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Detroit's Metro Airport isn't really centrally located, however, the typical landing patterns have planes flying towards the central part of the metro and looping around. It's very common to see trains of planes (heh) flying in from the south then making a 180 turn as they begin to descend. There's also a couple of smaller airports around (typically for general aviation and small jets) that adds planes into the mix as well as an Air National Guard base on the north side of the metro that typically has Coast Guard helis and sometimes jet fighters flying northeast across the metro area.
Location: East Central Pennsylvania/ Chicago for 6yrs.
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Originally Posted by BIG CATS
Sky Harbor is pretty weak. Live close to O' Hare sometime, with 3 times the runways and far more flights, which continue bombarding airspace 24-7. After 8PM here at Sky Harbor, air traffic drops off significantly. Not so for O' Hare. It. Never. Stops.
Yes Planes always lined up to land, especially in the night Sky and Nearly right over Downtown. Coming from the East/Southeast.
AS THIS PICTURE SHOWS.... heading to O'Hare....
Tucson obviously doesn't have the most air traffic but might have the LOUDEST air traffic. Davis-Monthan is a huge base and it's only five miles from Downtown Tucson and Downtown is directly under the flight path. The military planes are much louder than your average commercial plane, and I hear them going above me a minimum of ten times a day, almost everyday, where I can barely hear anything for about a minute even inside my apartment. Easily the most annoying type of air traffic, but it's the military so it's important for them to keep the pilots in tip-top shape. At least Tucson's airport is practically non-existent, if we had Sky Harbor where Tucson Airport is with Davis-Monthan being like two miles away and so close to DT Tucson, Tucson would easily be #1 in my book for noticeable air traffic. Also Tucson Police Department has this strange obsession with helicopters so they are always out and about.
San Diego. Downtown as someone noted, has planes fly directly above a heavily populated/tourist areas. Very low too. Also at the beaches/throughout town lots of planes (with banners!)/helicopters. And lastly, due to Miramar, tons of fighter jets/helicopters flying around on a daily basis all over.
San Diego is a fun (or depending on your definition of fun) place to land. Most airliners come in from the east, as they do in LA, due to the prevailing western winds. However, unlike LA, San Diego's airport was built just west of a hill. So the approaches are very near to the ground, and to add on to the "fun", there is a multi-story parking garage (or was) right near the end of the runway. Also factor in the close proximity to downtown and you feel like you are flying into the heart of the city.
I would say San Diego is #2, right behind Boston Logan for close-in airports. However, Phoenix and San Jose would rank high.
But this thread isn't about close-in airports, it is about traffic. I think I would go back to the Seattle metro as another poster mentioned you have all the Boeing plants, plus Lake Union, which will not have jets obviously, but heavy float plane traffic.
San Diego is a fun (or depending on your definition of fun) place to land. Most airliners come in from the east, as they do in LA, due to the prevailing western winds. However, unlike LA, San Diego's airport was built just west of a hill. So the approaches are very near to the ground, and to add on to the "fun", there is a multi-story parking garage (or was) right near the end of the runway. Also factor in the close proximity to downtown and you feel like you are flying into the heart of the city.
I love it too, and yes the garage is still there. I always make sure to have a window seat on the left when flying to SAN.
Detroit's Metro Airport isn't really centrally located, however, the typical landing patterns have planes flying towards the central part of the metro and looping around. It's very common to see trains of planes (heh) flying in from the south then making a 180 turn as they begin to descend. There's also a couple of smaller airports around (typically for general aviation and small jets) that adds planes into the mix as well as an Air National Guard base on the north side of the metro that typically has Coast Guard helis and sometimes jet fighters flying northeast across the metro area.
This right here. I'm from Michigan and Detroit area has quite a bit air traffic.
Charlotte is up there, perhaps not nearly as much as the other cities listed, but its up there. Its cool actually driving into Charlotte at night from Columbia on 77, and about halfway between Columbia and Charlotte you start to see a line of lights in the sky coming out of CLT.
I work in downtown Chicago and live on the north side. Airplanes flying all over above me are very much a part of my entire day.
Between O'hare being northwest of downtown and Midway being southwest of downtown - you basically get planes criss crossing the city at all times.
O'hare had more aircraft movements than any other airport in the world last year (I didn't know that until I just checked the stats). 881,000 takeoffs or landings last year. Midway had 250,000 takeoff and landings last year.
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I always make sure to have a window seat on the left when flying to SAN.
