[nosianu]

As a private pilot flying in the US until the beginning of this millennium (then I moved away) - there are many, many such airports all over the country, that's nothing special. I landed at such airports even as a student pilot. Half Moon Bay airport, to be exact (student home airports were San Carlos and Palo Alto, so I was allowed to do that as a student, didn't even have to ask the instructor after getting the general approval for local solo flights). You even have "pilot-controlled lighting" to turn on runway lights if you arrive at night at some airports.

Yes, such airports are a lot of fun. Some are nothing but a strip in the middle of nowhere.

Each one has a frequency assigned and you announce yourself (or at least you are supposed to) when you come in to check if anybody else is there already, maybe even using the runway.

For reference: "Non-Towered Airport Flight Operations" -- https://www.faa.gov/documentLibrary/media/Advisory_Circular/...

I found a number, the vast majority of airports is in this category:

> There's a huge number of uncontrolled airports in the U.S. According to the FAA, there are 5,300 public-use airports. Out of that number, there are 500 that are controlled. [Mar 1, 2005 -- https://www.planeandpilotmag.com/article/uncontrolled-airpor...

[JudgeWapner]

What amazed me was learning that you can fly across country and never have to talk to ATC. I'm not sure on the details, I'm sure it's VFR, no class Bravo airspace, not sure about flight plan, but the fact that you can cruise around up there without ever announcing yourself or communicating with anyone is really surprising.

[nosianu]

Just to maybe help avoid confusion:

VFR and air space classes are orthogonal. You can fly through class B (e.g. SFO, for me, learning in the Bay Area, when you transition north starting from San Carlos you first have to talk to SFO tower and then get to pass north just a bit west of the airport, right through class B) or any class. VFR/IFR means something different [0]. A flight plan too is orthogonal, you can file a VFR flight plan too. It is used for safety mostly, in case you go missing, for example [1].

[0] http://www.stephan-schwab.com/airtravel/vfr-ifr

[1] https://thinkaviation.net/how-to-file-a-vfr-flight-plan/