Towered vs. Non-Towered Training

I still have several hundred more "other than paved" landings than I do paved landings.

Pick a place to train based upon instructors you're comfortable with, not the accessories.
 
A80TRACON said:
It's because the majority of them are washouts from other facilities.
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I've visited both PDK and ATL towers. After hearing you say this about PDK it makes waaaayy more sense now. The differences are night and day. Though the PDK controllers will cling on to the fact that they are the 2nd busiest airport in Georgia...(They're so proud). ATL Tower/A80 folks are top notch. ZTL is hit or miss lol.
 
There seems to be this theory that learning at a non-towered airport is better as you get more time in the air. Remember, however, that wiggling the sticks is only part of learning to fly. A major part of flying is learning to prioritize- aviate, navigate, communicate. Many, many fatal crashes out there where pilots going into towered airports forgot to fly the airplane. I've also seen way too many pilots who learned at non-towers airports and were taught by CFIs who obviously avoided towered airports except for the minimu required.
 
Blackhawk said:
There seems to be this theory that learning at a non-towered airport is better as you get more time in the air. Remember, however, that wiggling the sticks is only part of learning to fly. A major part of flying is learning to prioritize- aviate, navigate, communicate. Many, many fatal crashes out there where pilots going into towered airports forgot to fly the airplane. I've also seen way too many pilots who learned at non-towers airports and were taught by CFIs who obviously avoided towered airports except for the minimu required.
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Excellent point. I was lucky enough to learn at a nontowered airport with an instructor who regularly took me to nearby towered airports. I find some people are surprised when I tell them my long student solo xc included a Class C (well, then ARSA) landing. I didn't think it was anything special, except that the instruction to "follow the 737" for landing while flying a Tomahawk was definitely cool.
 
I fly out of a towered and uncontrolled fields about equally. I would say that it makes exactly zero difference. You are going to fly into both towered and un-towered fields anyway.

My choice would be in this order:
1) Which field is closer.
2) Which has cheaper airplanes.

One piece of advice - students from towered airports are frequently unprepared for the diversity of operations at un-towered fields. Look at the AFD and sectionals carefully. If there is a drop zone, or glider port, or weight shift control operations, you need to be aware of the unique considerations of dealing with that traffic. Most students are taught to overfly the field 500' above TPA, and enter downwind. It isn't always a good idea.

o If there is a dropzone, it will be on one side of the field. Don't overfly the field, you are guaranteed to go through it. Jumpers will normally be in the air a few miles upwind from the side of the field they are using. Plan to be 5 miles away from the field until you line up to enter downwind on the other side. There will typically be right traffic to keep you from the side of the field used for jump operations, best to avoid that side of the field entirely.
o Plenty of traffic may not be equipped with radios, or may be off frequency, or may not be paying attention. Keep your head on a swivel at all times.
o Jumpers never have radios.
o If there are glider operations, they will normally announce a glider launch 2 to 3 minutes prior. Aircraft towing have the right of way, and will append "glider in tow" in their radio calls. Towing aircraft have extremely limited turning and climbing performance, usually 10 degrees bank and will climb as little as 200 fpm. Stay well clear. Landing gliders are always a full stop - if you are in front of one, land long and clear the runway ASAP or go around. They can't.
o Don't say "Any traffic please advise," ever. More often than not, they are just going to ignore you anyway. Listen to the CTAF at least 5 miles out, if there is traffic in the pattern, you will hear them. There is also no such thing as an "active" runway at an un-towered field, so don't ask. Use whichever runway you require for length, or the winds favor, is not being used by jump aircraft, or is otherwise preferred by local custom.
 
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drunkenbeagle said:
I fly out of a towered and uncontrolled field about equally. I would say that it makes exactly zero difference. You are going to fly into both towered and un-towered fields anyway.

My choice would be in this order:
1) Which field is closer.
2) Which has cheaper airplanes.

One piece of advice - students from towered airports are frequently unprepared for the diversity of operations at un-towered fields. Look at the AFD and sectionals carefully. If there is a drop zone, or glider port, or weight shift control operations, you need to be aware of the unique considerations of dealing with that traffic. Most students are taught to overfly the field 500' above TPA, and enter downwind. It isn't always a good idea.

o If there is a dropzone, it will be on one side of the field. Don't overfly the field, you are guaranteed to go through it. Jumpers will normally be in the air a few miles upwind from the side of the field they are using. Plan to be 5 miles away from the field until you line up to enter downwind on the other side. There will typically be right traffic to keep you from the side of the field used for jump operations, best to avoid that side of the field entirely.
o Plenty of traffic may not be equipped with radios, or may be off frequency, or may not be paying attention. Keep your head on a swivel at all times.
o Jumpers never have radios.
o If there are glider operations, they will normally announce a glider launch 2 to 3 minutes prior. Aircraft towing have the right of way, and will append "glider in tow" in their radio calls. Towing aircraft have extremely limited turning and climbing performance, usually 10 degrees bank and will climb as little as 200 fpm. Stay well clear. Landing gliders are always a full stop - if you are in front of one, land long and clear the runway ASAP or go around. They can't.
o Don't say "Any traffic please advise," ever. More often than not, they are just going to ignore you anyway. Listen to the CTAF at least 5 miles out, if there is traffic in the pattern, you will hear them. There is also no such thing as an "active" runway at an un-towered field, so don't ask. Use whichever runway you require for length, or the winds favor, is not being used by jump aircraft, or is otherwise preferred by local custom.
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This is a terrific post. I just started thinking about this kind of scenario very recently after a visit to 0W3, up in Harford County, MD.

Two turf runways, one paved. Jumper, glider, non-radio warbird and balloon operations all happen at that field at the same time on nice days.
 
Doesn't matter. Get comfortable flying in both. There are some people who have no idea what to do at a towered airport and some people who have no idea what to do at a non towered airport
 
Derg said:
Well, get cracking!

Straight away, mate.
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(I've been having some scheduling problems with my CFI and have only had a few hours in the last couple weeks. Hopefully this will be straightened out when I see him today. I'm looking to solo in the next few weeks, I hope!)
 
When I was training for my PPL, I flew out of AEG (Double Eagle II) in Albuquerque. It was uncontrolled at the time, so I didn't have to deal with ATC in my first few hours. The Sunport (ABQ) is just a short flight away, though, so when it came time to work with ATC as part of my training, we didn't have far to go. For me, it was the perfect blend.
 
You have to do both in your training. If you depart an untowered you need to go to the nearby towered airport for touch and gos or vice versa. Comprehensive not task based training is the best kind. Don't learn one skill and move on to learn the next. Keep learning bits of everything as you go and you will surely do well. Everyone wants to get out of training with the least amount of time but really you should be going there to be a competent safe pilot. Don't take shortcuts.
 
scott_l said:
Everyone wants to get out of training with the least amount of time but really you should be going there to be a competent safe pilot. Don't take shortcuts.
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Yeah, this. For example, I was never going to be one of those '7 hour solo' people because of my CFI's extremely reasonable notion that I should be competent in a variety of 'fun' WX (such as is common where we train this time of year) before he hops out at the FBO and tells me to taxi out. I have zero problems with this approach. Cutting corners is bad. Doing things right is good.
 
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