  The Planetary Nebula Luminosity Function (PNLF) remains an important
extragalactic distance indicator despite a still limited understanding of its
most important feature - the bright cut-off. External galaxies benefit from
consistent distance and extinction, which makes determining the PNLF easier but
detailed study of individual objects much more difficult. Now, the advent of
parallaxes from the Gaia mission has dramatically improved distance estimates
to planetary nebulae (PNe) in the Milky Way. We have acquired ground-based
narrowband imagery and measured the [OIII] fluxes for a volume-limited sample
of hundreds of PNe whose best distance estimates from Gaia parallaxes and
statistical methods place them within 3 kpc of the Sun. We present the first
results of our study, comparing the local PNLF to other galaxies with different
formation histories, and discussing how the brightness of the PNe relates to
the evolutionary state of their central stars and the properties of the nebula.
