Just a Tuesday in Aviation
The Original Plan.
It was supposed to be simple: a one-day trip in which I commuted out of South Florida into the New York area, where the airplane was waiting. I would then meet up with my colleague and fly a four legs in one day, ending in the New York area again, which would allow me to commute back to South Florida. Easy!
That’s the trip I had last week. By the time it was over, I’d booked and cancelled three separate commercial flights, driven farther than planned, and the departure airport for the trip itself had changed four times before I ever left the ground. That’s not an exaggeration; that’s just a Tuesday in business aviation.
How it actually went.
The trip was originally scheduled to depart from Teterboro (KTEB) airport. Since we were scheduled for an early departure, I arranged with the client to commute the day before and I would be ready to go with my colleague first thing in the morning, I booked a commercial flight into LaGuardia (LGA) arriving the evening before the trip.
Then the departure airport changed — to Bradley International (KBDL) in Connecticut. That wasn’t going to work with the plan to land the night before at LGA, so I cancelled that outbound flight, keeping the return flight, and booked a new outbound, on a different airline, into KBDL instead.
That held for a few hours.
Later the same day, the departure changed again, this time to Francis S. Gabreski Airport (KFOK) in East Hamton. A flight into KBDL doesn’t get you anywhere close to East Hampton, so I cancelled again and booked a flight into Long Island MacArthur (KISP), the closest commercial option, planning to rent a car and drive the rest of the way to KFOK. The only flight that actually fit the timeline wasn’t even out of my usual airport, so I ended up departing from West Palm Beach (DJT) instead of Fort Lauderdale (FLL), even though I was flying back into FLL after the trip ended.
Then came the hotel problem. Everything near KFOK was completely booked: No rooms, no options. I decided I would sort it out after landing and figured I would probably end up staying somewhere near Islip instead, requiring me to drive for about an hour and half early the next morning.
Then, the following morning while I was on the way to the airport in West Palm Beach, the departure changed one more time. The trip was now originating out of Westchester County Airport (KHPN). So instead of driving from Islip to KFOK, I’d be driving in the opposite direction a bit farther, over to KHPN, to meet my colleagues and find a hotel near there. Of course, if I would have kept my original flight into LGA, that would have been ideal!
The first two legs of the trip went off without a hitch. We ran ahead of schedule, our guests got to the plane on time and we got them to their first destination right on time. They even got back for the return flight ahead of schedule! But things had gone too smoothly.
On the way back to East Hampton with our guests, we were advised that our destination airport was closed for an unknown amount of time due to an aircraft that went off the runway. After discussing it with my colleague, we decided to request holding instructions to see if we could get into the airport in twenty or thirty minutes. However, we advised the client of our intentions and prepared them for the possibility of having to divert to another airport if we could not get better information about the amount of time that the airport would be closed. While holding, I got on frequency with the control tower and he advised that he did not have any good information, but he anticipated that the airport would be closed for about an hour.
My colleague and I decided to divert to West Hampton and advised the clients of what we did and why we needed to do it. So now we had an airport and FBO that we had not prepared for and the need to ensure the client had transportation back to East Hampton, all of which needed to be coordinated.
What I Learned.
Four departure airports. Three commercial flights booked and cancelled. A rental car plan that quietly became irrelevant. A hotel search that didn’t really land anywhere until the last minute. All for a “simple” one-day trip.
This is the part of business aviation that never makes the highlight reel. There was no dramatic weather, no mechanical delay, just a departure airport that kept moving, one step ahead of every plan I made. And it’s exactly why staying on top of the details in real time matters. Every one of those changes landed while I was already mid-motion driving, preparing, boarding, and the only way to stay ahead of it was to keep adjusting instead of getting stuck on the last plan.
In the end, the flight went off very well. And our guests were able to accomplish the trip that they had scheduled.
Nobody outside of it will ever know how many times the plan changed to make that happen. That’s the job. Some days it’s routine. Some days it’s four airports, three tickets, and a rental car you never picked up.
Just a Tuesday in aviation.
The only thing that stays the same in aviation is that everything changes and adjustments have to be made in real time. That is why WingLeader exists; WingLeader is your solution for staying ahead of the changes, adjusting the schedule, organizing the stops, confirming the logistics and tracking the trip and the expenses. You take care of the clients and the safety of the trip. WingLeader takes care of the rest.