North to keep the Yankees as far north as possible!

 

[wanabe_fo]

YYZ

And what is up with Toronto making you talk to 4-6 different freq. for taxi in and out to GA parking.

"Taxi Tango, hold short Alpha for the heavy airbus, follow the bus hold short Runway XX, contact ground controller 123.45"

Thank God I was in a GA airplane that could actually tune to more than one freq at a time.

 

[T-Gates]

I'm used to it now, but at first DTW blew me away. From our ramp to 21R we will change frequencies 3 times during the heavy pushes. On top of everything, I think they distribute speed to all of the controllers...

Taxi 200 yds hold short, change frequencies, Taxi 200 yds hold short, change frequencies, Taxi 200 yds hold short, change frequencies, Taxi 200 yds hold short, change frequencies.....

"Ummmm. Flagship follow the really really really dirty -9 to 21R....."

"Okay, there are 13 dirty -9's in that line on 9L....."

It never ends.....

--03M

 

[ifly4food]

My vote goes for Toronto.
The place is like JFK witn nonstandard controllers. Taxi too fast, get yelled at. There's also a speed limit on the high speed exits. You must remain on the center line of the taxiway. Too bad the turtles were,'t offest... you hear and feel every one of them.
Ever been there in a thunderstorm? The ramps automatically shut down and everyone gets to park on the runways for an hour.
Oh, and when they tell you "overshoot" that means go around.

As for O'Hare, once you get used to it, it's no big deal. They expect you to know where you're going and just offer "guidance". It's when a FNG shows up that the place goes haywire. You'll think your brain is going to melt the first time they tell you to "taxialphabravomiketwomiketangotangotenthreetwoleft" and then move on without a readback.
I once had a tower guy tell me "look, when you pull off the runway, don't stop. We know that you know where you're going. Just take Bravo to the ramp and we'll call you when and if we get time.

 

[dav8or]

I'm not too fond of BOS. Lots of runways in a small space. You talk to ground then tower then tower (2) You got Cape Air guys taxing in formation at V1 and best thing is the fog off the ocean.