Well, the opportunity presented itself - wanted to get some good friends from Pgh to KEWR to catch a flight to Zurich and avoid the 5-7 hour drive. A 25+knot tailwind insured a short flight. I resisted and considered KCDW which I'm familiar with, or Linden which I'm not. But in the end, this was the excuse that justified the expense. There was enough IMC at takeoff to show what it was about but KEWR was 3500 scattered with showers and eventually t-storms - but no problem.
http://flightaware.com/live/flight/N215TG/history/20140831/1530Z/KAGC/KEWR
We used to fly into EWR regularly on charters. It's expensive, but easy. Understand they want you to be fast, so be as fast as you can. File IFR, and be on your A game, things go quick in NYC.
I filed, I was fast and I stayed on my A game. All was required. I was asked what speed I could do. I said 155knots but on descent I just kept it firewalled. I thought the Sunday of a holiday weekend might be lighter than usual but it wasn't. The controllers were in total shake and bake mode and vectored all incoming to 22L. After I intercepted the Localizer and started down I was asked how much HP my RV had, "260" I said and he said "that explains it" as I took over from the overtaxed AP. Doesn't get better than that for a homebuilt. Greased it with a 50knot xwind at the FAF and 25 at touchdown.
Airnav says they have an FBO with well-reviewed service. A $15 landing fee waived with 25 gallon purchase. Current fuel price $6.90. If he's going IFR the bravo floor is irrelevant.
http://www.airnav.com/airport/KLDJ
Yeah but that FBO is just a front desk with some chairs and a bit of fuel. I don't remember there being a pilot lounge or a crew car (the reviews seem to confirm the crew car).
Either way, if there was a million air at the field, I still would avoid flying there.
Well, Linden might have been a good $$$ choice because Signature at KEWR is expensive as hell.
The $35 'handling charge' was waived for a fillup of $8.175/gallon 100LL.
Ramp parking for 2 hours was $80. There was also a $5 "infrastructure" fee.
However, we used the loaner car for lunch at the Spanish Tavern in the Ironbound and then took our friends to the United terminal.
I have no idea what the Port Authority will bill me for - I couldn't find a Web reference other than this thread so I'm expecting a $125 bill in the mail. We'll see....
We didn't appreciate a line staff that had to be called out to put us in a parking spot and offered exactly zero help while unloading during a passing rain shower. The front desk did their job with sulleness and blank stares. This is not an FBO that gets a lot of happy travelers - they have regular pros and random/rude passengers. Shields up and all.
OTOH, we got lucky when the storm that formed overhead went wild over NYC and stopped all international departures to the east and a whole lot of other traffic. The airport turned into a parking lot waiting for the wx. But we were going home to the SSW which was clear. I hurried a bit to beat the departure release and was rewarded with a front of the line departure. I was on my b-game now at best and got scolded once for not fully understanding the SID and for some reason didn't have mode C for the first 5,000' but we got out ahead of many many idling and parked jets. Linden had nothing on us!
The shake and bake approach into KEWR was a blast and my passengers got the full treatment. A great day. Just don't go in there half stepping or you will get stepped on.
