Musings on KCDW, ILS, and WAAS

David Megginson wrote:

I'm curious about the ways in which KTEB is unfriendly. I've seen
postings about how controllers can be terse with pilots, but that's
typical in busy
situations everywhere. I know that the gas is a bit expensive as well,
but
my little Warrior doesn't burn much. Are there other problems? Is it
only VFR planes that have problems, or is there a perceived discrimination
against IFR small planes as well?

Perhaps "unfriendly" conveys the wrong impression. TEB's ATC, for example,
has never been anything but completely helpful to me - even when I was new
to the airport and...a little troublesome (ie. I once asked for a
progressive to Million Air - the big building with the "Million Air" sign
right before me {8^).

But the pricing for tie-downs and operations has been increasing, with the
"break" given to "spam cans" dropping.

That's really how I meant "unfriendly". For transients, I expect that these
are much less significant.

When I flew down for a meeting in Manhattan last spring, I landed at
Caldwell/KCDW. I agree that it's a nice, friendly little airport (for
example, when I was doing a preflight just before 11:00 pm, the tower
controller saw me and called me on the radio as soon as I started the
engine, just to make sure I knew the tower was shutting down). However,
it was about 1.5 hours away from midtown Manhattan by road, not only
during the
afternoon, but during the late evening (light traffic) as well. Ouch!

That seems high for "light traffic", but it may merely be that your
definition and mine are a little different. Still, 90 minutes to midtown
during the day or evening is quite possible.

It felt like I'd ended up landing half way to Chicago. I spent nearly as
long driving in and out as I did flying down from Canada (and the car and
driver
to get into town cost more than my fuel for the trip down). I've
pretty-much decided to try KTEB next time, just to be closer to town.

It is definitely closer. But traffic can bite just as hard, as you're still
traveling by car. A nice alternative - that I've never tried, as one of my
goals in life is to avoid NYC as much as possible - would be the Little
Falls train station near CDW. You'd need a ride there, but the FBO might
oblige or a short cab trip would work.

But this requires advance planning to work it into your schedule...and some
luck to *keep* it in your schedule.

Or, from either TEB or CDW, ride the bus. They get their own lanes during
rush periods.

Another alternative is Linden, which is just a short cab ride from the PATH
train into the city. Unlike the Little Falls train, this runs constantly
and frequently. But Linden is a "mostly VFR" airport. It has only a GPS
approach, and it can take a *long* time to be cleared for an IFR departure
if you're using runway 9.

- Andrew