What exactly is a "GA friendly" airport?

[soaringhigh650]

Ain't everyone friendly if you can afford the fees where fees are due?

What makes something more friendly or unfriendly?

[taxistaxing]

In my experience (in the UK) the airfields viewed by the pilot community as "GA unfriendly" tend to be the airfields that view themselves as mini-heathrows, place a lot of restrictions on GA movements and give the you feeling they'd rather you just weren't there. They are usually easily identified by a eye watering fees and a preponderance of high-viz wearing officials!

From what I've been told airfields in the USA, of all sizes, are more accommodating of GA generally.

[Doodlebug]

-the lack of security gorillas
-the lack of high-visibility-vested EASA jobsworths (should be shot on sight)
-the lack of compulsory handling
-the lack of uniformed 'cadets' doing their 'ATPLs' who gush on about A380s
-the lack of controlled airspace
-the possibility to mosey about the ramp and hangars admiring the toys and making new friends
-availability of AVGAS and MOGAS
-fairly-priced hangarage/parking
-a decent workshop
-a grass strip
-a warbird or two
-a decent pub and braai-area
-the obligatory airfield eccentric/veteran/nutter to liven things up
-some aerobatics going on
-some gliders doing their thing off in one corner, just adds a touch of class ;)

[Pace]

-the lack of security gorillas
-the lack of high-visibility-vested EASA jobsworths (should be shot on sight)
-the lack of compulsory handling

I would say those first three are not just the domain of GA but across the board!
The problem we all have is that since 9/11 the SECURITY INDUSTRY and I stress the word industry has become huge and a massive employer.
All this has little to do with security and a lot to do with PROFITS.
Hence the security industry are forever looking at new money making angles to add to the airports.

Take the London Tube system! Equally a huge target for terrorism, the tube trains carry equal PAX as does an airline, but almost zero security!
Busy Friday rush hour and thousand drag cases onto the tube trains unchallenged.

Forget 100 ml fluid bottles a case could be full of explosives and no one would be any the wiser.

But any security would have the tube system grind to a halt.
Can you imagine what would happen if everyone boarding the tube had to place their luggage through scanning machines and place any liquids in clear plastic bags as well as half undressing to go through metal detection systems?

Airport security has little to do with security and a lot to do with feeding the security industry at huge cost to the airlines and passengers and £$ billions in lost time to companies who use the airlines.

So to me GA friendly are internal airfields who do not on the whole deal with cross border commercial flights

Pace

[soay]

Spot on, Pace!

[W.R.A.I.T.H]

Take the London Tube system!

Quit giving them ideas, Pace.

[Fieldhawk]

What exactly is a "GA friendly" airport?

Sandown - EGHN

Simple :)

[Cobalt]

Rather than what it does NOT have, here is what it SHOULD have

For everyone: minimum time spent not flying or having fun

Quick way from aircraft parking to exit and back to the aircraft with minimum hassle
Quick and easy way to pay the landing fees
Fuel available with minimum hassle and no/low waiting times (including payment - the benchmark is the experience you have at a petrol forecourt with your car, not some poor refueller having to fill in forms in triplicate for five minutes and then using a manual credit card machine - I am sure he hates it as much as I do)
Reliability of the above - nothing worse having to wait for one hour because there is a delayed Ryanair flight, or because the bowser is on the other side of the airfield and the driver is having lunch.
For the "£100 bacon butty" brigade: something that makes the airport itself an attraction. Also likely to attract training flights for their cross-country work.

Nice on-airport or very close "destination" restaurant
On-airport attractions [museum, local beach, nice terrace with views].

For the "business or leisure traveller": "get me out of here"

An easy way to get from / to the airport. Just a local minicab company which understands you can get delayed and which actually knows where to pick you up / set you down would be perfect, we don't expect a train station...
Useful opening times. 8am-7pm or so should work [but see below for based aircraft]

For locally based aircraft: 24x7 (sort of)

Useful opening times. 7am-9pm sounds great.
Out of hours option. Including lighting at night (PCL, anyone?)
Please leave the ILS switched on overnight. Or get a GPS LPV approach, at least that cannot be switched off.
If we need security passes, at least issue and code them in a few days, do not take weeks! You know who I mean! And provide some facility to get in if it does not work.

And for those with deeper pockets, if you have a handling agent anyway

Value for money - nothing wrong with VOLUNTARY handling, but I expect to pull up, get out, and when I return the aircraft is re-fulled and positioned so I can just do the pre-flight and go. Happy to pay 30 quid for that for a 4-seater. If you offer cleaning services, I might pay for that too.

Briefing facilities, fax machines [something used in a dim and distant past], etc. are interesting, but do not really make a difference

[Pace]

Quit giving them ideas, Pace.

I am sure they are not quite that stupid as not to realize soft targets? That is just one example.

I used that example to highlight how one tracked security has become around aviation! the security industry forever looking to exploit new ideas in security around airports and how it has grown into a huge money making industry but purely directed at aviation and ignoring gaping holes in other areas.

If it had not been for the recession we would now have loads of government departments and a whole host of new taxation ideas on Global warming further adding crippling costs and a whole new huge profit making industry growing around Green issues too which took a back seat purely due to the recession and the fact that no one could afford it!

In the first instance of airport security under the veil of saving the people under the second of Green issues saving the planet both good causes but hey I am a sceptic on genuine intentions!!! Especially when a huge and vast amount of money, big business and Government are involved.

Pace

[A and C]

PACE is spot on with Security ( & health & Saftey) these are run by smart people whe have seen that they can make huge profits by turning the labour of minimum wage numptys into a product that the law requires. The govenment likes this because it keeps the otherwise unemployable off the dole at the expence to those of us who have this unwanted service forced apon us.


Now back to the subject............good airports for GA.

I will exclude the flying club places as they are not airports as such so in the UK Biggin Hill gets my vote as the best for the following reasons.

1 Good waiting area for passengers with an arrivals TV screen to keep the pax updated on your arrival time.

2 Customs etc at all times.

3 Easy access to the aircraft at all times.

4 Good opening hours.

5 First class notam & weather brief available.

6 No charge for use of ILS when weather requires its use.

7 Free secure car parking.

9 Reasonable landing fee.

10 Cooperative and helpfull staff who understand the needs of the business user who is unfamiliar with the airport.

I was forced by circumstance to use Blackpool a few weeks back and things have improved but the chances of getting a seamless transit of the place is diminished by the system ( that is OK if you know it ) but for the person new to the place it is a bit of a pain to say the least, the geography of the airport hampers what they can do to improve the experience but a set of instructions on the website to tell pilots that they must fuel before they pay the landing fee ( otherwise you have to taxi back to the other side f the airport to pay for the fuel at the landing fee office ) and other useful information would be useful.

The award for the most stupid act goes to Londonderry were we were searched as we got out of the aircraft after landing, what this was all about baffles me but as we were the only aircraft moving on the airport I think this goes right back to the jobsworth bit at the top of the page.

[A le Ron]

There are also important negatives, particularly the lack of eye-watering mandatory handling charges. :ok:

[riverrock83]

I would only call an airport "GA friendly" if GA wasn't its bread and butter but it didn't try to keep GA away by excessive charges or paperwork.

[John R81]

It seems to me that in the UK adding the term "International" to the title of the Airport is often a useful indicator of "less friendly to GA". Some fairly large and busy places without that tab in their name are great places to visit; smaller and quieter places with that tab are well worth avoiding, in my experience.