Simple Airports for a Starter?

[Harrison Cove]

Hi guys,

Can anyone recommend any smaller, simpler airports that have controllers and would be good for a starter (i.e no complex taxiways etc). 

Thanks in advance,

 

[Andreas Fuchs]

Hi, what country would you prefer? What type of aircraft will you be flying?

[Harrison Cove]

13 minutes ago, Andreas Fuchs said:

Hi, what country would you prefer? What type of aircraft will you be flying?

Hi, I would prefer the UK but am open to any location really. In free flight I predominantly fly the 737 & 747. But, I'm happy to be doing circuits in a 172 to get my ATC skills up to par.

[Andreas Fuchs]

In this case I'd suggest to fly from secondary airfields like EGPH, EGPF, EGBB, maybe even EGCC. They usually have ATC (top-down service from CTR or APP), but are not too complex either. They are all good for your 737.

[Michael Krause]

And if you want to fly to or from Germany - all our regional groups use the secondary airports like Düsseldorf (EDDL), Stuttgart (EDDS), Nürnberg (EDDN), Bremen (EDDW) or Leipzig (EDDP) as training airports for controllers as the ground layouts are simple (EDDL and EDDP are a bit more complex but still easy) and the traffic volume is rather low - most of them have dedicated online-days like Monday (EDDN, EDDL), Thursday (EDDS) or Sunday (EDDW) when they are fully staffed. All perfectly suited for your B737 and the trip to/from the UK is around +-1:30h but are also happy to have your C172 in the traffic circuit. 🙂

Cheers
Michael

[Lars Bergmann]

12 hours ago, Michael Krause said:

[...] secondary airports like Düsseldorf (EDDL) [...]

 

(To say something on topic: Andreas' recommendations are great. Just stay away from any airport with London in the name for the time being and you should be good :))

[Samuel Rey]

On 8/14/2020 at 8:00 PM, Andreas Fuchs said:

In this case I'd suggest to fly from secondary airfields like EGPH, EGPF, EGBB, maybe even EGCC. They usually have ATC (top-down service from CTR or APP), but are not too complex either. They are all good for your 737.

I agree with the recommendation for EGCC. It's a medium sized airfield so it also gives you a feel for longer taxi routes, runway crossings, and other things that you wouldn't do at a really small airport. Also I control there, so that's a plus!!!! 😂

[Cody Cochran]

If you're open to flying in the U.S, VATUSA has many great airports that offer the opportunity to fly VFR and IFR from Class B, C and D airports. 

For starters, a really nice and easy IFR flight would be KLAS-KLAX. Routes are simple and the ZLA controllers are great at helping new pilots.

If your looking for some VFR in a C172, flying around the NORCAL (Northern California Area) outside of the SFO Class B airspace is great. Good scenery (if you have ORBX Global) and lots of great airports hidden in the valleys. 

-Cody

[Rhys Barber]

East Midlands (EGNX) is a simple one to get to grips with !

 

[Andrew McCabe]

I would suggest a phased approach.   Start with EGPF or EGPH as they are relatively straightforward and there are limited SIDS and STARS that are not too complex.  Likely more ATC cover at EGPH these days.  After you are comfortable with that then move on to EGCC which has a bit more complexity with dual runways and more SIDS and STARS.     If you are unsure, just ask the Controller for a bit of help, I'm sure they would oblige.

 

Andrew    

[Andreas Fuchs]

And should you get lost on the ground: stop the airplane, set the parking brake and let ATC know that you are lost and that you need further instructions to get you back on track. That's 100% better than taxi around "just somewhere".