Blog 18: 2/15/2023: Overview of Airports I’ll be Visiting
Hi! Welcome to Brooke in the Air! Another blog post for you incoming, this time, since we are 2 days from departure, I’ll give an overview of the airports I’ll be visiting, including arrivals and departures!
I’ll be featuring three key airports, one fairly minor, one major hub, and ne hub, base, and pacific gateway.
Aerial view of Cleveland-Hopkins International Airport
All 6 (4 primary, 2 auxiliary) runways can be seen, 06R/24L, 06L/24R and 10/28 and viable taxiways along with the central parking, terminals, and gates
Exterior view of KCLE
Illustrating the split-level design, the baggage claim is on the lower-level, and the gates are above on the second level.
First, the minor airport and my home base, ICAO call letters KCLE, Cleveland-Hopkins International Airport. Cleveland International, which I’ll simplify as KCLE per its ICAO call letters, is Ohio’s busiest airport, and primarily serves all of northeast Ohio. It is the 43rd busiest airport in the United States per passenger volume, given its strategic proximity to numerous destinations, including Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Washington DC. Chicago, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Cincinnati, New Orleans, and internationally, Toronto, and Ottawa, Canada, both less than three hours flying time from KCLE.
KCLE Terminal C apron
Photo was taken prior to the 2010 Continental-United Airlines merger. This can be easily deduced from the Continental-branded maintenance facility in the background. This is now a United maintenance facility and base.
KCLE has no official hub, though it was United Airlines’ hub from just after World War II to the mid-1980s, when United moved its regional hub operations to Washington-Dulles International Airport, while its Midwest hub operations would be centered in its base and hub at Chicago-O’Hare International Airport. Continental Airlines then opened a hub at KCLE when United closed, which existed from the 1980s all the way up until the Continental-United merger in 2010. United then closed the Cleveland hub again, though it still maintains a flight attendant base, maintenance base, and is regarded as a de facto unofficial hub since United is still the primary airline operating out of KCLE.
I’ll be flying out of KCLE on Saturday morning, 2/18 on United’s 737-MAX 8 en route to our next airport, KORD, or Chicago-O’Hare International Airport!
O’Hare, or KORD, is one of the largest airports in the United States, and United Airlines’ major Midwest hub and primary base of operations (United’s headquarters is based at Willis Tower in downtown Chicago). KORD offers nonstop flights to 214 destinations around the globe, including Oceania, South America, Europe, and Asia, and is certainly an entry point for the central US.
Fantastic photo of O’Hare International Airport
Photo taken by the International Space Station at an orbit of 262 miles over Western Michigan
KORD has 8 full-service runways of variable lengths, plus a helipad, designated H1 with a diameter of 200 feet of concrete.
Some of the variable runways are “standard” at 4L/22R at 7,500 feet of asphalt, 4R/22L 8,075 feet of asphalt, with the longest being 10L/24R at 13,000 feet. Graduated runways include 9R/27L at 11,260 feet of mixed asphalt/concrete, and lastly, 9C/27C at 9,275 feet of asphalt.
The airport didn’t really grow until passenger service was established in 1955. Before that, O’Hare was a base for the United States Air Force’s 62nd Fighter-Interceptor Squadron during the Korean War. This is now the 62nd Fighter Squadron based at Luke Air Force Base, in Arizona. Today, KORD is the world’s 4th busiest airport by volume of passenger travel.
The airport is named by Chicago mayor Edward Kelly in honor of World War II pilot Edward “Butch” O’Hare, the United States Navy’s first flying ace, and Medal of Honor recipient. His plane is featured below.
Grumman F4F-3 in Butch O’Hare’s Colors
F4F-3 Wildcat painstakingly restored in honor of Butch O’Hare, on display at ORD.
Most international airlines still service KORD but of American-based airlines, only United Airlines has a central hub in Chicago-O’Hare, highlighted by an underground walking path to its primary terminal.
United Airlines’ central walking corridor
Rainbow-lighted underground walking path to Terminal T1 at Chicago-O’Hare, United’s Terminal.
Source: O’Hare International Airport
The famous LAX sign outside Los Angeles International Airport
Source: (By Andre m - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=74221318)
From KORD I will be transiting to a 757-300 for a 4 hour and 40 minute flight to the largest airport on the West Coast, Los Angeles International Airport, also known simply as LAX, derived from its IATA call letters, LAX (ICAO call letters: KLAX, but I’m going to refer to it as LAX for simplicity sake).
Early (2014) LAX photo from the air
Source: (By D Ramey Logan, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=35575586)
As opposed to ORD, LAX has 8 full service runways, composed of concrete and measuring variably of just over 8,000 feet to just over 11,000 feet. Unlike KORD, LAX has no helipad.
Entry Lights at LAX
These change color at night as you enter and exit the airport. They were first built for the Democratic National Convention in 2000 and have been maintained ever since.
LAX first started use as an airstrip for private pilots and flight schools, until passenger service finally began in the middle of World War II in 1943 though official operations didn’t begin until 1946, due to the Army Air Corps (now the United States Air force) assuming command and control of the field in late 1942. In 1946, passenger operations finally began in earnest as 4 terminals were quickly erected and United Airlines, Trans World Airways, Southwest Airlines, Western, and American Airlines moved in. The airport was officially named Los Angeles International Airport in 1949, with the iconic ICAO call letters “LAX” becoming its staple. Formerly governed by the Port Authority of Los Angeles, now, LAX is operated by the Los Angeles World Airport (LAWA) authority which governs all airport5s in Southern California in the L.A. area.
LAX Theme Building
The Theme Building, iconic of LAX, is a designated historic cultural landmark. The Theme Building started life as a rotating restaurant, now serving as a museum and USO show as of 2018 and onwards.
Source: (By monkeytime | brachiator - I'm stuck with a valuable friend, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3874914)
United 737-700 and Lufthansa 747-8 taxiing at LAX
Tom Bradley International Terminal, the newest terminal, at LAX can be seen in the background
Source: (By InSapphoWeTrust from Los Angeles, California, USA - United Airlines - N16217, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=24265035)
On September 21, 2012 LAX hosted the arrival of the Space Shuttle Endeavor and the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, a specially modified Boeing 747. It was quickly taken off the Shuttle Carrier and stored in a nearby United Airlines hangar in preparation for transfer to the California Science Center where it can currently be seen.
