Heading towards taking off on Runway 23 Right....



Crappy pic I know...wasn't at RDU to take pics so just deal with it being crappy anyway, had a little free time this afternoon and spent it up at the observation deck at RDU Airport...that is my get away from the stresses of life spot...when the weather is as good as it was today you can't beat hanging out up there for a few...fun, relaxing, and free place to chill out for awhile directions are listed on the official RDU Airport website but if you have any questions about directions, or you want help understanding airport communications they pipe into the observation deck drop me a PM...

9/29/2006 8:47:47 PM

i am at the airport too much as it is right now - people go there just to watch?

9/29/2006 8:54:45 PM

Quote :

"i am at the airport too much as it is right now - people go there just to watch?"

Yep...and their there is almost always a crowd at RDU on a good weather day
considering the fact that there is also a playground for children and you have a great, low cost way to entertain the kids for an afternoon....better than sticking them in front of a tv

[Edited on September 29, 2006 at 9:06 PM. Reason : damn my spelling]

9/29/2006 9:04:08 PM

two-three right, pos and hold

9/29/2006 9:06:01 PM

so do you just watch united/american (i'm fairly certain that picture is facing the runway for C)? or is the tower located so you can see takeoffs from A and C

how many planes does rdu push out in an hour? 6-8?

9/29/2006 9:07:31 PM

Quote :

"so do you just watch united/american (i'm fairly certain that picture is facing the runway for C)? or is the tower located so you can see takeoffs from A and C how many planes does rdu push out in an hour? 6-8?"

You can see takeoffs from runways 23R/5L and somewhat of 32....Runways 5R/23L is Obscured by terminal A...
I am not knowledgeable enough to give an exact number of flights out each hour but I can say there was more than 8 outbound in an hour while I was there today....and planes are also landing every few mins as well...

For those with receivers/scanners you can find frequency info here:
http://tinyurl.com/zprlk

9/29/2006 9:12:44 PM

I took a few flying lessons at RDU my sophomore year. It was awesome being in a tiny Cessna 172, taxi-ing (sp?) around all those jets and talking to the control tower.

9/29/2006 9:13:08 PM

they didnt arrest you for terrorism?

9/29/2006 9:14:21 PM

Quote :

"they didnt arrest you for terrorism?"

Don't know why they would although under the current adminstration doing anything, anywhere I guess can be classified as GWB "turrism"

But, This is not the soapbox and I am not gonna discuss politics in this thread...

Back to the subject of the thread: RDU Observation Deck can be a great place to visit!

9/29/2006 9:30:00 PM

i'm doing my solo cross country this weekend

9/29/2006 9:48:10 PM

Josh-
Good luck and hoping for fair wx for ya

9/29/2006 9:49:40 PM

gah i hope i make it back to rdu tonight - delayed and won't arrive until 2:30-3am right now

9/29/2006 9:54:21 PM

Quote :

"gah i hope i make it back to rdu tonight - delayed and won't arrive until 2:30-3am right now"

Ya...the actual travel can be teh suxxors...sorry about ya having to be stuck in the delay deal...been there done that...

9/29/2006 10:00:38 PM

Quote :

"how many planes does rdu push out in an hour? 6-8?"

i suspect it's waaaay more than that, at least if they're busy

9/29/2006 10:16:30 PM

i figured 6-8/hr during normal hours - i guess i was way off - the 6-8am morning rush is typically higher i imagine

waiting on this bastard to get here and then turn
http://flightaware.com/live/flight/AAL469

2:30am estimated arrival - i imagine we'll make up 15-20min. in the air though

9/29/2006 10:20:36 PM

Flightaware is teh wins for air info...damn good site

9/29/2006 10:26:54 PM

^^i don't know, i'm just guessing

they definitely COULD easily have WAY more than 6-8 depart in an hour, though

9/29/2006 10:32:04 PM

heh i'm not talking about max throughput - of course they COULD have more - i meant it as rdu is a relatively small airport with a small # of runways

9/29/2006 10:35:49 PM

^^hey, so do you know what aircraft you'll be flying after training or do you get slotted? and if you end up top of your class can you go top gun?

9/29/2006 10:40:03 PM

2 runways, but only 1 for transport

i flew a bunch out of RDU when i first started flying.

sometimes i was backed up taxiing for 20 minutes just to take off. and when i got cleared it was basically "fucking go or you'll die".

9/30/2006 7:47:19 AM

Quote :

"2 runways, but only 1 for transport "

?

9/30/2006 1:22:21 PM

rdu is not a small airport



relative to what? atlanta, chicago, orlando, la, new york?

9/30/2006 1:29:08 PM

Technically you're not supposed to go there after sundown, but I like to sit out there at like 1 AM and listen to AIR or Arcade Fire or some other gay shit.

9/30/2006 3:22:14 PM

^have you seen the 747 cargo that lands at night?

9/30/2006 4:36:32 PM

The observation deck is pretty cool, its went over well the few times that I took girls there after a dinner out. My junior year of undergrad, I worked at Southern Jet and my office window looked out over the ramp and runway. Nothing like watching aircraft take off on a slow work day.

10/1/2006 12:40:58 PM

solo cross country was today, aside from a few minor things it all went well

round trip was around 110nm, now i just need to knock out my long cross country this week

10/2/2006 9:48:49 PM

underPSI are you sure about that? To the best of my knowledge, there isn't a 747 that comes in to RDU... I live at the end of the runway out by I-540..... There's a pair of A300's (One UPS and one FED EX) that come in early evening and out by about 11pm. There's also the American 777 to and From London every afternoon/evening..

Not saying there aren't big aircraft, there is, but i don't think any 747's fly into RDU.

10/2/2006 10:11:42 PM

there used to be a 747 out there occasionally that had no markings except for 2 crossed swords on the tail

the two stories i heard were that it was a sultan who went to duke med for medical treatment or that it was a sultan whose daughter went to duke

10/2/2006 10:17:21 PM

I'll believe that, but as far as regularly scheduled flights, the A300's and the 777 are the largest.... Also, UPS and delta both have 757's that regularly come and go, and some of the Charter airlines have flown a couple L-1011's every once in a while.

10/2/2006 10:21:37 PM

what was the story behind the f/a-18 that crashed there a few years back? i was trying to remember that the other day

10/2/2006 10:54:00 PM

Talking about this?

http://www.popasmoke.com/notam2/archive/index.php/t-4739.html

10/2/2006 11:18:02 PM

^ yep, thats it.

thx.

10/3/2006 12:39:36 AM

Can you smoke on the observation deck?

10/3/2006 1:09:23 AM

CarZin's plane should be out there, but I think it is parked a little too far to the left to show up in the pic.

[Edited on October 3, 2006 at 1:38 AM. Reason : l]

10/3/2006 1:37:15 AM

it's the terrorists logging flight patterns

10/3/2006 1:59:28 AM

Mr Joshua, the plane with crossed swords may have been for the 'princess' of Qatar. She began her freshman year at duke when I was working out there and we dealt with them quite a few times. It was an A340 if I recall correctly and they spent ridiculous amounts of money.

10/3/2006 8:09:34 AM

Quote :

"underPSI are you sure about that? To the best of my knowledge, there isn't a 747 that comes in to RDU... I live at the end of the runway out by I-540..... There's a pair of A300's (One UPS and one FED EX) that come in early evening and out by about 11pm. There's also the American 777 to and From London every afternoon/evening.. "

yeah, i'm sure. i have a buddy who lives in harrington grove and his house is in the flight path for 23R and he's seen one fly over before about 12:30 or 1am. i also know a guy who worked for fedex out there and he said the same thing about a 747 would come in 2-3 times a week around 1am and depart around 5am. he said its some freight company out there.

and you can set your watch be the fedex airbus. that thing arrives on time everytime.

10/3/2006 9:25:09 AM

So I might have a little more free time later this afternoon (if everything goes ok with my schedule) and might end up going back up to RDU...If anyone wants to join me or wants to come up and say hey feel free to PM me and I will let ya know if I end up there...

10/3/2006 11:04:31 AM

^^^ Dunno, I'm almost certain that it was a 747, that was that was the only reason that i took note of it

10/3/2006 2:19:28 PM

ive always wanted to find this oberservation deck

10/3/2006 2:34:50 PM

^^ The one that you saw could easily have been a 747. The only one that I saw was the A340 but that was only when the daughter and her mother were around. Yeah, an A340 for 2 people and their entourage... It would only make sense that the father or others would ride around in a bigger a/c

10/3/2006 3:03:31 PM

It was indeed a 747-SP1, and it was in Qatari royal family livery. Here is a link to the aircraft with many pictures:

http://www.jetphotos.net/showphotos.php?regsearch=VP-BAT

10/3/2006 3:06:53 PM

haha. a 747 that hasn't hit puberty.

10/3/2006 4:00:58 PM