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Why do we have so many airports in Florida? Well, for one thing, it’s one of the best places to fly on this planet. So, naturally we have lot’s of pilots (look at registrations at the faa website for just about any airplane which people buy for fun — you’ll find a lot in Florida). So, all these pilots need airstrips near their homes. I’m sure that the legacy of WWII training plays a role, but that does not explain the numerous private strips and fly-in communities.

One of the reasons that Floridians love to fly (in addition to the great weather) is the wealth of places to fly to. Despite your characterization of Florida as monolithically bland, there are many exceptions to this including places like:
- the Florida keys: great beaches and diving
- Orlando (not just Disney — the Orlando Watersports Center has one of the best cable parks for wakeboarding etc… in the world)
- South Beach — for a big city experience on the beach
- Saint Augustine — college town with bookstores and sidewalks — the oldest city in America (or so they say)
- The Bahamas — Bimini is 20 minutes from Miami and the rest of the Bahamas are within easy reach of a small airplane
- Cozumel is only 2 hours and 45 minutes away from my home in Fort Lauderdale in my Cirrus SR22
- many other Caribbean destinations

We also have these things in Florida called friends and family Sometimes we fly to visit some of these other people who may live in another city.

— Joe Harris — Fort Lauderdale — Cirrus SR22

P.S. Your description of the storm damage to Vero Beach was hilarious

The main reason Florida has so many airports (ditto for Texas and Arizona) is due to the need for massive military basic flight training during WW II. Most of these Military training fields weren’t even “military” They were operated by civilian operators who taught cadets basic flying skills in Stearmans and Pipers. After the war, there was no need by the military for so many smaller fields. There was considerable infrastructure created to support the flight traing, so it was a good deal to turn them into municipal airports.

Easy, so the durg traffickers are harder to trace by landing at a different airport every time.

Out-of-state people flying to and from Florida second homes?

It’s almost as though someone other than Floridians is moving through the state. Perhaps for commercial rather than recreational purposes. But what commercial product flows though a series of small airports rather than by truck, boat or large aeroplane? And why Florida. I’ll have to think hard about this one.

Maybe, lacking any compelling reason to put an airport in one location and not another, they compromised and put one everywhere?

Maybe so that foreigners who don’t live in Florida can land exactly where they want without having to endure a ground leg through too many flat towns with strip malls and gated communities?