It has been a while since I posted here. My home airport of CYSN(Niagara District) is great, FSS on the field, 5 minutes from the Niagara Falls Scenic Circuit, close enough to ATC facilities if you want or need them but far enough away that plain sightseeing is doable.
For sheer scenic beauty: Victoria B.C. Canada and Santa Barbara.
For a great place to get an Instrument Rating because once mastered, most everywhere else is easier, Orange County California (SNA).
Charleston W.V. because your clearance comes back “cleared to Yeager Air Force Base”.
And for my favourite FBO, not the plushest, not the most luxurious, not the cheapest, but the best service I have ever experienced, Saginaw Michigan.
For excellent mixing of commercial jets, general aviation and bilingual ATC to boot, Ottawa, Canada.
Never been to either, so I’ll take your word for it. Another scenic airport I *haven’t *been to (but I will make a point of it someday!) is Innsbruck, Austria.
TGI sounds a lot like Mackinaw Island Michigan (KMCD). No cars allowed on the island and I don’t remember seeing any golf carts either! You’ll be picked up at the airport by a horse drawn carriage!
Home of the best fudge on the planet, great scenery and the Grand Hotel where Somewhere in Time was filmed.
You only want to go there in the summer (trust me), but worth the trip. The approach to 8 is a little deceptive as it’s right on the edge of a cliff and then slopes downhill.
Fun 30 minute flight from KAPA over the rolling prairie. They “upgraded” the airport, by lengthening hte runway to 4700 feet a while back, requiring a runway bridge over a creek. No instrument approaches, just some friendly pilots in the pattern on the weekends.
DM
My other fav VA airport would prolly be KSTP. Great approaches over the mississippi and downtown Saint Paul.
I was at the Dayton museum in July and saw Boxcar.
That museum needs like a week to totally go through (min three entire days). I heard they’re gonna put the space shuttle in a new “fourth” hanger. AND BOY ARE THOSE HANGERS HUGE!
Sorry about the quality but that place has THE WORST LIGHTING for taking pictures. It is just TERRIBLE!
Two of my favorites for “sporting” landings on the west coast are
AVX (Catalina Island): located an island ridgetop steeply sloping down on all sides of the runway, its somewhat like landing on an aircraft carrier. To make things even more interesting, the wind often creates an updraft right at the approach end of the runway.
36S (Happy Camp): located adjacent to the Klamath River in a canyon surrounded by tall mountains. There is a steep mountain at one end of the runway, so a missed approach is very tough if not impossible. The departure involves following the winding river until you climb high enough to get over th mountains.
KBOI and western out there is very nice great controllers and friendly service. o lot of intersting traffic around the field. if you are looking for rustic then maybe spanish forks utah. a little run down but friendly and some older planes to see. plus you can avoid the class bravo airspace.
I think I can throw some of you guys into a real frothing frenzy. To those of us who don’t speak Aviation as a second language, much less know all the acronyms, slang, lingo, etc., and DESPITE the fact the forum title is General Aviation, when the first post asked “what’s your favorite GA airport”, it would not have been unreasonable to read that as “What’s your favorite airport in Georgia”.
PHNL is pretty cool. I wouldn’t mind having a layover there for a day. (Not including that it’s in Hawaii.) There are a lot of no-window walkways in the airport.
St Petersburg / Clearwater Airport in Florida, is my favorite airport easy in and out , not so much air traffic and you walk out to the plane to board. Very few weather delays
Okay, after much thought, I have decided on KMIT due to the number of warbird racers (Strega, Huntress III, former base of Jeannie, too and Georgia Mae, and Eddie Van Fossin’s AT-6, among others) that are out there all the time.
