Sometime back in the 1970s, I read an article with a title very close to Where Have All the Airports Gone? I wish I could remember where I saw it, or who wrote it, because the title stayed with me for decades. I was young enough then that airport closures still felt like something that belonged to a distant future. The idea of looking around someday and finding fewer and fewer places to fly seemed almost abstract. It does not feel abstract anymore. Over the past twenty or thi

Drones have opened up the skies in a way that once belonged only to aviators. From breathtaking aerial photography to critical infrastructure inspections, the view from above has never been more accessible. But while technology makes it easier than ever to launch, the truth is this: the skies aren’t a free-for-all. Knowing where—and how—you can legally fly matters just as much as the drone itself. The Forbidden Skies of National Parks For many drone pilots, the first instinct