PilotEdge Forums

Hi all,

I'm interested in learning how to pick an appropriate parking spot at any airport, as part of my pre-flight planning. I fly a C172.

Currently, I just look for other parked small GA aircraft after landing and decide where I need to park. Other times, I just park near the tower. In the case of PE, it doesn't matter that much it seems. However, I like to adopt a more real-world procedure to deciding my parking spot.

1) What are RW considerations when deciding your parking spot?

2) What are common RW mistakes?

Specifically, I'm studying KSBA's airport diagram:

3) What transient parking ramp to pick? What are relevant aspects here to consider (other than obvious shortest taxi route)?

4) Could I park my C172 also on non-transient parking ramps, such as near the tower?

5) I guess transient parking is intended for both small and medium size GA aircraft. At a transient parking ramp, and given no other aircraft are parked, how do I know I don't park on a spot that is designated for other types of aircraft?

6) Could you also book a parking spot in a hangar? Or are hangars privately owned, generally?

Thank you,
Tim

That's a good question. I'm am curious to see what the experts say

At the two towered fields near where I live there is no parking whatsoever near the tower. All of the folks I know there who fly regularly park as close as possible to the FBO's/schools they are associated with.

It all depends. If you landed or are starting up at your "home" airport, you would park at your designated space on the ramp, or if you lease hanger space, you would park near that. If you landed or are starting away from your home field you most likely park out infront of the FBO so you can get fuel or a car to grab some lunch. Some flightlines will have specific places on a large ramp for pistons and another for jets (like Henderson KHND does) but this info is local knowledge and not something you would learn without contacting the FBO directly. At most small to medium airports you might not even get any line crew that will direct you to a spot, you have to just pick a place that makes sense. Long story short, there is no universal way to park that is the same at every airport.

The big thing on PE is to just make sure you start (not so much end) in a non-movement area.

1) What are RW considerations when deciding your parking spot?
Price of the ramp space or fuel. Different FBOs have different rates. Always call ahead.

2) What are common RW mistakes?
After landing, everyone lets their guard down. Most runway incursions seem to happen after landing rather than before departure. Having a plan, anticipating the instructions needed to execute that plan, and being familiar with the airport before you get there makes a big difference in mitigating these issues. A great pre-flight briefing item and "before landing checklist" item would be a review of the destination airport diagram.

Specifically, I'm studying KSBA's airport diagram:

3) What transient parking ramp to pick? What are relevant aspects here to consider (other than obvious shortest taxi route)?
Where could I reasonably expect to exit the runway? Will a runway crossing be required to reach my planned destination on the airport? How am I going to concisely describe where I want to go before I get there?

4) Could I park my C172 also on non-transient parking ramps, such as near the tower?
Yes. This depends on the airport

5) I guess transient parking is intended for both small and medium size GA aircraft. At a transient parking ramp, and given no other aircraft are parked, how do I know I don't park on a spot that is designated for other types of aircraft?
Most FBO ramps are a total free-for-all. The line technicians/"line guys" working that day usually have some sort of plan, and they don't hesitate to move small aircraft as necessary to make their plan work. A lot of people call ahead on UNICOM to speak with the FBO customer service rep and determine those types of things, or at least to let them know ahead of time to have someone guide them to an appropriate spot.

6) Could you also book a parking spot in a hangar? Or are hangars privately owned, generally?
At nearly all FBOs, yes. This is very common in the cold season areas so that owners/operators don't have to worry about pre-heating the aircraft the next day. Availability of pre-heat options is often a go/no-go decision factor for some operators. If there isn't an option available at one airport, they may choose to go to another nearby. When I used to work at an FBO we would face a lot of pressure to ensure the hangar space was available to avoid having our charter customers go to another airport. It made things complicated for our flight school because we prioritized hangaring transient aircraft. Some of the school's fleet would get left on the ramp, leaving us with one or two less aircraft to use until we could get them back in the hangar for preheating after the transient aircraft left that day.

One more thing: The FBO ramps are usually populated with all types of aircraft, including large ones (>12,500 lbs) if necessary. However there are often auxiliary ramps the FBOs use for the "heavies," which in FBO land often means jets in the Citation X category and up. (In ATC land a heavy is an aircraft with a MGTOW of 300,000 lbs.).

Thank you!