Best GA airports

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This page is a wiki

As GA airports are much less covered here and there are so many of them, I decided to create a list of the best ones for global, to help people find intetesting routes. Please don’t just upload your home airport. The airport should either
Have historic importance
Pretty scenery
Challenging approach
Interesting procedures

I’ll start:

Format: Name, ICAO or ID tag, location, information

If your airport is an island please put it in the respective continent and Islands

[details=North America]

KAVX - San Catalina - San Catalina - A very beautiful approach over the sea, and a high elevation with steep sides combines for a tricky airport that handles nothing larger than a 208

KSNA - John Wayne airport - Orange county -
Orange County’s aviation history is deeply rooted in general aviation operations. Aviation pioneer Eddie Martin founded the airfield that ultimately became John Wayne Airport, today it is home to over 500 GA planes and the site of Harrison Ford’s taxiway landing

07FA - Ocean Reef club - Florida Keys - beautiful view of the keys and perfect for flight around them

KOSH - Wittman Regional - Oshkosh - Site of the EAA airVenture (The IF version) every year; during the event it’s the busiest airport in the world.

C003 - Aspen - Aspen - Takeoff of 02 is directly into a mountain, and approach to 02 follows a ridge then drop that requires good slipping to lose enough altitude.

KMCD - Mackinac - Lake Huron - Beautiful approach above lake Michigan

L35 - Big Bear - Big Bear California - Lake visual through the mountains at 6500 feet. Short runway for GA only

KVNY - Van Nuys - Los Angeles - The busiest GA airport in the world, and notable for its proximity to class Bravo KBUR and KLAX, as well as many other small airports, make for a fun and interesting approach

KHAF - Half Moon Bay Airport - Half Moon Bay - Uncontrolled field located on just off the coast of the Pacific Ocean and only a few miles from SFO. Long enough runway for a Citation X with a beautiful approach on 30 and 12. Fog tends to roll in in the evenings and mornings, so you may need to shoot an approach when necessary.

KTGI- Tangier Island both has historical significance, as the British used it as a staging area when they sacked Washington in 1812, and it is a beautiful approach over the Chesapeake. [/details]

Europe

EGPR - Barra - Barra - Only sand beach in the world, flown to by a twin-otter from flybe. Runway markings are made from sticks, and the runway is covered by the tide for half the day

EGHE - St Mary’s airport - Isles of Scilly - One of the most beautiful approaches into the Isles of Scilly

EICA - Connemara Airport - Connemara - Just off the airport you’ll find the Cliffs of Mohar, one of Ireland’s most beautiful features. 10 to 15 minutes away from that you have the Aran Islands

EIIR, EIIM, and EIMN - Aaron - Aaron - the 3 Aaron island airports, famedfor beautiful scenery and history

EGBJ - Gloustershire airport - Gloustershire - Busiest GA airport in Britain

South America

SAWO - Estación aeronaval Ushuaia - Ushuaia, Argentina. It was a comercial airport, but with such a tricky approach and short runway it lost that status. Also, you have mountains in the front and in the back.
Today, it’s a GA airport with a hard and beautiful approach

Central America + Bahamas + Caribbean

TFFJ - Gustaf III Airportt - Saint Barthelemy - One of the most interesting approaches with a steep final. Probably one of the most dangerous and hard airports to land at. Also the surroundings and the scenery is great

TNCS - Juancho E. Yrausquin Airport - Saba - Shortest Commercial Runway in the world - 1312 feet - Very hard take off and landing with an approach right past a mountain and the runway from one end of a cliff to the other. Don’t fall!

Asia

VNLK - Tenzing–Hillary Airport - Lukla, Nepal - Also one of the most dangerous airports in the world. Short runway and is surrounded by mountains. But it is located at near a mountain top with a breathtaking view of the world

Africa
Oceania

YMRY - Moruya Regional Airport - 2 runways and a great little GA airport that sits by the seaside. The scenery is beautiful as you approach and depart.

WAJO - Oksibil Airport - West Papua, Indonesia. This airport is a small airport surrounded by mountains and can be very dangerous to fly during bad weather as unexpected severe turbulence can happen anytime.

Arctic + Greenland or Antartic
Islands

KMCD - Mackinac - Lake Huron - Beautiful approach above Lake Michigan

EGPR - Barra - Barra - Only sand beach in the world, flown to by a twin-otter from flybe. Runway markings are made from sticks, and the runway is covered by the tide for half the day

EGHE - St Mary’s airport - Isles of Scilly - One of the most beautiful approaches into the Isles of Scilly

EIIR, EIIM, and EIMN - Aaron - Aaron - the 3 Aaron island airports, famedfor beautiful scenery and history

TFFJ - Gustaf III Airportt - Saint Barthelemy - One of the most interesting approaches with a steep final. Probably one of the most dangerous and hard airports to land at. Also the surroundings and the scenery is great

TNCS - Juancho E. Yrausquin Airport - Saba - Shortest Commercial Runway in the world - 1312 feet - Very hard take off and landing with an approach right past a mountain and the runway from one end of a cliff to the other. Don’t fall!

KAVX - San Catalina - San Catalina - A very beautiful approach over the sea, and a high elevation with steep sides combines for a tricky airport that handles nothing larger than a 208

20 Likes
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TFFJ - Gustaf III Airportt - Saint Barthelemy - One of the most interesting approaches with a steep final. Probobly one of the most dangerous and hard airports to land at. Also I think the surroundings and the scenery is great. This airport is in IF already :) But still a great GA airport

image

VNLK - Tenzing–Hillary Airport - Lukla, Nepal - Also one of the most dangerous airports in the world. Short runway and is surrounded by mountains. But it is located at near a mountain top with a breathtaking view of the world.

image

12 Likes
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KLGA-KMTK

MTK is Montauk Point airport on eastern Long Island with a pretty scenic approach, flying over the ocean and beaches, bay, and South Fork. Look it up on Google Maps! It’s not my home airport, as #1 its only for GA and #2 I live over an hour and a half west of it.

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This isn’t for routes 😊 and the ICAO is actually KMTP, but it’s only if the approach (not flight LGA-MTP) is scenic.

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The plane landing in St Bart’s in the photo is PJ-WIP. I saw it 20 times when I went to TNCM

image

Also, going to add L35 Big Bear and maybe a few others.

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So I decided to do a few in Ireland because there is so much to offer over here with lovely island hopping to some beautiful scenery!

EICA - Connemara Airport, just off the airport you’ll find the Cliffs of Mohar, one of Ireland’s most beautiful features. 10 to 15 minutes away from that you have the Aran Islands with 3 different airports (one on each island) these Islands are called: Inish Mór (EIIM), Inish Méan (EIMN) and Inish Oírr (EIIR)

All these are great GA airports and make some lovely flights in a C172.

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I added L35 Big Bear and TNCS Saba airport. I’ll add more later:)

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@CannedAviation please don’t do that :)

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Why’d you remove TNCS?
I added it back but…

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My apologies to @Insertusernamehere. I thought there were duplicates so I removed them.

@Will_A I don’t remember removing TNCS

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@CannedAviation no problem, easy mistake to make

@Will_A also added TNCS to islands

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EGBJ, Gloucestershire Airport. The UKs busiest GA airport btw (that’s rather notable)

Here are some of my spotting threads:

4 Likes
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On the note of busy GA airports I’ll add this, KPAO and KVNY

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Bankstown Sydney long runway and near YSSY

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WAJO (Oksibil Airport) in West Papua, Indonesia. This airport is a small airport surrounded by mountains and can be very dangerous to fly during bad weather as unexpected severe turbulence can happen anytime.

The airport is only equipped with ±800m long runway and only served by Trigana Air Service (Which one of it’s flights crashed to the mountains while en-route to Oksibil due to bad weather).

I’m not sure if this airport should be categorized at which continent. As this airport is located at Indonesia which is part of Asia geographically. But at the same time this airport is located at Papua which is part of Oceania geologically

1 Like
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Warren-Sugarbush Airport - 0B7 - New England Premier Soaring site (gliders), the foliage is amazing in the fall. I can’t post it up on the North American list, can someone do this for me?

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John Wayne Airport KSNA Orange County, California

Orange County’s aviation history is deeply rooted in general aviation operations. Aviation pioneer Eddie Martin founded the airfield that ultimately became John Wayne Airport, named after the actor John Wayne who died in 1979. From 1923 to 1939, the Airport operated as a privately owned general aviation facility.

Today, JWA is the home base for approximately 500 private general aviation aircraft. These aircraft range from vintage biplanes and helicopters to sleek corporate jets.

image
image960×638 75.1 KB

Harrison Ford’s Aviat Husky involved in the mishap in which he landed on an active taxiway flying directly over an American 737 at John Wayne.

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Don’t think you can consider Lukla a GA Airport because it has passenger operations.

1 Like
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Palo Alto as the second busiest GA airport in the world?? Best airport?

Where did you get that information? I laughed when I read that because it’s completely innacurate.

The airport his little to no amenities, the runway is too short for any larger GA aircraft (yet a P-180 is still based there 😳), and the airport is now owned by the City of Palo Alto which has never had any experience running an airport but still can’t possibly be any worse than the Santa Clara County who formerly owned it.

One of the only nice thing about Palo Alto is the newly resurfaced runway and ramps. Still getting into the airport can be a pain especially since no small GA aircraft dare to land at SFO. Unless you have money to burn. Only other alternatives would be SQL or maybe HWD but that’s on the opposite side of the bay. So everybody tries to cram into PAO and with the limited ramp space it can sometimes be hard to find a spot if you’re transient.

I’m gonna have to remove KPAO from this list and replace it with nearby KHAF which is one of the nicest airports in the Bay Area. I usually fly in there once or twice a month when the weather is good for some breakfast since there’s a killer restaurant nearby the field. It’s located right on the coast too, and the approaches for 30 and 12 have some spectacular views.

3 Likes
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Estación aeronaval Ushuaia//SAWO//Ushuaia, Argentina. It was a comercial airport, but just look at that runway. Also, you have mountains in the front and in the back.
Today, it’s a GA airport with a hard and beautiful approach.
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Link: [spoiler]http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_VXeQvuM6gR8/StJ9NqHUAVI/AAAAAAAAAUQ/FXHngy6dNs4/s400/Pista+de+aterrizaje+de+la+base+aeronaval+de+ushuaia,+año+2000+aprox[/spoiler]