Ayubogg From UK - Scotland, joined Mar 2007, 216 posts, RR: 0 Posted (5 years 11 months 3 weeks 4 days 2 hours ago) and read 2108 times:
The topic title is pretty self explanatory. I was browsing the database and realised that my favourite time of day to be in an airport is dusk. The runway lights are on (which is incredibly inspiring for me), in the Americas, a lot of European flights are departing so there is great spotting, and there is still enough activity to make your time in the airport worht while without the hectic bustle of midday. In my opinion you can divide the day in the following chapters:
Dawn (5am-8am)
Morning (8am-11am)
Midday (11am-3pm)
Afternoon (3pm-6pm)
Dusk (6pm-8pm)
Night (8pm-1am)
Also, what I love about dusk versus night is that you can still appreciate an entire aircraft whereas night, you can only see their lights.
Anyways, any post is welcome and let's see if we can make a good topic for the forum.
Cheers!
-Ayubogg
RedTailDTW From United States of America, joined Oct 2006, 730 posts, RR: 3 Reply 1, posted (5 years 11 months 3 weeks 4 days 2 hours ago) and read 2098 times:
Mine would have to be Night but Morning comes really close. I like night mostly because airports look different at night then they do in the daytime, especially at DTW, DFW, and ORD.
Rom1 From United Kingdom, joined Jun 2005, 134 posts, RR: 0 Reply 2, posted (5 years 11 months 3 weeks 4 days 2 hours ago) and read 2072 times:
living in Europe, Down is the best, as all the flights from Asia and America land between 6.00am and 10.00am.
In America the afternoon would be interesting as well with the opposite seeing all the flights from Europe landing.
The advantage with down in europe is the fresh air of the morning and the runway lights are still switched on.
AirTran737 From United States of America, joined Apr 2004, 3639 posts, RR: 12 Reply 3, posted (5 years 11 months 3 weeks 4 days 2 hours ago) and read 2068 times:
There's nothing like walking the flight line at 0400 when the only people who are awake are the line mechanics who are doing overnight checks. You wan walk in relative peace and quite, knowing full well than in an hour you will be surrounded by the hustle and bustle of the days activities.
Nice Trip Report!!! Great Pics, thanks for posting!!!! B747Forever
Tlfd29 From United States of America, joined Jul 2005, 81 posts, RR: 0 Reply 4, posted (5 years 11 months 3 weeks 4 days 2 hours ago) and read 2054 times:
Dawn and dusk are always serene times at the airport.
Concorde1518 From United States of America, joined May 2001, 746 posts, RR: 0 Reply 5, posted (5 years 11 months 3 weeks 4 days 2 hours ago) and read 2044 times:
I'd go with dawn to morning all the way. You can start to see the crowds of morning business travellers form, the smells of the coffee and cinnabon shops, the newspapers are fresh, and the overnight/left really early in the morning flights land and the ramp starts to wake up. Plus, I love the lighting in the morning when the sun's just starting to rise. Unless the early morning crowds screw you over in terms of long waits, I love getting on the early AM flights and landing so I have my whole day ahead of me. There's nothing like the feeling of landing in your destination while still able to hit a place up during breakfast hours.
JFK Rush Hour! If you love aviation you have to love it when the clock strikes 3pm! The real action starts at 5pm. Tail after tail of widebody lining up. What a great sight!
DeltaAVL From United States of America, joined Mar 2007, 1893 posts, RR: 7 Reply 7, posted (5 years 11 months 3 weeks 4 days 2 hours ago) and read 2037 times:
Yep, it's definitely got to be morning for me as well. You get to the airport as it's dark, go through security, and board your flight. Then, while taxiing out you begin to see the faint trickles of the sunrise. I love it.
By the way, this should be in Polls & Prefs.
"We break, We bend, With hand in hand, When hope is gone, Just hang on." -Guster
N710PS From United States of America, joined Oct 2006, 1166 posts, RR: 4 Reply 8, posted (5 years 11 months 3 weeks 4 days 2 hours ago) and read 2033 times:
Early morning as the sun comes up to show the mist that mother night has left behind. Also I love departures around maybe 20 minutes before sunset and than on climb out you have a chance to see the light in all of it's glory.
There is plenty of room for Gods animals, right next to the mashed potatoes!
DeltAirlines From United States of America, joined May 1999, 8771 posts, RR: 13 Reply 9, posted (5 years 11 months 3 weeks 4 days 2 hours ago) and read 2026 times:
One of the coolest times I've been in an airport terminal was 2:45 a.m. - me and a friend wanted to meet our football team's charter, and we had received a tip they'd be parking at the terminal. Was pretty cool being in the airport and absolutely nobody was there.
Other than that though, I like afternoon the most, 4 p.m. is probably the best here in BOS, as you've got a round of European arrivals coming in then (4-5), a lot of short-haul flights leaving during this time, and then around 6, you get the first round of European departures plus a round of West Coast departures.
N2DCaves From United States of America, joined May 2007, 32 posts, RR: 0 Reply 10, posted (5 years 11 months 3 weeks 4 days 2 hours ago) and read 2026 times:
I always enjoyed dawn.
The RON A/C were silent at the gates (except for that high-pitched whine of electrical ground power) and there wasn't much movement on the ramp...yet. It was the calm before the storm. There always seemed to be a thin layer of fog a few feet off the ground over the airport. The cargo carrier jets were prepping to taxi out of the cargo ramp area off in the distance.
Then the sun rose and the APU's came to life. The first round of bags arrived at the belt loader and things start jumping.
Even if I worked late the night before when there were problems galore (WX, delays, diversions, etc.), everything started back at square one in the morning.
(Late evening wasn't bad either, though. Especially on a good day. Waiting for the last arrivals usually meant sitting out on the belt loaders listening to the killdeers running around the ramp.)
Never really had a bad day on the ramp. Wish I could say the same for the ticket counter/gates/OPS.
Apologies...waxing nostalgic.
"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." Albert Einstein
Ayubogg From UK - Scotland, joined Mar 2007, 216 posts, RR: 0 Reply 11, posted (5 years 11 months 3 weeks 4 days 1 hour ago) and read 2012 times:
Quoting Concorde1518 (Reply 5): I'd go with dawn to morning all the way. You can start to see the crowds of morning business travellers form, the smells of the coffee and cinnabon shops, the newspapers are fresh, and the overnight/left really early in the morning flights land and the ramp starts to wake up. Plus, I love the lighting in the morning when the sun's just starting to rise. Unless the early morning crowds screw you over in terms of long waits, I love getting on the early AM flights and landing so I have my whole day ahead of me. There's nothing like the feeling of landing in your destination while still able to hit a place up during breakfast hours.
You made me change my mind, you are absolutely right. It reminded me of a UA flight I took from PDX to LAX departing at 7:30am. Best atmosphere in the world.
Quoting DeltaAVL (Reply 7): By the way, this should be in Polls & Prefs.
I know but all the threads I've started in Polls & Prefs only get around two responses so I'm trying my luck here in Civil Aviation.
AeroWesty From United States of America, joined Oct 2004, 18839 posts, RR: 64 Reply 13, posted (5 years 11 months 3 weeks 4 days 1 hour ago) and read 1975 times:
This is my favorite time, but only because I grew up with SFO as my airport. 8am-9:30am sitting at the parking lot next to 1R would put you this -><- close to the big birds. For the east coast, it would be afternoon/early evening, when all the heavies come in from/depart for the coast and Europe.
RedTailDTW From United States of America, joined Oct 2006, 730 posts, RR: 3 Reply 14, posted (5 years 11 months 3 weeks 4 days 1 hour ago) and read 1966 times:
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