Jet traffic at Laconia airport
 

What's with the Jet traffic at Laconia airport, they're coming in like taxi's. one after another.
I saw 3 come in to land today so far, and none leaving....

Are Jets for Meadowbrook performers, Celebs coming to Winnie, or has Mitt called a summit meeting in Wolfeboro ?

Big race coming up at the speedway.

NASCAR race is next weekend (July 15/16) and my guess is they fly in somewhere closer to Loudon (someone told me Concord).

My guess on the traffic is that it is people going home from the Fourth of July weekend. Some people probably come in by charter so my guess is a lot of the traffic is the planes coming in and taking off in short order. My 2 cents anyway.

I don't know about this year but in the past many speedway drivers flew in to Laconia. I'm not really a racing fan but several years ago someone told us it was fun to go to the Laconia Airport after a race and see the drivers arriving and watch the endless parade of fancy private jets taxiing by and taking off. If I remember right Jeff Gordon had 3 matching jets (Gulfstreams?) for his entourage. Most of the drivers were very friendly to the small crowd and stopped to sign autographs.

I am not much of a race fan myself, but about 10 years ago I lived in Loudon about 3 miles south of the track so I had to "live with" the craziness that was race week.

The helicopter traffic from the track to the Concord airport before and after the race was fun to watch. I wonder if people on the north end see the same?

I was also one of those crazies that would set up on the outer edge of my property and watch all the race traffic heading south down 106. Back then it was fun to watch all the tractor trailers from all the racers leaving the track.

Million dollar tractor trailers rolling down the highway are pretty impressive.

Although some teams do go to Concord, many of the NASCAR team aircraft fly into Laconia. There will be numerous jets and some of the teams do stay at local motels. One team, pilots included, takes a substantial number of rooms at the NASWA every time there is a race at NHIS. There is another team who have stayed at Channel Cottages for many years.

The car rental companies (primarily Enterprise) deliver over 50 cars to Laconia Airport before each race for the use of the race teams.

Agree, about 25 years ago my friends parents owned a motel ( now Ellacoya Motel on Scenic Dr ) and Kyle Petty's team would stay there year after year. They looked forward to the lake front rooms while here. Very cool people.

Back when the sport was doing REALLY well, most of the drivers flew in their own jets. The jets were smaller, so they flew into Concord.
To save on costs, the teams now "carpool" in larger jets. Concord's runway isn't long enough to support the larger jets, so now they go to LCI for the most part. There are still drivers and owners that fly into CON, just not as many as there used to be.

The jets you have seen in the past few weeks have been teams doing some testing up at NHMS.

Large Jets
 

A larger-than-usual jet passed over Bear Island before landing at the Laconia Airport on Monday. There were two such aircraft at the airport as we passed by yesterday. 🛩 🛩

Front page article in today's Laconia Daily Sun
 

Those large jets are actually exponentially more expensive to own and operate than the smaller jets. I'm sure this activity is a boon and very welcome at the Laconia airport as these jets usually buy a lot of fuel, use services and bring revenue to the local economy.

Concord airport runway is smaller? WOW! Back in the days The NG would have C-130s parked in front of thier hanger in Concord. The must be capable of short take off and landing! Just think one of these babies landing and taking off from Gilford!

Actually, Concord has a longer runway (but not by much). 6005 feet, compared to 5890 feet at Laconia.

Yep and it has another 3,200 foot runway.

https://www.nh.gov/dot/org/aerorailt...ts/concord.htm

Apologies for the misinformation on the runway length. I'll get more info as to why the race crews are going to LCI instead of CON.

Better service from the FBO's at LCI.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Winnipesaukee Forum mobile app

Other activities
 

They can Skydive in Laconia if they want....or wait never mind:)

That's one of the 130's specialties, short takeoff and landing (STOL).

They did a great demo of it at the Pease air show a few years back.

Oh man, that hurts!
My son works for the FBO at CON

C-130s
 

C-130s are capable of very short take offs and landings. If you've ever been on board one for a combat approach, hang on to your breakfast!

I think the instrument landing system is better at Laconia than at Concord. You know, so that those guys flying the jets can push a button, and let them land themselves!

In the interest of accuracy, Runway 08-26 at LCI is 5,890 feet. At CON runway 17-35 is 6,005 feet, just a bit longer. Both airports have ILS and RNAV (GPS) approaches to at least one runway.


Sent from my iPad using Winnipesaukee Forum mobile app