Freight Doggin' in Syracuse - Volume 3
Rob Belisario, Chief Flight Instructor for Executive Air Services at KSYR, tells us about some of the interesting experiences he had as a freight pilot.
My friend Bill and I went to Ithaca the other day for East Hill Flying Club’s pancake breakfast. At Syracuse, ATIS Charlie was up, and it called for light winds, a decent ceiling and viz, and a whole boatload of ramp and taxiway closures. Approaching Ithaca, their ATIS advertised VFR at the field and another bunch of ramp and taxiway closures. AHHH, the joys of summer, with the rush to perform all the repaving and striping before the snow flies again! As I mentioned to Bill, it reminded me of that time back in ‘97… I spent some time during my 2 years in the FedEx Caravan for Wiggins as a “Floater”. They’d put me up in a hotel in a city where the local pilot was either sick or on vacation and I’d do his or her runs while they were off. So it was that I found myself in Plattsburg for two weeks doing what we affectionately called the night shuttle. I would depart Plattsburg at around 8:30 PM, head to Newark for the unload / reload and then depart for Syracuse at around 3:30 am. There I’d drop the local freight and load up for PLB, finally arriving at about 8 AM. By the time I’d get to the hotel in Plattsburg for the 9 hours of crew rest, sleep would come easily and I’d do it all again that next evening. During this period, the Port Authority of NY and NJ decided to close Newark’s runway 4R/22L for refurbishment. The normal routine of simultaneous arrivals on one parallel and departures on the other was all knotted up, with everyone trying to use the same runway. The controllers became very creative. The drill during the runway closure was to send all the inbounds to Teterboro to intercept the Newark ILS 22R localizer, track it inbound, and circle into right traffic to land on runway 29. Departures and heavy arrivals were using 22R. Meanwhile, all other arrivals were required to keep the circling maneuver inside of two miles so the people working late in the World Trade Center didn’t get nervous when they looked out their windows. 
Naturally this arrangement snarled inbound traffic, so the first night I did a lot of cranking and banking as the harried controllers tried to slide my 150 knot David in between the Goliaths who were being told to keep 180 to 200 knots to the marker. The second night, ATC attempted some flow control, so I got a 90-minute ground stop in PLB. When I finally got airborne, I spent a very lovely 1.2 hours letting the GPS coupled autopilot bring me south on the arrival, only to be rewarded with a 2 turn hold at the Huguenot VOR.Picture this maze of lights: It’s a perfect VFR night with unlimited viz, I join two other aircraft holding at HUO at various altitudes, two more are holding at WEARD intersection and three at COATE. Off to the east, there are at least another 10 to 20 inbounds in a 40-mile arc proceeding to Teterboro from various compass points to join the 22R localizer for the circle to 29. Not wanting to screw up his wonderfully choreographed, 180 knot ballet like the night before, the approach controller vectored me straight to the field. When I called it in sight 15 miles out, he switched me to the tower. The tower guy had a plan. I was to descend to 2000 feet and head straight for his tower! I would then join the LEFT DOWNWIND for runway 29 and he would somehow squeeze me in between the RWY 29 arrivals circling from the right downwind. As I overflew the tower cab, things started happening fast. Remember, I’m still at 2000 feet on a tight left downwind over an airport that’s at sea level.TOWER: “Wiggins 7165, do you have the 737 turning final for 29 over the Statue of Liberty, the Airbus halfway down the right downwind and the DC-10 just starting her circle at the marker?”7165: “Yessir, we have them all.”TOWER: “Good, you’re cleared to land runway 29 behind the seven three and in front of the Airbus. Will you be able to get down from there?”7165: “Shouldn’t be a problem, although the seven three may still be on the runway.”TOWER: “Yeah, well, cleared to land, break, American 173, change of plans. Traffic you’re following is a Caravan on a high left downwind for runway 29, do you have him in sight?”AMERICAN 173: “In sight, American 173.”TOWER: “Good! Cleared to land behind the Caravan…”Okay now, power lever to flight idle, all 30 degrees of flaps selected, turn close in left base as the 737 slides below my 9 o’clock, the DC-10 turns right base over the Hudson River and the Airbus salutes Lady Liberty, throw in some S-turns and a big slip until past the piers, Adrenaline pumping now on short final, (is that the William Tell Overture I hear in my head?), then I’m down on the very edge of the displaced threshold, off the runway at taxiway ROMEO just as the 737 clears at the end on ZULU and the Airbus is over the SeaLand piers on short final.Next night, same scenario, only this time our Elmira pilot is also holding below me at the Huguenot VOR. As we depart holding within 5 minutes of each other for the visual, the west winds are much lighter than the previous night, and she has an idea. She requests the visual to runway 11 and gets it, so I do the same. When I’m switched to the tower, she’s already jinking and s-turning to finesse her landing on 11 between opposite direction arrivals on 29. Then it’s my turn.TOWER: Wiggins 7165, do you see the 727 just touching down on 29 and the 737 turning final over the Statue of Liberty?”7165: “Affirmative.”TOWER: “Good, cleared to land runway 11 when the seven two clears, and make turn off at taxiway SIERRA.”Two weeks later I’m back on my normal midnight JFK run and when I get back to Syracuse, I’m double turned and sent back south, this time to Newark for a quick turn. Actually, “quick turn” is a euphemism, but I did get to see the “Sewer” in the daylight for the first time. Now the routine was arrivals and heavy departures on 22R and all other departures on 29. Taxiing out from FedEx on BRAVO, I joined a conga line of about 25 other aircraft… Ahh, but that’s another story.
Rob Belisario