Charlotte Douglas - another Class Bravo airport in the books

Martin Pauly

Martin Pauly

Line Up and Wait
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Martin Pauly
I recently checked off another Class Bravo airport on my bucket list: Charlotte Douglas. If I counted correctly, that was #12 on the list - about 1/3 done.

The flight there was over the Smoky Mountains with high terrain and a few storms that required attention, but nothing unmanageable. Charlotte ATC was very nice, as was the FBO (Wilson). They had not charges besides fuel, and their free ice cream bars are delicious!

 
Wilson at KCLT is one of my favorite FBOs.

The physical facility is nice but it’s all about the people and management. It became a fav when they were operating out of a temporary shack waiting for their current building to be completed.


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Congrats been there done that. A great FBO.
 
The whole CLT experience is usually seamless. Between a rock solid ATC team and Wilson, there is not much to not like there...
 
I regret missing you on your last pass through the DFW area... we need to remember to not repeat that mistake.
 
Here is the take-off from CLT, an hour or so after I landed there. Something happened on this flight that stands out, before I even took off. I was waiting for take-off in line behind a Cirrus, both of us without air conditioning, and both of us sweating on this hot and humid afternoon. An American Airlines crew showed sympathy for us and suggested to Tower to let us go ahead of him when it was their turn. See it all in the video:
 
Martin Pauly said:
Here is the take-off from CLT, an hour or so after I landed there. Something happened on this flight that stands out, before I even took off. I was waiting for take-off in line behind a Cirrus, both of us without air conditioning, and both of us sweating on this hot and humid afternoon. An American Airlines crew showed sympathy for us and suggested to Tower to let us go ahead of him when it was their turn. See it all in the video:
Click to expand...

Were you thinking about wake turbulence? Like not getting airborne until after the landing traffics touchdown point.
 
18:15 - my home airport!

also several cameos by our very own @TRocket tearing up the pattern at statesville!
 
luvflyin said:
What airport they talkin about when going to the beach
Click to expand...

good question. I wasn't paying THAT much attention. I just heard a familiar redneck voice on the radio, then recognized the tail #.
 
luvflyin said:
Oh. I figured there was like a usual place y'all just called the beach.
Click to expand...

eh, hard to say, there are a lot of beach options from charlotte in a plane. I'd say 'typically' the beach means somewhere around myrtle (at least for me) but def not always cause u got wilmington, myrtle, charleston, savannah....all doable from CLT, even in a 172.
 
luvflyin said:
Were you thinking about wake turbulence? Like not getting airborne until after the landing traffics touchdown point.
Click to expand...
Wake turbulence is always a consideration, even at my home base (KCID) which is a Class Charlie airport. In this case at CLT, I was taking off into a headwind, following a landing aircraft. A rule of thumb is that a ten knot headwind is approx. 1,000 feet per minute, so that is the distance by which the wind will move any wake turbulence from the preceding aircraft towards and past me. Typical aiming point for jets for touchdown is 1,000 feet down the runway, and my take-off roll in the A36 is also usually more than 1,000 feet. All in all, unless the preceding aircraft touches down way late (e.g. displaced threshold), with any kind of headwind there is rarely a problem in my airplane on take-off.

Now, tailwind, that's a different story... And on take-off, there are entirely different considerations.

- Martin
 
My only landing at CLT was not too long after I got my PPL in a rented 172. Was picking up something from a server farm there. I was cleared to land on 18L but not until the 737 that was simultaneously landing on Rwy 23 had crossed 18L. Had to do a couple of s-turns on final to ensure that. When getting ready for takeoff, I was in a rush and didn’t use the check list. As I approached rotation speed on the rollout, I couldn’t rotate. Aborted the takeoff and taxied back and realized I had left the control lock in place. Memorable trip.
 
My favorite ‘trick’ at KCLT was to do a super short landing on 23 and let the tower know at touchdown that I could take turn off on D. That would take you straight to Wilson without crossing the two main runways.

I recall trying this a number of times and only getting it approved twice; once in a tailwheel Maule and once in an RV10. This was back before the 3 parallel runways and some new taxiways. Runway 23 was used a lot for light GA traffic back then probably because the airport was a bit busier than today.

Many years ago, long before I moved to NC and Charlotte was a much smaller town, I used to travel down to Chester SC each spring for a week of sailplane racing. We would always fly at least one task involving 50 sailplanes trying to circumnavigate
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Charlotte; KDCM to KEQY to KRUQ and back to KDCM would be an example. I guess KCLT was just a sleepy Class D back in the 80s.

I still like flying in there today.
 
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