Thursday, November 29, 2007

Amboy Airport

Before the current Hancock airport was built, there was Amboy Airport and that's were Syracuse's first scheduled air services operated. Amboy Airport was located just north of Camilllus, just west of the New York State Fairgrounds (which are west of the city itself). According to Paul Freeman's, Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields page about Amboy Airport also known as Syracuse Municipal (http://www.airfields-freeman.com/NY/Airfields_NY_Centr.htm#syracusemuni), It was opened 1927 and closed in 1949. It had 3 intersecting runways and was bordered by rail tracks (which are still in use as the main line that goes from Albany to Buffalo). It was closed when the current airport opened and subsequently became a chemical waste bed with almost no trace of the airfield existing today. There are a few reminders of it with one of them being Airport Road that skirts the western edge of the site and a an old hanger that's now in use as a storage shed along that road. A third reminder is small portion of one of the runways is still in existence although it almost impossible to reach due to the swampy surroundings (I've tried to get to it myself). Another site that has some pictures of it is ONPIX, a digital collection of images form the Onondaga County Public Library local history collection which has a transportation page (http://drew.syr.edu/onpix/main.php?g2_itemId=2260).

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Syracuse General Aviation airfields

Syracuse's main airport, Hancock international, isn't the only airport in the Syracuse airport as several others exist to serve the general aviation community. One of these, Camillus airport is located to the west of the city, north of the main rail tracks near the site of the old Amboy Airport. It has a short paved runway and is visible from passing trains on the adjacent rail tracks (if you are leaving/arriving in the city from/to the west on Amtrak it's a good marker of when you are near the station). Besides the usual small Cessna's and Piper's, the airport is home to the Onondaga County Sheriff Department's Air One helicopter. Another Syracuse area airport is the Oswego County Airport located to the north of Syracuse near Fulton, NY. It has 2 intersecting paved runways and it's web page is: http://www.co.oswego.ny.us/airport.shtml
A 3rd airport is Michael Airfield Airport which is located along Route 11 just north of the city. It has a short paved runway and isn't used by many planes. There are also a few others in Central Square, Skaneateles, and Clay but they aren't as busy as the ones already mentioned. BTW the reason why there are no airfields to the eats or south of Syracuse is that those areas are either rural or are very hilly with few places to put an airfield.

Monday, November 26, 2007

American Eagle

American Eagle's once a day service to Dallas-Fort Worth is being suspended from January to the end of March due to lack of pilots and traditional low passenger numbers during this time period. This is not the only route being suspended as Rochester (NY) to Dallas-Fort Worth is also being suspended and numerous other routes across the country like Harrisburg to Chicago-O'Hare being reduced in frequency. According to an article in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram (http://www.star-telegram.com/business/story/322928.html), regional airlines across the country are experiencing a shortage of pilots due to fewer pilots and growing demand for pilots. This situation is a worldwide one and competition for pilots is intense and regional airlines are usually the ones who can the pay the least so they are at the bottom of the pecking order when it comes to attracting new pilots. American Eagle will retain it's 4x daily flights from Syracuse to Chicago-O'Hare during this time period.

Sunday, November 25, 2007

Thanksgiving weekend

Thanksgiving weekend in Syracuse did see some unuusal flights due to the higher demand. One of these was a US Airways Express EMB-170 that flew to New York La Guardia on Sunday mourning. (http://flightaware.com/live/flight/RPA3461/history/20071125/1108Z/KSYR/KLGA)
Also a US Airways Express CRJ-200 flew to Boston (http://flightaware.com/live/flight/AWI3992) this route is normally operated by a much smaller Saab-340. There was also a college football related charter,a Delta 737-800 which carried Cincinnati to play Syracuse University (SU lost) (http://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL9781).

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Watertown

Watertown International Airport is a small civil airport serving Watertown, New York. The airport itself is located just west of Watertown, half-way between Watertown and Sackets Harbor. It's one of the few airports whose code, ART, is also a word. It has 2 active 5,000 ft runways and is served by one commercial carrier, Big Sky Airlines operating as Delta Connection with 19 seat Beech-1900D's. There is one flight a day to Albany, and 3 flights a day to Boston with some flights continuing onto Ogdensburg or Massena. Big Sky has a hanger at the airport where they do maintenance work on the portion of their fleet that's based in the northeast. It's website is http://www.watertowninternational.com/

Sunday, November 18, 2007

Ithaca

I've been think and have realized that i should include ithaca's airport along with Watertown, Ogdensburg, and Massena New York since those airports are close to Syracuse and many people who live in those areas fly out of SYR du to the greater number of flights compared to ITH, ART, OGS, and MSS. Today I'm going to tlake about ithaca and then cover Watertown, Ogdensburg, and Massena over the coming days.
Ithaca/Tompkins County Airport is locaed along route 13 just northeast of the city. It's served by Northwest Airlink (2x Saab 340 to Detroit) and US Airways Express (3x CRJ-200 and 2xDash 8-100 to Philadelphia and 5x Saab-340 to New York Laguardia). It has a single 6,601 foot pave runway and small turf one. Untill a few years ago it was served by USAIR mainline jets from Pittsburgh but that route has since been discontinued. The website is; http://www.flyithaca.com/

Friday, November 16, 2007

First snowy day

Today was the first major snowy day of the season here in Syracuse, NY (lake-effect snow is falling outside my window as I write this). Syracuse is very well equippped to deal with snow so it doesn't cause as big a problem as it would at some other airports. Despite this weather, the Syracuse university football team which has been struggeling this year, flew a Continental 737-800 to Hartford, CT to play Connecticut tommorow (http://flightaware.com/live/flight/COA1906). Continental is the airline SU generally uses for it's sports teams when they need to charter a plane to fly to an away game. In the past, they have flown planes as big as a 757-300 on some of their away game charters. Also a Colgan Saab-340 flew from Syracuse to Albany and then back again (http://flightaware.com/live/flight/CJC9404). This flight which isn't a regualar scheduled one probably had something to do with maintenace as Colgan has a base there.

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

11/14/07

In contrast to Syracuse, Oneida County airport/Griffiss/Rome NY airport isn't served by any commcerial air service apart from occasional Atlantic City gambling charters. Empire Aero Center which is maintenance company, does work for airlines like Air Transat, Air Canada, and Jetblue. This past Sunday an Air transat A330-200 widebody jet was ferried there from Toronto presumably for maintenance (http://flightaware.com/live/flight/TSC83). Before it started operations Virgin America Stored some of it's planes there. Also there is a retired former Fedex 727-100 that was donated to Mohawk Valley Community College a few years ago for use by their enginering students.
Back in the Cold War, Griffiss Air Force Base was a major Strategic Air Command Base and home B-52's and KC-135's but was shut down during the defense cutbacks in the 1990's.

Syracuse's airport is also involved with the military being home a New York Air National Guard base on it's south east side. The 174th Tactical Figher Wing currently opeates the F16-C/D but is due to transition to the MQ-9 Reaper UAV in a few years.

As far as General aviation is concerned, Syracuse Executive Air Service and Landmark Aviation are to two Fixed-Base operators at the airport

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

11/13/07

Continuing with the previous post here's a guide for those who aren't familier with the seating capacities of the various types:
EMB-145, 50 seats 1x2 configuration
CRJ-200, 50 seats 2x2 configuration
EMB135 37 seats 1x2 configuration
A319 124 seats, with 3 rows of first (2x2 total 12 seats) and the rest economy (3x3 total 112 seats)
EMB-170 72 seats in a 2x2 configuration
Saab-340 34 seats in a 1x2 configuration
Dash-8 100 37 seats in a 2x2 configuration
Dash-8 300 50 seats in 2x2 configuration
A320 150 seats in 3x3 configuration
EMB-190 100 seats in 2x2 configuration
CRJ-700 (American Eagle, Delta Connection) 70 seats 2x2 configuration
CRJ-700 (United Express) 66 seats with 2 rows of first (1x2 total 6 seats) and the rest economy (2x2 total 60 seats)
DC9-30 100 seats, with 4 rows of first (2x2 total 16 seats) and the rest economy (3x3 total 84 seats)
DC9-50 125 seats, with 4 rows of first (2x2 total 16 seats) and the rest economy (3x3 total 109 seats)

In terms of Air Cargo, Syracuse is served by the following cargo companies with planes and destinations listed alongside (although this changes on weekends)
UPS 757-200F Louisville, Philadelphia
Fedex A300/A310 Memphis, 727-200F Newark (routing Burlington Vermont-Syracuse-Newark)
DHL DC9-30F Wilmington, Ohio
Wiggins (operating as Fedex Feeder) Cessna Caravan Plattsburgh NY
Business Airfreight (operating for UPS) EMB-110 Plattsburgh Potsdam

Monday, November 12, 2007

Welcome

Welcome to the new Central New York aviation news blog. This blog will deal with primarily with aviation news and events from the Syracuse and Utica-Rome NY, areas as gleaned from personal observations, Flightaware.com, and local news reports. Things like accidents, new service, diversions, charters, ferry flights etc will be the primary topics covered.

Currently Syracuse is served by the following airlines which serve the destinations listed alongside (this is interms of flights perday) (this also a reflection of weekday flights which often changes on the weekend):
American Eagle: Dallas Fort-Worth - 1xCRJ-700, Chicago O'Hare-4x EMB-145
United Express: Chicago O'Hare- 2x CRJ-700 2x CRJ-200 2x EMB-145, Washington-Dulles 2x CRJ-200 1xEMB-145, 1xCRJ-200
Continental Express: Newark 2x EMB-145 2x EMB-135, Cleveland- 4x EMB-145
Northwest: Detroit 2xDC9-50 1xDC9-30
Delta Connection: Cincinnati 3x CRJ-100, Atlanta 4xCRJ-200 1x CRJ-700, New York JFK 1x CRJ-100 3x EMB-145
JetBlue: New York JFK 2x A320 2x EMB-190, Orlando 1xA320, Fort Lauderdale 1x EMB-190
US Airways: Charlotte 2xA319, Washington-National 1xA319, Philadelphia 1xA319
US Airways Express: Washington-National 2x CRJ-200 1x EMB-170, Philadelphia 2x Dash 8-300 1xEMB-175, 3xCRJ-200
Boston 3x Saab-340, New York La Guardia 2xDash 8-100, 1xCRJ-200, 5x Saab-340

The Utica-Rome/Oneida County Airport located at the former Griffis airforce base currently has no commercial air service but does recieve charters and planes that are ferried there for maintenace by Empire Aero.