The makers of Day Flier have released LandingFinder.com, a free tool that allows pilots to quickly find the closest airport to an unfamiliar destination.
General aviation pilots have access to thousands of airports that airlines don’t. But business associates and friends, who provide instructions to someone flying in for a visit, are usually only aware of the nearest airline airport. They are unaware of the numerous general aviation airports that are often in a closer proximity to almost every US address. So, they don’t know which airport to tell the pilot to use.
Landing Finder closes this information gap by finding the 10 closest airports to any address in the United States and then mapping them in relation to that address. Users can filter results to include only airports with a paved surface, public access, lighting, available fuel, minimum runway length, etc.
“My business partner and I also own a small air charter operator and separately we do a considerable amount of personal general aviation flying. When searching for the best destinations for our charter clients or trying to figure out the best airports for our personal trips, we were spending too much internet time finding the closest airports,” said David Cusimano, president of Day Flier and Gulf Coast Aviation Charter. “Now, we can usually make destination landing decisions so quickly that our air charter receptionists can have all required information at their fingertips while still on the initial call with a prospective client. We built this functionality as part of the Day Flier algorithms, and we realized we had created something of standalone value to pilots across the country. We wanted to provide it free of charge to pilots and their friends and associates.”
Landing Finder’s design is purposefully simple so that it can deliver critical information to pilots across a myriad of devices. In addition to providing driving directions and graphical maps, it also contains links to the appropriate AirNav listing for each airport so that pilots can have FBO contact information at their fingertips within seconds, company officials said.
Nice concept I’ve always just used google maps type in the address and then do search nearby for airport. Usually does the trick for chair flying or choosing where to go.