Noob Question: Does it matter at what "Class" Airport is your FBO based?
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killbilly
Vocals, Lyrics, Triangle, Washboard, Kittens
Class D airports are towered and usually a little busier, so if you’re a new student pilot you learn radio skills and ATC interaction a little more quickly than you would at an untowered field. I’ve known pilots who were uncomfortable at untowered fields because they liked the structure of a Class D towered environment. As @Jordan93 said, you’re going to get proper exposure to all kinds of airspace and you’re expected to know how to operate in it.
Class D tend to be a little more expensive and sometimes you have to do some extra flying and idling to get where you want to go. Fuel is often a little more expensive, too. Kinda depends on where you are.
In learning to fly, you will encounter both towered and untowered fields, so you might as well learn where it is most convenient and congruent with your goals.
USMCmech
Well-Known Member
"Class D" airports have a control tower, but are usually not super busy commercial airports (those are usually "Class C"). Some flight schools are based at airports without a control tower because they are not very busy. Both locations have their advantages and disadvantages, and you will be trained to deal with both types of airports.
"Class B" airports are major international airports and will not have flight schools based there. However a flight school may be located at a small towered airport or uncontrolled airport not too far away.
killbilly
Vocals, Lyrics, Triangle, Washboard, Kittens
I have often wondered about the operational tempo between KADS and KAUS. I do sometimes wonder if Addison is the busier of the two.
USMCmech
Well-Known Member
Sometimes, ADS got supper busy. Add in the complexity of flying under DAL's airspace and I would say that AUS might be the easier place to learn. Each airport has it's own personality.
There is also this small airport in the middle of Wisconsin that is basically dead for 50 weeks out of the year, then turns into a zoo for 10 days in late July.
drunkenbeagle
Gang Member
I would suspect most flight training happens at class D airports. Because once a field gets busy enough with flight training, a tower is eventually going to get built because there are so many operations.
For a student, it doesn't really matter that much. It will make your learn some radio procedures a bit sooner, purely out of necessity. But that's about it.
MidlifeFlyer
Well-Known Member
Some Class Ds are much busier the Class Cs. Take Centennial (KAPA) in the Denver area. Historically it has flip-flopped with La Guardia as the ~25th or so busiest airport in the US.
It's more about safety or the feeling of it than anything. With untowered airports it's not as uncommon as it should be for pilots to line up on the wrong runway and a whole host of other issues that might be more troublesome for a student pilot to deal with. It is great experience training on untowered fields as you might need to adapt to some crazy situations, be more alert for other traffic, how you enter the pattern and many other factors, as well as making sure you're on the right frequency, that the volume's turned up and that your radios are working as you don't have a tower to confirm that for you or the other traffic.
I've flown at flight schools that were at towered and untowered fields and honestly that would be a bit further down on my list as far as concerns go. Things I'd be more concerned about would be the quality and availability of instructors, the pricing of the aircraft, how they treated me, the location of the field relative to where I was, the type of aircraft and so on and I don't really see it being that big of a deal personally.
Der_Meister
Well-Known Member
Personally I always enjoyed the no class airports. They were always the most fun and the FBO's had the most entertaining cars. Nothing like a Ford Taurus with shot suspension "gliding" along some desert roads!
NovemberEcho
Dergs favorite member
Lots of class D’s are busier than class C’s. Hell, KROA, a level 6, is class C. TEB is only a D.
USMCmech
Well-Known Member
Some class C airports aren't really that busy, but the surrounding airspace has enough traffic to have it's own TRACON. ABI by itself isn't nearly as busy as even some uncontrolled airports, but there is a lot of military traffic nearby.
NovemberEcho
Dergs favorite member
That’s an up/down, meaning the TRACON is in the tower and everyone works both. That’s very common in the faa.
MidlifeFlyer
Well-Known Member
Yep. We seem to agree.
MidlifeFlyer
Well-Known Member
Getting back to the question itself, it shouldn't matter. Good CFIs will expose you to both environments. I did my primary training at a nontowered airport but my CFI made me comfortable enough that I chose a Class C (well, actually, an ARSA
) for my long solo cross country.But it unfortunately sometimes can make a difference. A good number a pilots who train at towered airports are afraid of the rough-and-tumble world of self-announcing with no extra set of eyes watching for you and telling you what to do. OTOH, a more or less equal sample of pilots who train at nontowered facilities and nervous with ATC communications at towered airports. My funny story about that was an Angel Flight to Amarillo in which I was going to meet up with another pilot. He kept pushing for a nontowered airport as opposed to the Class C because, well, it was Class C after all. I won out because there was a restaurant on the field. I arrived first. He arrived about a half hour later, We were the only two airplanes the entire time we were there
So, it's still 6 of one and 1/2 dozen of the other. Whichever you choose, it may be your job to ensure enough exposure to the other to make yourself comfortable.