|
|
The wife and I returned from NYC yesterday. Great trip and good flying.
We flew into Teterboro on Thursday about 6:00 pm. I thought that the late
arrival might mean it would be a bit less busy. No luck. Easily the
busiest airport I have ever approached. Seemed worse than the airspace
around LAX. The worst part was that it was very turbulent as we got within
about 25 miles. I was having a tough time reading the instruments. My wife
was doing a great job on the radio helping out (side note: some friends were
arriving at Newark at about the same time on a Delta flight. She, a very
frequent flyer, got airsick for the first time in her life). We were
sequenced number 8 or something for the ILS 6 circling approach to 1. I was
asked to keep my speed at 160 knots indicated until breaking off the
glideslope at 1,500 feet (basically a short base leg to final at that
point...). High and fast - that makes it tough to get the gear down in a
360! Taxiing wasn't much easier, as the traffic on the ground looked almost
as bad as the traffic on the GW bridge.
We parked at millionaire and took a car service into the city - the trip,
with heavy traffic, took right at an hour (note, we left our house in Chapel
Hill, NC at 3:40, landed TEB at 6:20, and were early for our 7:30 dinner
reservation in Midtown). Interestingly, our driver was also a pilot (a
Rockwell 114) who flies out of Colwell (sp?). He suggested that TEB is the
best choice for getting in and out of the city.
We ended up staying an extra night in the city and flew home yesterday
afternoon.
The tab for 22 gallons at Millionair was about $70 (their fuel was at least
$0.70 / gallon less than any other FBO on the field). Landing fee $15. Car
service in was $100 and back out was $75. Total transportation cost
associated with TEB: $260. Given that we stayed an extra night, LGA or
Kennedy would have been MUCH more expensive. Colwell probably would have
been even more because of the ground transportation.
All said, TEB and Millionair were fine - I'd do it again. Maybe for a
day-trip I would try LGA if off-peak.
Thanks again for all the suggestions.
Matt
|
|