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Unfamiliar airports: first time landing at an airport? Knowing its status before departing isn't hard, but can require some extra effort beyond the usual resources.

Article Excerpt
Hanging out for some hangar flying with some fellow pilots recently, the lies swapped were covering the spectrum, from weather dodging and electrical-system failures in IMC to cautionary tales circulated about other aviators' flights with questionable fuel. But one of our little gang spent most of the session distracted from these obviously important proceedings, preparing for a flight the following morning. A relatively seasoned pilot, he largely zoned out of the session, looking at en route charts, collating his paperwork and notes, and closing out his preparations with a phone call to the destination airport--one he'd never before visited.

A fairly new pilot of about the same chronological age, but with a far-thinner logbook, offhandedly and inadvertently revealed an approach to planning that drew snorts of disbelief from the veterans, a tough room filled mostly with pilots who flew professionally.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

"You called the airport?" our middle-aged newbie taunted after the phone call ended. "Airport directories are online; Internet sites are available, along with those new sites with video--and you call?!?" Then came the big mistake. He produced his latest play-pretty, offering it up as the solution to the old pilot's needs. "Heck, my handheld GPS has the entire airport directory ... whaddaya want to know?"

The deadpan response set the room rippling with laughter: "Well," the veteran began, "I've never been to this airport before and it's a sod strip, so ask your little box whether the runway will still be soggy tomorrow ... your handheld does know it stormed there today, right?"

A silent hangar waited for the response and it came with less hubris and more humility: "No ... but I can probably find out on my iPhone ... if I could get the Internet in here." The crowd's second round of laughter dissolved the rookie's hubris, and a forgiving crowd devolved back to its commiserating.

But not even our embarrassed fledgling missed the message about the importance of preparation for first-time visits.

TOO MUCH INFORMATION?

The temptation to load and launch is often enormous. You know, just fire up the GPS--doesn't much matter whose or what kind--plug in the point of origin, the destination, hit direct and go. Airport info in database form gives us access to the basics, probably even a graphic showing runway layout. Elevation, runway length and orientation, info on other elements, has grown increasingly available and sophisticated on handheld and panel-mounted navigators...

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