Meeting at Hanscom Field in Bedford

by Philip Greenspun (May 2005)

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When flying the Cirrus airplane, I like to meet at Jet Aviation, 380 Hanscom Drive, Bedford, MA 01730, (781) 274 0030 or 1-800 538 0233. If all else fails, my mobile phone, 617-818-1256, works out there. They have a comfortable passenger lounge with coffee, tea, etc.

When flying the helicopters, I like to meet at East Coast Aero Club, inside the Civil Air Terminal, 200 Hanscom Drive, Bedford, MA 01730, (781) 274-6322.

Driving out from Cambridge, here's how you get to the civilian side of Hanscom Field:

  1. get to Alewife and proceed out Rt. 2 West
  2. at the intersection of Rt. 2 and I-95 (MA state route 128), turn right on I-95 North (first exit).
  3. go about 1/2 mile on I-95 to the first exit (#30). Go past the rest area and turn right on Rt. 2A West. This is where you start following signs for the "Hanscom Civil Air Terminal".
  4. go about 2 miles west on 2A, then turn right at the huge "Hanscom" sign onto Hanscom Drive, which is a 4-lane divided road.
  5. Go about 1/2 mile down Hanscom Drive (north). Bear left/straight at the end so that you are going to the Civil Air Terminal (US Air/General Aviation) instead of the military base, which is to the right.

    If we're meeting at East Coast Aero Club/Civil Air Terminal (helicopters, rental airplanes)

  6. continue straight and the Civil Air Terminal will be in front of you, a wide plain 1960s-style three-story beige building
  7. turn left into the section of the parking lot that is farther away from the Civil Air Terminal (there are a handful of commercial flights from Hanscom and the TSA requires non-employees to park at least 300' from the terminal)
  8. East Coast Aero Club is on the ground floor of the Civil Air Terminal, to the right of the entrance and across from Executive Flyers, another flight school. The phone number is (781) 274-6322.

    If we're meeting at Jet (my own airplane)

  9. As soon as the driveway widens out into the Hanscom parking lot, you'll see a sign for Jet Aviation. Turn left (west) and go to the edge of the parking lot.
  10. Turn left again, following signs for Jet
  11. Keep right and drive through a forbidding-looking gate in a chain-link fence, then turn right at the end of the building. You're now in Jet Aviation's parking lot. You want to park as close to the end (west) as you can, right near the flip-up vehicle access gates that you see. Don't go through those gates; there is no parking beyond.
  12. Press the white doorbell on the intercom. When the friendly woman answers say that you're meeting "Philip Greenspun with November 707 Whiskey Tango (N707WT)".
  13. Walk along the sidewalk and turn right to the NW corner of the building, which is where the customer entrance is. It might seem odd, especially because this is behind the vehicle gates, but remember that the entrance is supposed to be convenient for those who arrive by air.
  14. Inside Jet there is a waiting room for corporate executives (the front one), which has magazines with ads for $12,000 hotel rooms. Deeper inside is a pilot lounge with a TV and some computers and phones for getting weather information. I'll probably be back there.
Bring a book to read because aviation tends to be slow and subject to unpredictable delays.

On the T

Red Line to Alewife. Then you want the Route 76 bus (schedule). The bus lets you off in front of the Civil Air Terminal. Walk inside and turn right to go to East Coast Aero Club.
philg@mit.edu