Introduction
Many of us lie awake at night wondering is there an airport near where I live? We wonder, if there is in fact an airport nearby, how difficult is it to get there from here? Well to be honest that probably is not true as most people are already aware of whether there is an airport close to their home. But what most people don’t know is which airport is the most close to their home. There are hundreds of airfields and municipal airports which many of us are unaware of. Of course it could be asked what is the use in knowing which airfield is the closet to your house when most of don’t own our own planes or even know how to fly. This article will be helpful to those individuals who fly planes themselves occasionally and want to find what airport is near to them. Or alternatively, you might have a friend who wants to come visit you on his or her own plane and he/she may ask you if there is an airport near your home.
History
The simplest way to find what airport is nearest to your home location would be to use the free online map websites such as a Google Maps (www.google.com/maps) or MapQuest (www.mapquest.com). In recent times Google Maps has grown increasingly popular at the expense of MapQuest. There are also other web mapping services offered by Yahoo and Microsoft’s Bing but these are generally not as good as MapQuest and Google Maps. If you are using Google Maps then the method to search for airports is very simple. All you have to is put in the search box is “airports near xxxx), just replace the xxxx with your location.
Features
If you live in the United Kingdom then an excellent website with helps you find the airport near your home is the general aviation website www.ukga.com. The ukga.com website allows you search according to postcode, location or by name. Another excellent website for finding information regarding airstrips, airfields and smaller airports is www.flightwise.com. But the best website for Americans who want to find out which airport near there home they should use is AirNav (www.airnav.com/airports/). This website will give you the same functions that ukga.com has but for the North American continent.
Tips and comments
The benefits of having an airport near your home can be many. If you like to fly and have a private pilot licence then having an airport near where you live is very helpful when you want to log a few more hours. Most people can obtain their private pilot licence (PPL) once they have successfully completed 40 hours of flight time. Once you have found an airfield form which you can practice flying it is advised to memorize the airport codes for that airport/airfield as you will need to know this information when communicating once in the air. Many people like to live near an airport as this enables them to get to and from the airport quickly. This is especially good for people who have to travel a lot for business or work.
