Flyin’ Brian Reviews SFO’s eating options

I was supposed to be spending my first night of a four-day trip up in Eureka, California — home to Redwoods, Sasquatch, and presumably a large number of marijuana producers. I was supposed to be there for 30 full hours, spending two nights there and an entire day without flying. This, however, was not to be. As I hopped into my seat at the flight deck, I sent for the latest weather report, which was around 1/2 mile visibility. This isn’t great, but it would have been good enough. However, as we boarded the passengers and got set to go, it dropped down to 1/4 mile which would make even attempting the approach illegal as far as regulations are concerned. To complicate things further, sitting and waiting for weather to improve wasn’t an option since the runway was going to shut down for maintenance at 1230 am (it was 1030pm at the moment of this revelation). The flight was canceled and the company initiated the circus that is finding an unscheduled hotel in an unscheduled city (San Francisco). They sent us to the Crown Plaza by the airport, which is where we often stay for SFO overnights, but we were informed that they were full. After another hour or so, a limo came to pick us up and drove us to what evidently was the nearest hotel with four rooms available — Berkeley, California. This would have been convenient if we were flying in and out of Oakland, but obviously, we were not. I think I got to bed at 2am. We were expected to deadhead to Eureka the next day, spend a night there, and resume our scheduled trip. So after I went for a stroll down by the bay the next morning in Berkeley, I put the uniform back on and we went to the airport.

 The first flight canceled for weather, so they booked us on the next one. That also canceled due to weather. The third and last flight of the night was canceled out of sympathy or perhaps common sense that the weather in Eureka is just absolutely crap this time of year. We would again be in San Francisco, this time they found us a hotel by Union Square in downtown San Francisco at an estimated cost of about $500 per night. It’s too bad we couldn’t have just spent the day downtown instead of wandering aimlessly around SFO, but you can’t always plan these things. So instead of searching for sasquatch in Northern California or riding cable cars up Powell Street in San Francisco, I spent the majority of the previous 48 hours in San Francisco International Airport. It’s not a great story, but that’s just the way it is. Accordingly, I can tell you a lot about where to eat inside the airport. 

 I have done a few “Why Your Airport Sucks,” posts and have few gripes about San Francisco. Sure, there’s often fog and flow delays because of fog, but in the grand scheme of things, it’s a lot better than O’Hare’s average weather, and 1000x better than Newark in all ways possible. At the end of the day, SFO is actually a pretty decent airport. The bathrooms are plentiful and clean, there are ample places to find food, and it’s relatively easy to get around. LAX hasn’t really been excelling in these areas as of late. And while the southern California airport modernizes, many of the fast and cheap eats have disappeared, getting replaced by trendy (and overpriced) SoCal joints such as Lemonade. If you are unfamiliar with this establishment, just imagine eating dogfood that’s undercooked. 

Anyway back to SFO — I have been in and out of this airport fairly frequently throughout my flying career. Some eateries have come and gone. Boudin Bakery used to be my go to place. I’d order a sandwich on sourdough and get a real jaw workout. If I was feeling frisky, I’d get some cookies along with it. Since its disappearance from the United gates, I have had to look elsewhere. If I’m fixing to get something cheap, I’ll just go to Burger King and get a chicken sandwich. It’s perhaps the only place in the airport that you can walk away with a meal under $10. It is, however, quite terrible for me I am sure, so a much healthier alternative is Klein’s Deli. It’s a local establishment and there are maybe three or four locations just within the United terminal alone. All the sandwiches are named after San Francisco neighborhoods. My go to is usually the Haight, which is essentially a BLTA (Bacon, lettuce, tomato, avocado for those who live outside California and don’t put avocado on everything). It is divine. Also their salted caramel cookies are a real punch in the mouth. If I could only eat at one place at SFO, it would be Klein’s. But variety is the spice of life they say, so sometimes I look elsewhere.

Since I was spending so much time in SFO these past few days, I have been branching out. A new place in the terminal called Bun Mee has taken the place of Boudin. If you order one of their banh mi sandwiches, you will get a similar jaw workout since they’re made on french baguette rolls. They are generously filled with spiced chicken, pork, beef or whatever catches your fancy. Next door is a pizza place, which is popular with people who have hit rock bottom and have just stopped trying at life. I observed former New Jersey governor Chris Christie, wearing oversized sweatpants, getting pizza from there. You can also get Mexican, Peruvian rotisserie, Chinese, Japanese, and mediterranean cuisine within a short walk. In short, you have a good variety of places to choose from . . .unless you’re flying Delta through SFO.

  

As great as SFO may be, I’d much rather be back at good ol’ LAX. This has been the most pointless four-day trip and I’d much rather be sitting at home than sitting in airports and hotel rooms. As a whole I’ve been pretty lucky with my schedules and disruptions, but thats’s all part of being in this industry. It could be worse. I could be flying in and out of Newark.

Brian's Whimsical Thoughts on Air Traffic Control

I'm here at the hotel near San Francisco International watching planes fly over the bay from the window. SFO is an interesting airport operationally since they typically land completely perpendicular to the departing traffic. This means that airplanes taking off share the same piece of pavement just a minute before a plane landing crosses that same spot going another direction. It's a little trippy to be rolling down the runway and look out my right window to see a 777 just 2 miles away heading straight for us. That being said, it works.

In LA, Phoenix, or Seattle, there an array of parallel runways which are dedicated to aircraft departing or arriving. At nighttime in LA, it is always impressive to see two lines of white lights extending to the horizon - each light representing an aircraft. On a clear night, you may see 16 or more. It is pretty fascinating to know that there are people who can organize flights coming in from Tokyo, Telluride, or Tucson, and have them all lined up with the proper spacing. I couldn't do that job. It seems... complicated.

Yes, complicated. And with that in mind, I thought I'd discuss my relatively apolitical thoughts in privatizing the ATC network. For some background, the FAA, a governmental group oversees almost all aspects of aviation operations from maintenance compliance to issuing pilot licenses to airport procedures and yes, air traffic control. Their official function is to "promote aviation and ensure safety."  I have many issues with the FAA, and I also have issues with the current white house administration, so you can be assured a fair debate from me.

You may have read that privatizing ATC is nothing new, and over the last few decades has been proposed by both democrats and republicans. Trump argues that privatizing the industry will cut down on delays, save money, and modernize an aging infrastructure. In short, why would anyone not want this? Well, I did my homework. I would say I'm all for privatization if it makes sense. But in this specific scenario, I'm skeptical as to how privatizing alone will accomplish all those grandiose promises.

First off, the U.S. would not be the first country to privatize its air traffic control. Others have done it including our neighbor to the north - Canada. Trump used it as an example of a success story. So here's the difference. I looked it up and there are a total of 41 control towers for all of Canada. Maybe that seems like a lot, so allow me to list the airports in Southern California with control towers that I have personally landed at. Ready? Ok. Los Angeles International, Long Beach, Ontario, Burbank, Corona, Brackett, Chino, San Bernardino, John Wayne...

...Carlsbad, Camarillo, Oxnard, Brown Field, Lindbergh, Montgomery, Fullerton, Torrance, Hawthorne, Santa Monica, Van Nuys, Whiteman, Ramona, Riverside, El Monte, Victorville, Palm Springs, and THEN I have to pause to think if I'm missing anything. I think you get the idea. While it's good to look at what works in other countries, those success stories might not apply to the U.S., the largest and most complicated ATC network in the world. Now to address the modernization issues. Trump alleges that privatization somehow will reduce delays and allow more direct routes.

So here's the thing with that. While it is true that the U.S. system is based on ground installations as opposed to satellites, all modern airliners are GPS-enabled and most major airports already use GPS waypoints, ie imaginary fixes that can be flown to with the push of a button. If I wanted, I could even make up my own fix and call it MATZO and set it at 24000 feet. Then I could create another point 8 miles south of it called BALLZ at 19000 feet and make a note to be at 280 kts at that point. So whether or not a ground-based installation even works is irrelevant. Our aircraft can still go direct to any point in space the controller chooses.

"But I flew Spirit recently and was delayed!" Ok, so here's the deal. And this is not my opinion, it is based on the actual delay codes. By far, the biggest reason for delays is weather. Second is maintenance. And the promise of taking more direct routes is overstated. If you track the routes of any flights going across the U.S. you will note that they are pretty much straight lines except to go around weather or military airspace. So the saving time and fuel argument may be technically true, but grossly overstated.

"But I heard we are using paper strips to keep track of aircraft! That sounds real old!" I took this picture in the Long Beach tower about 4 years ago. Those are computers! And next to that ginger, are a few pieces of high-tech paper for notes. The aviation industry is odd like that. Gate agents furiously type into computers simply to print off a boarding pass. Dot matrix printers issue flight releases for the crew, who then board a multi-million dollar aircraft that is somehow capable of transporting people at great speeds around the globe. It may seem anachronistic, but it works. Any paper strips used by ATC are primarily a backup if the computers go down. As great as computers are, they are not fail-safe.

So what's your point, Brian? It is this. Give me a reason for privatization that is compelling and makes sense, and I'll be on board. Don't just say what people want to hear. In many ways it's like the guy who proposed circular, banked runways and said it would improve safety and cut down taxi times. And while the nice animation of an A380 landing at an angle on a circular runway may have looked sharp, it's completely impractical and from a pilot's perspective borderline insanity.

"Privatizing ATC will make things cheaper!" Unlikely. Probably about the same if not worse. "No more delays!" Not unless you can control the weather, and since climate change is a Chinese hoax, we will just have to deal with it. #scienceburn "But the government can't do anything right!" Perhaps. I like the idea of
the increased (at least in principle) stability that results from taking the budget away from children in D.C. who whine and shut down the government. I had a student who took an instrument pilot checkride during the last government shutdown. When I signed him off months later to take his commercial checkride, I had to meet with an FAA inspector in person just to get permission for my student to take the test since the previous paperwork had vanished from their records... 

 So as previously mentioned, I'm not happy with either side, but again, give me facts, not fantasy. Don't try and sell me a candy bar and tell me it cures cancer. Finally, none of the logistics have been discussed. How will this affect costs for the
common private pilot and general aviation industry? Will all current controllers need retraining? Will they keep their jobs? For the most part I think they do a pretty solid job. That is except for the guy who works ground control at LAX and yells out, "5704 STANDBY! I'll contact you!" 10 minutes go by... "Who's at the top of Charlie Six?!" "Uh that'd be 5704." "Oh sorry, I forgot. You should have contacted me."  Yeah, thanks for ghosting us, Chad. I actually have no idea what his name is, but he seems very Chad-like.

If this whole privatizing air traffic control thing does somehow go through, the traveling public wouldn't likely see any difference. The sort of worse-case scenario I can foresee is a poorly managed corporation that then needs bailing out by the government. If you have ever rode Amtrak, you have some idea how that might play out. And if you want my really honest opinion, here it is. Privatized or not, we will adapt in the industry. However, when Trump was gearing up for infrastructure week, I thought we were going to invest in our bridges, highways, and airport terminals. That I can get behind. Improving rail travel in the U.S. wouldn't have been a bad idea either. He picked literally the most complicated thing. Trump needs to think small and perhaps fill some potholes before he takes on ATC.

Out and Back to SFO

At the completion of my simulator training in Atlanta, I wanted to go somewhere that was close, easy, and free. San Francisco is far enough away to make flying for an hour much more advantageous over sitting in traffic for 6 hours one way. I had not been there since the infamous San Francisco marathon of 2009, when my father believed that the course would not have many hills. As I limped by AT&T park in pain to collapse at the finish line, I contemplated the truth to his statement.

Compared to LA, San Francisco is much more densely populated and significantly more expensive. So, if we could help it, we were trying to go to SFO in the morning and be back in LAX by the end of the day. Even airport hotels (with my airline discount) were running around $160.

Upon arrival, we took the BART to the embarcadero. We had no specific destination in mind. We simply walked by the piers and watched the sea lions throw their fat bodies at each other for a bit before making our way inland.
It was at this point, that Nicole, now at a 45 degree angle to the street below her, suggested that we have a destination instead of climbing up a street that probably required sherpas. I have always had an unexplained ability to find my way around San Francisco. I assured Nicole that it would only be two more blocks. (Granted there was a 1000 ft gain in elevation over this time period, but I was technically correct). After watching a battle between incompetent traffic cops and incompetent tourists take place at Lombard Street, we summoned an Uber to take us to Golden Gate park.

There, we rested our legs for a bit and just looked at the flowers and observed the local San Franciscans do San Franciscan things. Energized again, we began a walk to Alamo square to look at the row homes featured in numerous tv and movies. From there we called another Uber to drop us off at a hotel in the financial district. I recall when I was just 17, my dad and I went to the top of one of the downtown hotels for a sprite and looked out over the Trans-America building. I miraculously found the same hotel six years ago after the marathon. I attempted the same feat on this trip. We walked into the hotel, took the elevator to the top floor, and well . . . almost. There was a bar, but not the one I remember. We slowly drank a couple beers while we charged our phones and took in the view. I listed for our return flight while enjoying the view you see here. Despite narrowly getting on the flight to LAX, we even got seats next to each other. Not bad for a day trip to San Francisco.