Why? Giant long and wide runways are hardly a challenge & there was the chance that you would cost someone more in jet fuel than your 162 is worth. I have over 130 airports in my logbook and IIRC the only Bravo was Montreal Trudeau where I had a legitimate need to use the airport. I promise you that a 100 meter grass strip is more of a challenge than a two-mile runway that is a couple of hundred feet wide.
I agree that landing at Bravo airports, especially now, isn't all that much of a challenge but a challenge and fun are not always mutually inclusive. I can have fun without it being challenging and I can have challenging without it being fun.
I mean the FAA had to implement a TFR over Chicago-Midway (KMDW) because they had to shutdown the tower due to staffing cutback for COVID and after doing so, the local pilots decided to come out and play and were doing touch-n-goes because they could and it was fun. I'm sure it was a blast. I'm a little disappointed in their judgement that saw the airport closed for everyone except air-carriers and would have preferred if they had excercised some more discretion so that other pilots could get some playtime in too but I understand the want to do it and its not really clear if it was just the sheer number of pilots flying in or a couple of bad actors that thought doing closed patterns was a good idea so I cant begrudge them too much
For that matter, why fly into the grass strip or fly anywhere really? Not all of our flights our purpose/mission driven or intended for a "challenge." Heck, most of my flights lately have just been for the fun of flying around. I dont really go anywhere, just turn circles in the sky just for the thrill and pleasure/enjoyment that comes with flying. I'd absolutely fly into more Bravo airports for the thrill and enjoyment of playing where the big boys live. Its like touring Wrigley Field or Fenway Park or any stadium and getting to go on the field or going behind the scenes at Disney World, you're doing something that not everyone can say they've done (and that starts at takeoff with flying a plane).
I mean after seeing a couple posts recently on here and youtube, I might try to do all 3 Bravo's in Florida before things open back up too much because its fun.
As to getting in someone's way? Well I dont live my life worrying about who's way I might be getting in, I remain respectful but I have just as much right to be where I am as the next person, worrying about getting in their way just puts me at the disadvantage and implicitly allows them to get in my way. That being said, I dont think that was really a consideration here and its probably rather unlikely that he was in any one's way.... Consider that United is only operating 9 flights per day out of Newark/EWR their 3rd largest hub and primary hub for the east coast and europe; I mean someone just recently did a video of low approaches to all 3 NYC airports of EWR, LGA and JFK in succession in one flight and New York approach laughed but barely even blinked at authorizing the request and NYC is some of the stingiest airspace I've encountered when it comes to providing services/clearances, especially if those services/requests put you in conflict with traffic to/from their main airports.
And if that's not enough for you, not only is ATC permitting approaches and landings across the country to airports that are traditionally difficult to get into if you're flying GA, it was completely doable in a light sport without ATC asking once for you to keep your speed up, enough said.
Are you sure you didn't need the Displaced Threshold section for the takeoff
?
Cheers
I flew into KPHL last summer to pick someone up. It wasn't one of their really long runways (9/27 L&R at 9500 and 12000ft) but you could hear the chuckle in the ground controller's voice when he asked if I, in my piper arrow, could accept an intersection take off. I almost joked back that if he wanted to clear me to take off, land and take off again, I could probably take off, climb to 100 ft and still at least get a touch and go in with the space remaining, if not a stop and go... I didn't though, just chuckled back and said "yeah I think we can manage that."
