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Comment by frisco | Hacker News Reader

99.99% of airports are public use. Not just big ones either: there are only about ~200 airports in the US serviced by airlines, but there are thousands of small airports you go can land a Cessna at mostly for free. But that's not really the problem with OP's ideas.

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Sorry to be off topic here, but does this mean I can go out and but plane, then just go land it at JFK or SFO?

If you have a pilot's license, yes. Big airports often have hefty landing fees, though, and you'll spend a lot of time waiting for your turn to take off or land, which is less of an issue at smaller general aviation airports.

If you don't have a pilot's license you can't be in air in the 1st place. The landing fees alone would probably make it nonviable for small charters Lufthansa and American Airlines would probably pay smaller fees for landing a 747 than you would landing a 2 seater Cessna.

> The landing fees alone would probably make it nonviable for small charters Lufthansa and American Airlines would probably pay smaller fees for landing a 747 than you would landing a 2 seater Cessna.

Not true at all. Landing fees are usually nominal, and FBO fees even for overnight rarely exceed ~$50, or less with the purchase of fuel.

No but there are ~15k airports in the US so for every JFK (airport that has restricted air space) there are far more regional/executive airports where you could.

http://aviation.stackexchange.com/questions/751/can-you-fly-...

Interestingly, and apropos of the grandparent comment, the pictures of the Lufthansa 747 in the third answer to that question were taken on approach into SFO.

As others mentioned, it's doable, but can involve long wait times and hefty landing fees. From the safety standpoint, the airspace that is that congested with large aircraft is not really a safe zone for a smaller plane to be in, due to wake turbulence. Even experienced pilots can end up in a situation they have not encountered before and lose control of the aircraft http://articles.latimes.com/1993-12-17/news/mn-2813_1_fiery-...

TLDR Yes, but you probably wouldn't want to.

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