sort of a learning airport poll

An update i should've said a class E airport totaly non towered. I misread the sectional. sorry for the confusion. I guess it will all come down to the school itself for where i fly and i plan on flying as much as possible, like 3 time a week during the morning or daytime work and weather providing. The nice thing is i have all classes of airports around me from a busy classs b that back in the day my mother who was a CFI did numerous crash and dashes in one pass on their 12kft. runway, to a sleepy class g plus a glider airport all within a 30 min. or less flight time from either airport.
 
I still say learn to fly with minimal distraction then learn radio and ATC.

Crane Pilot said:
An update i should've said a class E airport totaly non towered. I misread the sectional. sorry for the confusion. I guess it will all come down to the school itself for where i fly and i plan on flying as much as possible, like 3 time a week during the morning or daytime work and weather providing. The nice thing is i have all classes of airports around me from a busy classs b that back in the day my mother who was a CFI did numerous crash and dashes in one pass on their 12kft. runway, to a sleepy class g plus a glider airport all within a 30 min. or less flight time from either airport.
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SixPapaCharlie said:
I didn't know there were non towered class D airports.
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Towered and non towered airports can exist independently of airspace. As has already been mentioned, VUO is non-towered within class D airspace. Then look at LCQ, that is a towered airport in class E airspace.

Skip Miller said:
A relatively low volume Class D. Best of both worlds!
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I agree. I give some instruction at a very sleepy class D airport where you're often the only person flying. It is easy to get in as many takeoffs and landings as you could at a non-towered airport and it gets students comfortable with talking to controllers. If I were looking for a place to base my own personal airplane after I had my rating a non-towered airport would be my preference but for teaching students I prefer the towered airports.
 
Another consideration about non-towered airports is that NORDO aircraft are welcome there. The pilot must be very vigilant for these silent aircraft. If you get two or three in the pattern with you, you will be very busy keeping track of all of them. Another consideration about non-towered airports is frequency clutter. Many different airports in the neighborhood might be using the same frequency and sorting out multiple calls from multiple airports can also keep the new student confused.
 
Crane Pilot said:
An update i should've said a class E airport totaly non towered. I misread the sectional. sorry for the confusion. I guess it will all come down to the school itself for where i fly and i plan on flying as much as possible, like 3 time a week during the morning or daytime work and weather providing. The nice thing is i have all classes of airports around me from a busy classs b that back in the day my mother who was a CFI did numerous crash and dashes in one pass on their 12kft. runway, to a sleepy class g plus a glider airport all within a 30 min. or less flight time from either airport.
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Sounds like a great area to learn. I'm at a CRAZY BUSY Class D just outside of NYC, underneath the Class B shelf, 15 miles from a Class C and 20 miles from a non-towered field. I think I am a stronger student for being in such insane airspace. I am definitely not shy on the radio (even if I did once say "crap" on the frequency). When I fly north with flight following I'm on with the guy doing LaGuardia arrivals, and he sounds like an auctioneer. But I've done it, and now I'm not so afraid of it (still a little afraid). I blogged a little bit about it here: http://onezuludelta.com/why-i-love-flight-training-in-nyc

With a CFI mom, I think you'll be fine.
 
I learned in a fairly sleepy class D with multiple non-towered and class C airports within 30 minutes. I have no issues talking to ATC and yet talk on Unicom. The instructor would work the radio at the times I was clearly overworked when learning and could do all the landings I would want. My check ride was done in class C and they preferred those of us from a towered airport as again we are not afraid of the radio (according to him). So I would say towered


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SixPapaCharlie said:
I would go w/ the towered. I was taught at a non towered and way under prepared for ATC communication when I was let loose.
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That's how I am. The only towered training I got was to meet the requirements. But at the same time, I am completely comfortable at my home field with gliders on a right traffic pattern, aircraft with no radios, multiple planes in the pattern, etc. But I also know of people who train at towered airports who are scared to death of non-towered airports.
 
JB1842 said:
But I also know of people who train at towered airports who are scared to death of non-towered airports.
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Aside from student pilots, I don't. A few might express a bit of nervousness, but never enough to prevent a trip.

Let's not exaggerate. Training at a towered airport doesn't mean that's all you're ever going to do. Heck, just last weekend, I did several CAP "orientation rides" at a non towered airport with simultaneous parachute and glider ops (and the DZ is right next to the field, and the jumper dumper likes to take off against traffic and under fly the pattern to land). And for good measure, the Patriots were in the mix.
 
MAKG1 said:
Aside from student pilots, I don't. A few might express a bit of nervousness, but never enough to prevent a trip.

Let's not exaggerate. Training at a towered airport doesn't mean that's all you're ever going to do. Heck, just last weekend, I did several CAP "orientation rides" at a non towered airport with simultaneous parachute and glider ops (and the DZ is right next to the field, and the jumper dumper likes to take off against traffic and under fly the pattern to land). And for good measure, the Patriots were in the mix.
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I'm not exaggerating. I've met 2 pilots that will do whatever they can to avoid non-towered airports. They think there is too much room for error without someone being in control. And that scares them.
 
I moved from a non-towered to a towered (Class D) and it's probably the best thing I ever did. At first it was uncomfortable and terrifying, but I feel very comfortable now flying into controlled airspace.
 
Sleepy non-towered G airport with a towered airport less than 10 minutes away, and go to the towered field A LOT. That way, you can get more than just the minimum in at the towered field, and you don't have to waste time on the ground with the hobbs meter ticking.

That's the nice thing about our field (9D9). Just outside the Charlie ring for GRR, and we also only share the frequency with only 2 other airports within radio distance - Angola, IN and Racine, WI - so that's never congested either. Plus we have two grass runways in addition to the paved, so it's pretty much the perfect place to learn.
 
I learned at an uncontrolled field that didn't want training activity for reasons of noise abatement. (Not to mention, it's just not a place you'd want to have an engine out.)

So, most of my pattern work was done at the 2 nearby class Ds - one sleepy, the other busy.
 
JoeSelch said:
I learned at an uncontrolled field that didn't want training activity for reasons of noise abatement. (Not to mention, it's just not a place you'd want to have an engine out.)

So, most of my pattern work was done at the 2 nearby class Ds - one sleepy, the other busy.
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7D2 ?
 
Crane Pilot said:
An update i should've said a class E airport totaly non towered. I misread the sectional. sorry for the confusion. I guess it will all come down to the school itself for where i fly and i plan on flying as much as possible, like 3 time a week during the morning or daytime work and weather providing. The nice thing is i have all classes of airports around me from a busy classs b that back in the day my mother who was a CFI did numerous crash and dashes in one pass on their 12kft. runway, to a sleepy class g plus a glider airport all within a 30 min. or less flight time from either airport.
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If you are concerned about radio technique go here and listen to others in real-time.

http://www.liveatc.net/
 
Doesn't matter. Just get your ticket. Then keep on learning.
 
Towered. I learned to fly at a largish airport (KPBI) and never had to worry about my radio skills. Practice all you like at a nearby non-towered field.
 
If you plan to do more than just local flying around your airport then towered is the way to go. You'll be more comfortable with flight following and landing in other towered fields when you get your ticket and want to spread your wings a bit. Communication was a bit tough for me but repetitive practice helped a lot. Now I don't think twice about landing at towered airports.
 
I fly out of a towered Class D airport: KDVT. My vote is for towered...no doubt about it.

As for it taking longer to get clearance yes that does happen. But there is a LOT you can learn while waiting for that clearance. During my last flight the tower would not let us into the airspace - the pattern was too congested with other aircraft. I found myself doing turns around a point while waiting to get cycled into the pattern. My attention was divided between flying the airplane and listening to the radio. For a pre-solo student pilot it was a great experience.

Good luck!
 
having been a student pilot now for 10 mos in pursuit of the PPL, I initially chose my school specifically because it was at a towered aiport. I fly out of Sugarland Regional (just SW of Houston). for the first time, this week, my instructor had us go practice touch and goes at a nontowered airfield nearby. the two biggest differences were: no VASI or PAPI lights to help with glide slope - no ATC at a tower to maintain contact with-having to broadcast our position in the pattern to any traffic in the area

if you are a new student, That IS a Difference. it was to me.

most of my travels after getting the license will be between airports in Texas(Houston,Austin, San Antonio, Dallas)and all those cities are towered airfields. which is why I rate radio communication experience very high. and why I expect that using VFR Flight Following will be very common.

if you are going to be flying from one nontowered field to another most of the time, probably Radio Comm might not be that valuable to you.
 
I instruct out of FRG, crazy busy towered. I take my students over to KISP for class C experience. I take them to KHWV for non towered experience. I don't get why some instructors just stay at the home field for instruction. There is a lot out there, utilize it all.
 
TommyG said:
I instruct out of FRG, crazy busy towered. I take my students over to KISP for class C experience. I take them to KHWV for non towered experience. I don't get why some instructors just stay at the home field for instruction. There is a lot out there, utilize it all.
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Same. I'll also take my students to to BLM for some Bravo transition/non towered operations or ACY for Class C/Bravo training.
 
TommyG said:
I don't get why some instructors just stay at the home field for instruction. There is a lot out there, utilize it all.
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It depends on how close other airports are. We have few enough airports here locally that you'd spend half the lesson flying to another airport just to do some takeoffs and landings or whatever it is that you want to do. Besides, the class D I work out of is so quiet that many times you have the place to yourself. I can generally get in as many takeoffs and landings in a lesson as I would at a non-towered airport.

I do take students to other airports during their training, but most of their experience is at the local airport due to time constraints. I usually take students to a grass strip to give them a little experience with something other than a paved runway. I also try and have them do some takeoffs and landings on shorter and narrower runways so that they don't finish their training assuming that every runway is 8,000 feet long and 150 feet wide.
 
Learn at a uncontrolled first. Learn how to fly the plane first. Learn how to talk the fancy jargon after you know how to fly the plane and basic flight fundamentals. I guess the correct answer would depend on several factors though..You, what type of aircraft and your instructors technique. If you start uncontrolled be sure you don't find reasons to NOT use controlled though. You WILL have to learn controlled fields eventually.
 
I did most of my training at a class D towered field. I'd say that I think that was a better training environment provided it's not really busy.

With a tower you will end up doing all sorts of different pattern entries, right and left traffic, switch runways, and so on all with someone there watching out for you and watching for traffic. You always should look anyway but for training I think it's a safety enhancement.

Also by the time you get done you'll be so used to the radio calls that it will be mostly automatic and not in any way intimidating.
 
Towered, it comes down to a matter of primacy, start from day one with ATC comms ops and you never think twice about it. There's always a nearby uncontrolled field if you want to slam T&Gs. I learned out of Long Beach and always wondered about people who were scared of getting near complex airspace or where they would have to 'talk to someone'.
 
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