We’ve all been there. You land at an unfamiliar airport and—after squinting at the airport diagram on paper, panel, or iPad—you try to sort out the best place to park. At times, you’ll get lucky and an intrepid FBO golf cart will zoom out to fetch you and guide you in—but then the question arises, is that the best choice? Or will you pay for the great service with a fee?
The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association just completed a study of airport diagrams across the US and found that we have to sort through more than 30 different terms for the parking areas to be used by general aviation aircraft. Yes, that’s at the heart of the problem—and the association determined that it would take a consolidated effort to solve it.
To that end, AOPA has brought together 300 pilot and aviation organizations across the country to support the distillation of parking terms down to three key designations:
- FBO Ramp: An apron where itinerant general aviation operators can park their aircraft and expect to have access to traditional FBO services subject to terms and conditions.
- GA Transient Ramp: An apron where itinerant general aviation operators can park their aircraft without FBO services and subject to terms and conditions.
- GA Tenant Ramp: An area designated for parking of based general aviation aircraft, i.e. tiedown area.
“There is very strong support in the pilot community for transparency at our nation’s airports, whether it be FBO fees or airport ramps,” said AOPA’s president, Mark Baker. “The use of these standard parking terms, if applicable to an airport, will be very helpful to pilots by indicating parking options to fit their particular needs. We understand airports have different situations, but we will certainly do everything we can to encourage them to participate in this industry-led effort.”
In the future, the problem is anticipated to grow as the FAA expands the number of airports required to produce airport diagrams from 700 to nearly 3,000. AOPA is pushing for the adoption of the three terms as soon as possible, before the next FAA publication cycle if practical, to help mitigate the need for the FAA to conduct an engineering review prior to the revision.
Baker also highlights another reason why the adoption of universal terms will help pilots: “Transparency for all FBO fees and GA ramps at our nation’s public-use airports shouldn’t even be an issue but unfortunately it is. Pilots have a right to know how much they are going to pay and where they can park their airplane—whether piston or turbine.”
