Kbos Briefing

[LUPA93]

Hi there,
I´ve just xferred to 340 and my first destination is Logan Boston.
Can anyone familiar with it give me a pilot´s point of view briefing on its major features and/or particularities
I´ll change the info for any main arpt in Europe.
Saludos y gracias
LUPA

[Bullethead]

G'day Lupa,

I find it very helpful to have a good look at an unfamiliar airport on Google Earth before I go there to get the lay of the land.

You can also activate an embeded flight sim, within Google Earth, by going CTL+ALT+A and once it's activated it will always be there. You can actually fly around the airport you wish to go to.

Regards,
BH.

[FullWings]

KBOS: I'd say the major things to watch out for in this airport are runway infringements and crossing arrivals/departures.

There is normally a mix of heavy/medium/light traffic taking off and landing on several different runways. Last time I was there they had split frequencies for the tower, so you could have aircraft operating off intersecting runways without knowledge of each other.

Being in a triangular pattern, there are many places where runways cross other runways and/or taxiways. In poor vis. it can be quite a job to figure out where you are in relation to all these, especially in the area where 27 and 22L/R meet. This is in addition to coping with the normal machine-gun fire RT from tower and ground. Before you land I'd study the taxi charts carefully and have in mind the sort of clearance you might get and where the critical holding points are. It might even be useful to photocopy the chart and magnify it a bit in the process.

If the cross/tailwind is strong enough ;) you might get given RW27. Although the LDA begins with a "2", you don't want to end up in the mess of taxiways/runways near the end of it. Not a good RW for a long float or low autobrake in a "heavy", IMHO.

When leaving, keep a keen eye out for other traffic, as I have noticed a tendency to be cleared for TO earlier and earlier, sometimes when the offending aircraft has yet to cross the RW you are using.

Not a place to be "heads down" too much as there is a lot going on out there.

OTOH, a great city with a more "European" flavour than many in the USA. Lots to do and appears to be pretty safe these days. Enjoy.

[1.3vso]

Hi there Lupa. FWIW I am a ga pilot and flight instructor based out of Hanscom (KBED) but have been a regular pax on the airlines out of Boston Logan for over 20 years. Welcome to our great city. Here's my two cents worth.

FYI, they are building a parallel taxiway between Rwy 4L and 4R and this has necessitated numerous taxiway closures. All international arrivals (except Canada) usually go to Terminal E and Ground Control has you coordinate with Ramp control before entering that ramp.

The runway configuration at KBOS may sometimes be dictated on noise considerations as much as operational considerations. Massport the operator of the field & FAA try to keep the neighbors in the surrounding towns of Winthrop, East Boston, Chelsea and South Boston happy. The airport moves metal pretty well except when there is very strong NE or NW winds when delays mount as they're down to one runway 4R in NE winds (since they can only depart turboprops off 4L due to terrain). Rwy 33L in strong NW winds is the only runway usable if crosswinds prevent the use of Rwy 27. Rwy 33R is a joke and is virtually never used. They do have Rwy 14/32 which is a one way runway (Land 32, Dep 14) but I've never seen it used and I'm certain they'll not assign that one to an A340 :-)

Have seen some heavies request 15R for departure when other configurations are in use and they usually get their request after a prolonged holding in position. This does mess up the system and greatly increases the risk of a runway incursion hence the delay to allow for greater coordination between controllers. We've had a few close calls on departures from this runway.

The typical runway configurations are:

Dep: Rwy 22R/Landing: Rwy 27 and Rwy 22L (hold short 27). They can approve full length 22L on request but may want to know reasons for the request. Heavies often use 22L for departure.

Dep Rwy 9/Landing: Rwy 4R. In good visual conditions, they may have turboprops & RJs landing on 4L as well. I've even seen an occasional MD80, B737 or A320 land on 4L as well. Rwy 4R is the low vis runway with Cat IIIb capability.

Dep Rwy 27/Landing Rwy 33L. Have seen the heavies use 33L often in this configuration.

Dep Rwy 33L/Landing 33L: this configuration usually happens in winter months with strong and gusty winds out of NW.

Dep Rwy 9/Land 15R. Have seen some turboprops assigned ILS 15R circle to Rwy9.

Very late night if winds permit, the airport goes to a one way operation: Dep 15R land Rwy 33L .. but you won't have to worry about that unless you're a freight dog.

Hope that helps ..

[Harry Cane]

Hi Lupa, as Bullethead said google earth is great help to get familiar with new places. Another feature that seems to be helpful for me is the tilt function of google earth. On the top right corner of the image and above the circular scale that lets you change laterally your point of view (from east to west, etc.) there is a horizontal scale used to set different vertical view angles. A kind of tilt. Put yourself above one of the runway thresholds and then lower your point of view using the vertical scale, clicking on the right hand x. Then, voila, you’ll see the runway right as if you were on final. Finally pick the Jepp airport chart and easily you can identify taxiways, intersections and ramps.

Chau LUPA y suerte en Boston
H.C

[flyboyike]

I think BOS is one of the easier and more pleasant ones to operate in, as major airports go.

[Admiral346]

And don't forget to get your Lobster and Crabs at "James Hook", the best Lobsterdealer in town - they'll package so the lobster will stillbe alive when you get home.
I always went out and got it in the morning before the flight back - ours would always leave in the afternoon...
And if you go there: Don't get blown on how big the lobster are - how big is the biggest pot you have at home? Man. i had ptoblems to cook 'em ...

enjoy, I envy you, you got the best east coast stop...

Nic

[FullWings]

And don't forget to get your Lobster and Crabs at "James Hook"
I was going through security early morning in BOS, with an Air France Captain in front of me carrying a large cardboard box, which just fitted through the X-ray machine. Quite a crowd gathered around the monitor, with much talking and pointing going on. I had a peek and the image showed it was packed full of lobsters (presumably live).

I had a mental image appear of an AF cockpit, crossing 30W, with the Captain sitting down under lots of white linen, bone china plate in front of him, wielding a set of lobster implements and sipping at a glass of chilled Chablis... :)

[captjns]

AirNav: KBOS - General Edward Lawrence Logan International Airport (http://airnav.com/airport/KBOS)

This site will give you a good preview of KBOS... current weather, notams, maps. Its a pretty good briefing

The charts are based on USNOAA charts which are different to the Jeppy charts you may be accustomed to.

Hope it helps, and enjoy some of the best seafood in the North East US.:ok:

[groundfloor]

Hi Lupa, if it`s your first time to the USA read the USA differences especially "how to speak americanese ie 13 thousand etc..." There are some speed requirement differences eg 220KIAS within 4Nm so if you fly a downwind activate appch phase and fly greendot..

Be very aware of the USA definition of a visual appch, if not happy ask for vectors to the ILS..Configure early to flap 2 - perhaps the atc`s are used to ac that slow down quicker.

Don`t be surprised if you struggle to understand ATC at first, one or two trips and you will have it..

They do it somewhat differently to Europe but it works!!

Enjoy:ok:

[LUPA93]

Dear All :
I just got back fm my KBOS trip and all your hints were very helpful. I could brief my cockpit colleagues instead of being briefed by them !!!

I did get 27 (220/25G35) for landing and considering it was my 1st landing on the 340 I should admit it hasn´t been the smoothiest touchdown of my carrier.
I took my time to clear the rwy (10kt being my max reference GS) and the tower came out with not a soft tone informing us he had traffic on final. As we hadn´t cross 22L yet, I literally sat on the brakes thinking someone may be coming on 22 and it made the joke of the cabin crew for the rest of the trip.
On our way out we used 33L and appart from the icy taxiways, the SID and Oceanic Clearance procedures were pretty simple and very similar to those at JFK which I remembered from my 747 days.
We loved the city (children and missus came along ) and thanks God we brought our sky jackets cos it got pretty cold on New Years.
Once again, thanks a lot to everybody and WAS Dulles and San Juan are my next ones so go ahead with your comments.
Un abrazo, LUPA