Marshalling at an FBO

I recently did an internship at ECG where it is a normal practice for a lineman to marshall every aircraft onto the appropriate spot on the ramp. I am told that at most FBO's people just park where they want and if its in a bad spot a lineman will come out and move the aircraft.

What is the norm when going to an FBO?

I worked the FBO gig (KFFC) for a bit while finishing Comm, then went back to full-time flyin to get this CFI out of the way.

Anyways, as for marshalling, usually if it's an a/c based on the field, they will park themselves (we'd monitor CTAF/UNICOM and they'd let us know where they were taxiing to). If it's a transient a/c, they'll usually park any way they want. If the ramp is slow and it's a quick pickup/drop-off, they might just stop near the door. If it's busy, it may require you gettin out there and "stackin' em up" ha. Side note ---> That's how it was when the NASCAR race came into town. At one time, we had 2 ERJ's from Earnhardt, 3 Challenger 600's, a couple Gulfstreams, a Hawker, and a CRJ.

Pretty much, it's just how/where you wanna park them.

usually the fbo's i fly into, i usually just park the plane where i think its appropriate, and if its a bad spot or the fbo has a bigger airplane coming through, they will move the plane.

other places like, naples, florida (apf) when u enter the ramp, u call the FBO on the unicom frequency and a guy on the golf cart guides u in.


funny story that is somewhat on topic: me and my friend landed at an airport once, and we parked our plane at the usual spot, so about 2 hours later we come back onto the apron, and we dont see our airplane, we ask the front desk girl, and she has no idea, so we both decided to call the cops, as were talking to the person on the other line, one of the line guys pop out of nowhere and point to our airplane all the way in the corner of the ramp totally out sight .

moral of the story: keep tabs on your airplane

We generally always have someone marshall us into our parking spot. There are a few occasions when the FBO is clueless to the fact that there is an airplane on the ramp - either because they don't listen to the unicom, the tower freqs, or look at the flight tracker - and we usually just park right up next to the door or next to other aircraft if present. If they don't like it, they can move us.

For most of the FBO's I've ever been to someone walks out and pretty much stands in front of where they want you to park, and tells you when to stop. Apparently this is just an Ohio and Pennsylvania thing.

meh, its actually pretty common here in FL also

This thread should be in the line service forum. We haven't had any activity there in a little while and the forum becomes useless if line service threads are posted here. I bet many people don't even know it exists though.

ya I didnt know that section existed thanks for the move.

Not Southeastern PA

Most airplanes that come to my FBO park themselves, if I think it will be a problem, I'll go out to the aircraft and ask them how long they are staying or if I want them to move it. Most people are smart enough to park out of the way so things usually work themselves out.