Linda Goering, from Bend, Oregon, feels that Goering Ranches Airport (50OR) is the perfect location for an airpark that will attract aviators from near and far.

“We started building the runway…in 1984 on what was a 200-acre property,” Goering said. “As we saved money, we bought more and more pieces, so that we ended up with a square mile surrounded by thousands of acres of BLM [Bureau of Land Management] land, yet just minutes from downtown Bend. So, it’s totally private around us, and we can’t really be encroached upon, which is important for a private airport. There are 360-degree panoramic views, including the seven-peak mountain view of the Cascades.”

Bend, a town of roughly 100,000 and home to Epic Aircraft, is touted as both a great place to visit and live. Recreational highlights range from local shops, restaurants, and golf courses to hiking trails, museums, and resorts.

“Bend has become one of the most desirable resort towns to live in this country, located along the Deschutes River in Oregon,” Goering said. “It is known for the great weather, natural beauty and year-round outdoor activities, often being called the outdoor playground of the west.Mount Bachelor Ski Resort is just minutes from town, and the crystal-clear water of the Deschutes River offers kayaking and floating the river even right through downtown. The numerous high lakes of the Cascades offer endless mountain camping and hiking opportunities.

“It is a beautiful mountain getaway with a cosmopolitan downtown appeal. The historic Old Mill District offers an outdoor amphitheater with summer concerts, more than a dozen riverside restaurants, premier shopping, a 16-screen movie theater, and many signature golf courses. Bend is known for its local 22 breweries in the area. The downtown area is filled with art galleries, boutique shopping, spas, and all types of restaurants, many with outdoor seating.”

Goering explained that the 40 year-old airport is protected into the future, so she, her husband, and others will be able to enjoy it for many years to come.

“In Oregon, we have the Airport Protection Act, which [means], if you can prove you’ve had an airport in existence for a certain amount of time, you’re pretty much protected [from it being closed],” she said. “It’s a nice little safety net. Our runway runs from north to south and is hard-packed gravel and is a little bit longer than a mile [at 5,500 feet]. My husband has flown 690 Commanders and all kinds of other planes into here.

“When we started, we got our county approval, then state approval, and finally FAA approval. Our dream has been to see if we could do an airpark. It has been a lot of work doing that, because Oregon has a lot of land use laws and state goals you have to meet for anything you do.”

In 2006, the couple began working to get approval for a fly-in community. A considerable amount of work has been done since to overcome the zoning hurdle and ensure the feasibility of an airpark.

“This ultimate destination airport development took many years to get this exclusive zoning in place,” Goering said. “It was created to provide one of the longest and most private airport facilities on the West Coast of the United States. We hired land use consultants, attorneys, and others and created this really cool zone called a ‘rural aviation community,’ a ‘RAC zone.’ The purpose of the RAC zone is to provide for private aviation and aviation housing uses within the community.”

Now that the correct zoning is in place, with the provision for clustering (cutting down on infrastructure costs), the Goerings are still planning to have their property become a fly-in community. But they have taken a step back and determined that an experienced airpark developer can better execute their vision. 

“For years, my husband has bought and sold airplanes and got into the ag aviation business,” she said. “We rebuilt turbine Thrush aircraft here, put Garretts on them. We put out about two and a half planes a year. So right now, that’s really the only things on the property, our house and hangar. There are various ways to develop this property within the approved RAC zone, depending on the intended use of residential and or aviation industry use or both. All sites would have runway access, common areas, and open spaces throughout—including walking and biking trails, a community gardening area, and outdoor gathering space for all to enjoy.

“The goal of the development…is to recognize and appreciate the existing beautiful character of the land while providing and supporting aviation activities and related uses. With a PUD (planned unit development) being put in place, zoning will allow homesites to be clustered, yet some sites could be platted as large as 80-plus acres if desired. We’ve had a lot of interest in people wanting to buy lots. But we have to have the developer in place before selling lots. This is the ultimate destination where dreams take flight it is finally ready to market.”

The Goerings plan to continue living at the private airport and keep their home and business hangar, meaning they expect there will be up to 30 homesites available for development.  

The post Oregon Airpark Development Aims to Create Access to ‘Outdoor Playground of the West’ appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

FLYING has previously showcased some of the countries where the concept exists, from Sweden to South Africa and Australia to Costa Rica.

Another Central American nation can be added to the list with the introduction of Belize Air Ranch. The in-development community was created by Darla Zirbes and George Romine, two U.S. citizens who have been living and working in Belize for nearly six years.  

• READ MORE: Finding Freedom by Flying in Alaska

“…We have been here in Belize for about five and a half years, full time,” Zirbes said. “My dad bought the ranch, which is about 620 acres, in 2010. We have about 250 cattle here and have been developing the property [into an airpark].”

In the past few years, the land has changed a lot visually.

“The property was near and dear to Darla’s dad, but unfortunately, he got sick and could no longer take care of it,” Romine said. “At the time, I was working as an aircraft mechanic and in construction, which I had been doing for quite some time. We came down here and started building. We put in the roads, all of the fencing, cleared what needed to be cleared, and got the property and airstrip to where it is today.”

The 2,700-foot-long compacted limestone runway has an identifier of “LAF” and can be found at 17°11’49″N, 88°53’46″W. The initial plan was to build the airstrip for personal use only.

“I’ve been flying since 2000 and am also an A&P mechanic and builder,” Romine said. “We had an airplane here in Belize, and we kept it at another airport with a hangar. Then I thought, ‘Well, let’s just do it right here.’ So, we developed an airstrip in what was once a huge cornfield. It didn’t take long for us to build the runway. We used limestone taken from our property and had excellent heavy equipment operators to assist us. It was completed and approved by the Belize Department of Civil Aviation within a few months.” 

The idea to sell lots came naturally over time, and the current site plan calls for 20 hangar home residences. 

“There are a lot of pilots that come in and out of this area, and I didn’t really put a whole lot of thought into developing it as an aviation community for some time,” he said. “But after talking to some other local pilots and our family, we decided that we wanted to bring like-minded people here that like aviation and the freedom to fly.”

• READ MORE: Fort Worth Area Aviation Community Expands with Second Airpark

The community will emphasize aviation amenities, as well as the laid-back lifestyle afforded in the Central American country. Its picturesque location in the foothills of the Mayan Mountains ensures noteworthy views throughout the community, according to the couple.

The airpark is also completely off the grid at present, with utilities provided by solar systems with lithium-ion batteries for storage and backup generators, and water collection systems. High-speed internet is also accessible through a local  company. This all provides self-sufficient and sustainable living conditions for the airpark residents.

“We are trying to build a high-end airpark,” Romine said. “The home that we have just completed has 8,000 square feet…. It’s very large, with 3,000 square feet upstairs of living space with an air-conditioned hangar and a 2,000-square-foot veranda. It’s a very nice custom-built home, and those are the kind of houses [we will have] to try to keep it upscale. The idea is, as we sell more lots, to improve the community and airstrip by adding lighting to our runway and to pave it after there are enough people in the community.” 

Belize is a beautiful country along the Caribbean with a diverse natural landscape, from white sand beaches to dense forests. The couple expects that there will be a mix of full- and part-time residents at Belize Air Ranch and points out there are many reasons why it is an alluring place for retirees and others.

• READ MORE: Florida Rental Offers Escape With Oceanfront, Airstrip Views

“What is attractive to Americans and Europeans is that Belize is an English-speaking country, the only one in Central America,” Zirbes said. “You can also own your own property as a foreigner. Also, property taxes are very low. For example, we pay about $1,800 a year for our 620-acre ranch.” 

The first two individuals to purchase lots at the fly-in community are both from outside of Belize—one from Saint Martin and the other from Wisconsin. The couple also believes that the airpark will attract economic development to the region. 

There are many places within a two-hour flight of the airpark. One highlight is Flores, Guatemala, which is a colonial city situated beside a huge lake. Some of the world’s most renowned beaches are also a short trip away, including those in Cozumel, Cancun, Playa Del Carmen, and Tulum in Mexico.

“And here in Belize, there are a lot of small airports that are affiliated with world-class hotels,” Romine said. “There are lots of places in the area that are exciting places to visit and you can fly your plane into. Just a few examples are Blackbird Caye, the pristine lodges in Mountain Pine Ridge, Chan Chich at Gallon Jug Estate, and Lamani. The islands of Ambergris Caye and Caye Caulker are about 30 minutes from Belize Air Ranch as well. They have many lodging options, excellent restaurants, and lots to see and do.”

For those considering moving to an airpark in Belize, or just visiting the country, the couple has several options to stay on-site. La Familia Farms Lodge presently has five units with a large pool. Zirbes and Romine said that they can provide detailed information to guests about  Belize to include customs and immigration protocols, whether arriving by the airlines or in a private plane. 

Watch: Landing at Belize Air Ranch:

The post Belize Air Ranch: Selling a Slice of Paradise appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Zach Milton, land consultant for The Landings, provided FLYING with a look at the popular fly-in community in Granbury, Texas, which USA Today has named the No. 1 historic small city for three years in a row.

“I work for Patten Properties, which is a third-generation land developer,” Milton said. “We’ve done over 700 acreage communities across 36 states over the last 45 years or so but have never really done an airpark.

“The Anthony family owns Pecan Plantation. They have owned it since the 1940s, when it was the largest pecan orchard in the country. Then in the 1970s they started putting in amenities and a few hundred homesites on the land. They put in a marina on the lake, and they established a golf course. Then they put in the original runway, 0TX1.”

Pecan Plantation sports around 3,000 homes, which includes around 400 lots between its two runways (0TX1 and 66TE). 

“The newer airpark here is The Landings, which is the one that I’m selling now,” Milton said. “We’ve got another two or three phases to go, and right now on the market, we have 30 or so lots that are available. Then there are probably another 30 or 40 that are not released yet. We’re moving from north to south and in phases, and have sold about 108 lots in the last year and a half.  I’d say we sell about 10 to 20 lots a month, which from my understanding, is far and away the fastest-selling aviation property in the country. So, we’re extremely proud of what we have.”

Milton, who routinely markets these runway homes at annual aviation gatherings like the Sun ’n Fun Aerospace Expo (Lakeland, Florida) and EAA AirVenture (Oshkosh, Wisconsin), knows why aviators have been so receptive to The Landings. He explained that the community strikes the perfect balance between aviation and nonaviation amenities. 

“[One of the things that buyers find attractive] is that Pecan Plantation has more than just one airpark,” he said. “We’ve got the two airparks, so it’s a very active community. And we have EAA Chapter 983 here, which is one of the few gold-rated chapters in the world.

• READ MORE: New App Helps Pilots Connect, Find New Places to Explore

  The real appeal here is that it’s an amenity-rich community. It’s already well established with parks, pools, gated entrances, security, as well as fire and EMS services. We’ve even got a grocery store, gas station, pharmacy, bank, hardware store, equestrian centers, and two golf courses on site. There is also a marina with access to Lake Granbury, plus three riverfront parks with access to over 15 miles of the Brazos River.

“So, you can fly in the morning, golf 18 holes in the afternoon, go boating at sunset, and enjoy dinner at the clubhouse, all within a golf cart ride away. It’s basically a $199 a month HOA and then another $55 a month for the airpark. Everything is in that cost. We are only 35 miles from Fort Worth, so for most folks, it’s a pretty good deal and checks a lot of their boxes.”

Milton said that the relative proximity to the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area is a positive attraction for career pilots who fly from area airports. Some buyers have even planned well in advance for their retirement, snapping up lots years before building their dream hangar home.  

“I’d say most of our buyers are from outside the DFW area, including a lot of airline pilots who are relocating from all over the country and are looking to live in an airpark,” he said. “A big buying base for us is folks that are starting to plan their retirement, and they’re getting their lot picked out and locked down. They’ll take the next few years to meet with builders to dial in their plans and look forward to the future. We’ve had people move here as far as Washington state, Miami, New York, Canada, and Costa Rica. We’ve even had somebody from Thailand come.” 

He advised that all homesites have existing underground utilities.

“You can use any builder here,” he said. “There is a 2,000-square-foot minimum (living quarters), and there is no time frame to build. So, a lot of people are buying lots just to hold, getting their money out of the stock market, just to hold the land for the future. We have a handful of people who already live here and are buying property as an investment. They’ve seen when The Landings was first brought to market 10 years ago and 1-acre lots on the west side of the runway were between $75,000 to $100,000. Now, the taxiway lots start at $189,900 while direct runway lots are in the mid $300,000s (only four direct runways remain).”

Michael Mills,  one of The Landings’ newest residents, owns a Cessna 182, his dad’s former aircraft. Mills learned to fly in the aircraft and has completed a tip-to-tail restoration, sparing no expense since assuming its ownership several years ago. Living alongside his aircraft presents a novel way of life for the longtime pilot. 

• READ MORE: Development Underway for New 400-Acre Fort Smith Metro Area Airpark

“I lived in Colombia and wanted to move back to the United States,” Mills said. “But I was tired of paying hangar rent, so I knew I wanted to move to an aviation community. I was surfing the web one night looking for places in Miami, actually. Then a Pecan Plantation ad from Zach popped up in my Facebook feed. I called him at 11 p.m., and he answered.”  

Mills and his wife had the opportunity to check out the community in November 2022. Texas wasn’t on their initial list of places they considered moving to, but they were sold as soon as they visited Pecan Plantation for the first time.

“We closed on the lot in January of 2023 and just moved in a few months ago,” Mills said. “So, everything is finally coming to fruition. I’ve been busy working, but everybody here seems pretty friendly, and we really enjoy the amenities here. One thing I enjoy is the fact that I can walk out my back door and be in my airplane in the same amount of time that I could be in my car. I really like flying to new places around here for lunch. I haven’t yet done a lot of flying in Texas, so I am still learning the lay of the land and where good food is.”  

The post Fort Worth Area Aviation Community Expands with Second Airpark appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Lorie Robertson, chief development and marketing officer for Patriot Airpark, highlighted the development team’s goals for the project.

“Patriot Airpark is a beautiful 400-acre site that was formerly a cattle farm here in Pocola [Oklahoma],” said Robertson of the city located just west across the border from Fort Smith. “The property is being carefully transformed into an aviation community with a master development plan that includes hangar homes, traditional residences, commercial and retail spaces, and outdoor amenities. The geographic location in the middle of the country creates a perfect hub concept for pilots and businesspeople with interests (and family) in other states.

“The flight time is dramatically less when you start from the middle. Combined with the low cost of living in the region and the incredible cultural and outdoor adventure opportunities in eastern Oklahoma and western Arkansas, this is a fantastic place to live.

“Our typical hangar homes will be 5,000 square feet with 2,500 for the hangar and 2,500 or more of living space above or beside the hangar. Ideally, these will be ‘barndominium’ style homes built from red steel and metal siding, but traditional wood construction is also an option. Phase one includes 14 1-acre lots that are ready to go. We also have a construction company that can build homes according to the buyer’s specs, so they have a lot of flexibility with the design.”

Robertson, who previously spent many years in community and economic development, has been friends with Patriot Airpark’s founder, Alex Cardenas, for about 15 years. The two ran into each other one day at a local restaurant, where he asked her to come aboard and help provide additional lift to the fledgling project.

“Alex, the owner of the property, spent the last year and a half building a lake and other amenities,” she said. “The lake has a 1.5-mile trail around it, and several peninsulas that offer dry camping sites and picnic tables. It’s a really nice amenity that is great for camping, fishing, and kayaking, and it will complement our future RV park. Alex has invested considerable time and money to lock in the right outdoor amenities at Patriot Airpark. He has built a footgolf course [played with a soccer ball], cleared land for soccer fields, and started building mountain bike trails through the woods on the north side of the property.” 

Cardenas, a veteran and entrepreneur, already has moved to Patriot Airpark and is raising his family there. 

“We don’t want to overbuild the community,” Robertson said.  “We want to protect the rural lifestyle and the outdoor opportunities for adventure—the sports, the trails, the fishing, and everything that goes along with what makes Patriot Airpark special. In the initial concept plan, there are around 230 [lots]. Not all of those would be hangar homes, though. The property is naturally split by the orientation of the runway.

“Lots on the west side of the property will be aviation homesites, and the east side will be traditional single-family and multifamily residential. Airplane hangars are also a part of our master plan, as well as commercial, retail, and restaurant spaces that will bring homeowners together as a micro-community.” 

At Patriot Airpark, there is one newly constructed hangar, which is the site of a skydiving operation, Adventure Skydive Center. This is one of many businesses that the development team expects will be based on-site. The airport runway, recently designated by the FAA as OL42, has been established for more than 20 years and will soon host an exciting aviation event.

“We are hosting a National STOL Series qualifier event, Arklahoma STOL, on May 24-25,” she said. “This will be our first event, but our goal is to host the national finals [for the National STOL Series] next year, or at the latest, in 2026. We really want to bring that event here to the central United States.”

The National STOL event is expected to attract pilots from around the country as well as at least 1,000 aviation fans. Spectators are welcome to fly in before the competition starts. Choctaw Casino & Resort is less than five minutes away in Pocola, Oklahoma, and there will be a shuttle running to and from the hotel. Camping and RV spots are available before, during, and after the event through the holiday weekend. The event schedule and camping information can be found on the Arklahoma STOL website.  Registration for pilots is on the National STOL Series website.

Robertson advised that the interest in the area hasn’t been limited to attendees of the short takeoff and landing competition. Rather, Fort Smith and its surrounding communities have been the focus of aviation headlines for other reasons as well recently. 

“Within 15 minutes of Patriot Airpark, you have Fort Smith Regional Airport (KFSM) and Ebbing Air National Guard Base, which is home to the Arkansas Air National Guard. Ebbing was chosen by the U.S. Air Force to be the new site for the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program,” Roberterson said. “The Air Force estimates that as many as 1,000 families or more will be relocating to this region. The housing market is tight, so it’s great that Patriot Airpark is already established. We have real estate, and we are ready to build homes. We could start pouring foundations next week if we wanted to. Talk about impeccable timing.

“Everything seems to be falling into place—the development, the event, the amenities. It’s the perfect place and time to start this development because there’s nothing exactly like it in the market. We’re inviting prospective buyers to come on over to OL42 and ‘land where they’ll love to live!’”

The post Development Underway for New 400-Acre Fort Smith Metro Area Airpark appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Their solution was to move to a residential airpark. After years of wanting to move to an aviation community, the couple finally had the opportunity at Massey Ranch Airpark (X50) in Edgewater, Florida. 

“I grew up in a town of about 130 people,” Autumn Adams said. “That small town feel is one of the things I have missed the most about Indiana. We were in Merritt Island, Florida, for almost 10 years, and we loved the area. But we only got to know a few neighbors the whole time we lived there. People mostly kept to themselves. We’ve only lived in Massey Ranch since June 2023, and we already know almost everyone and their dogs. It’s the sense of community that we enjoy the most.”

• READ MORE: Seeking to Silo in Montana

Nathan is a pilot and Autumn isn’t, although said she’s just as obsessed with aviation. It was a shared goal to one day live at a fly-in community.  

“Well, when Nathan and I got married, we were still living in Indiana,” she said. “But we always talked about moving to Florida. I remember when he was telling me about airparks. I had never seen one before, and I thought it sounded really cool. So, moving to an airpark was always in the back of our mind, even though we were nowhere near ready for that undertaking. It’s been our goal since 2007 and took longer than we initially expected.”

The couple moved to Florida in 2012, and their first home in the state was not in a fly-in community. They were still interested in one day moving to an airpark, and there was one neighborhood that they would visit more than others. The town of Edgewater had the small town feel they wanted. They also loved its close proximity to New Smyrna Beach. As an added bonus, Nathan had fond memories of Massey Ranch from his college days.

“The idea of living in the airpark, especially for me, was from when I was down here at Embry-Riddle [Aeronautical University],” Nathan said. “I worked at Massey Ranch…for a mechanic just doing odds-and-ends jobs. I’m not a mechanic, but I was like a shop guy, carrying parts around, taking stuff apart and things like that. So, I had already seen Massey Ranch and just thought that was the coolest thing—that all these people live there all the time, and their planes were in their hangars. I thought, this is great!”

• READ MORE: Keller Brothers Airport Remains a Family Affair

Nathan also had familiarity with other fly-in communities in the area. The couple recalled that once they were ready to move with their Van’s RV-8, the market was extremely competitive.

“Over the years we had looked at a few homes in Massey Ranch, and for one reason or another, they didn’t work out,” he said. “We knew how fast things had been selling recently. We had just missed out on a house due to a cash buyer. The reason we got the home we are in now was because of Autumn being the diligent, organized person she is. So, she actually went on Zillow several years ago and marked off every single address that had access to the airport and said notify me if there’s any change.

“The day that the listing for our house came available, we actually called the realtor within 20 minutes, and within an hour, we were meeting with him. We knew how fast things had been going and had just missed out on two houses we made offers on…[and] couldn’t get [them] because of cash buyers. We made an offer to buy [our] house the same day. It really was her diligence that absolutely caused this to become a reality in the end, after all of these years looking, searching, and trying.”

• READ MORE: Fly-In Camping at River Bend Aero Ranch

The fly-in community consists of a single 4,360-foot-by-60-foot asphalt runway with roughly 45 homes. Living steps from your aircraft can’t be beat, the couple says. But more than anything, they like the small town feel of Massey Ranch and the sense of community it provides. 

“What I love the most about Massey is there are tons of different types of backgrounds,” Autumn said. “We have neighbors that have been flying their whole lives, like me. We have neighbors that have recently learned to fly. There are even a few that hope to one day learn to fly but already embrace the airpark lifestyle.

“The excitement about aviation is real here. Almost every night, around sunset, people go flying. Around the same time, a little pile of golf carts starts showing up by the edge of the runway to watch the planes come and go. After landing most pilots eventually find their way back to the gathering of carts. Despite all the different personalities and backgrounds, it feels like we all grew up together. Our family has only been here for a short time, and yet we feel welcome with everyone.”

The post Finding a Small World at a Florida Airpark appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Graduating in May 2007 with a bachelor’s degree in aeronautical engineering, she completed undergraduate pilot training before serving in a different capacity. After leaving the Air Force, she co-founded a military-to-airlines transition company before changing roles and working on incorporating improvements to the F-16’s radar system.  

Oligney advised, like many other aviators, that her favorite part about aviation is the people. Her ability and desire to connect with others was the catalyst for her most recent title change to “airpark developer.” 

“WT Airpark [90TT] was dreamed up by three landowners here in Waelder, Texas,” said Oligney. “These landowners owned adjacent properties that made this beautiful 300-acre tract. They are all pilots, aviation enthusiasts. My family owns a tree farm in the area, which I was visiting a few years ago. As pilots do, we were talking, and they mentioned their interest in putting in a runway. They offered me the opportunity to take the land and turn it into an airpark. It’s been my dream to live with my plane for many years. I wasn’t actually planning to build it myself, but it’s a fun bonus.”

Part of this enjoyment is because of who she is working with to create this new fly-in community, a little more than an hour’s drive from both Austin and San Antonio. 

“I don’t think I could have put together a better team if I had hand-picked them,” she said, noting that her experience thus far has been very positive. “One is a business owner who has started and grown multiple businesses. He’s been instrumental on the land development side, making sure that everything is done correctly and that this is going to be, financially and business wise, a solid project. One is a surveyor and has been doing survey work his whole life. I think he knows every blade of grass on that property, and he comes with his own [heavy] equipment. Then one is a community leader and has been for many years. So, he is very passionate about improving and growing the community.

“The combination of the team has been very effective, and I think it’s going to make the airpark really successful. We are starting with a 4,000-foot-long airstrip. I wish I could call it grass, but it was a very hot summer here in Texas, so round one of Bermuda grass has not taken very well. We will be doing a few more rounds to get the grass coming in and we will be adding lights, paving it, and putting in an approach here eventually, as well. And then we’ve also left room for a second [5,000-foot long] runway, because as cities grow, they tend to encroach and then you don’t have any space to grow. If owners want to bring in light jets in the future, that’s definitely an option.”

There has been a lot of work to get the project to where it is now. The team started with an empty piece of land, without an airstrip. 

“The airpark has been in the works for about two years. The runway was graded and developed at the beginning of 2023,” she said. “As it turns out, building a runway is not very difficult. Subdividing land, that’s a different story. That’s not difficult, per se, but it is a process. So, we’ve been working through that and making sure everything is done correctly. We’re working with the county because this is something we would like to benefit the community. We are trying to make sure they’re on board [with the development] and they like what we’re doing.”

A communal gathering spot is planned, where Oligney expects residents to come together for bonfires and cookouts. There will also be a pond and a walking trail, with other amenities possible in the future. 

“Our goal is to treat this as a phased development project,” she said. “Phase one is going to be twelve two acre lots, and then the next few phases will be another 14 lots and 16 lots. We’ve left the remaining land, which is another 100 acres or so, that we can either custom divide for people who have other ideas and want to build differently, or we will continue to subdivide. There’s room to grow, dream, build what you want to build. That’s one of the things I love about this airpark—there’s still space to do whatever you want to do. 

“When you go to buy something on an airpark that’s already developed, you get what is available, and it’s already very defined. I love the space [that we have here] and the opportunity to dream a little, to figure out what you want to do and make it happen. We’re very excited to offer that opportunity to people and to grow and develop this into a great community of aviation enthusiasts who want to create something wonderful.”

As a relative newcomer to airpark development, Oligney has leaned on her decade plus of business experience and adept networking skills to successfully get the project to where it is today. 

“I’ve talked to a few people that are starting to develop airparks because, with any big project, there are so many lessons learned as you go along,” she said. “My biggest advice would be when you start the process, get on forums and talk with other airparks because other owners or developers are very eager to share what they learned. For a lot of them, it’s too late for them to make course corrections, but they are very eager to help out others. Their help has been instrumental in getting WT Airpark going.”

Video: WT Airpark

The post Building a Dream at WT Airpark appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Allen Wood was introduced to the airport as a kid, and the airplanes flying there were the early inspiration for him to become a pilot.

“I was born and raised in the Keys, so my earliest memories of Tavernaero, the airport, was that it was just a grass strip with one or two houses on it and a boat basin,” Wood said. “I remember as a kid riding my bike through here and being intrigued with the airplanes. Back then, it was open and not a gated community. I never forgot about them and would look up at every airplane flying by.” 

Not only would Wood make his boyhood dream of becoming a pilot a reality, but he would also eventually call the airport home. He said this year marks his 35th year of living at Tavernaero Airport Park during which time he has owned three different homes in the fly-in community. 

“When my kids were young, I had built a house elsewhere in Islamorada,” Wood said. “Once I sold it, I had heard about a house that was a fairly good buy here at the airport, and that was my first house here. At the time, I was already a pilot and flying a Cessna 182—so living here at the airport worked out great. Now I’m in my third house in the same neighborhood. I always thought that I would love to live here, and it actually worked out!”

Living at the airpark is a relatively unique opportunity. While there are a considerable number of homes that surround the runway, according to Wood, it’s rare that one is listed for sale. 

“Like I said, I’ve lived here for a long time and it’s a great place to live,” he said. “My current home is in a nice location. It’s the only lot that’s on the water—as well as the runway. When a property here goes on the market, they go quickly. There was a house recently that went on the market, and it sold in 18 hours. It was a brief bidding war and then it sold. They go fast, for sure. Sporadically, houses will go up for sale and what people down here do is they will buy an older house then knock it down. That’s not just in the airport but all of the communities down here because there are limited building permits available.

“So, you have to go through a process of ‘building allocation,’ and the easiest way to do that is to buy an existing house. They will buy one to either remodel or knock it down to build a new one.”

Wood pointed out why he thinks the airpark community is as popular as it is—-its “proximity to paradise.” Not only is this section of the Keys highly regarded for fair weather and an array of recreational opportunities, Tavernaero is a quick flight from notable tropical destinations.

“You are very close to the Bahamas, and you are just a hop to anywhere there, pretty much,” he said. “So that’s one of the primary flying destinations for those living at Tavernaero. Just a little bit further away is Grand Cayman and Mexico, as well. In my [Cessna] 182, I used to fly to Mexico quite a bit, and it would only take about two hours and 10 minutes. It couldn’t have been much longer than that, anyway, and it also takes about two hours to fly to Grand Cayman. You can get anywhere in the Bahamas in probably an hour to two hours, depending on where you are going—since they cover a pretty big area. A lot of the people that live here focus on these types of flights.” 

Not only are the professional and personal backgrounds of those who live in the fly-in community varied, so are the types of airplanes they pilot. 

“You have to live here to fly in on a regular basis, but guests are welcome as guests of homeowners,” said Wood, who owns a Daher Kodiak 100 and shares ownership in a Piper J-3 Cub with seven other Tavernaero residents. “But Tavernaero Park Airport is private.” Most people that live here have a plane, and it basically consists of the whole Cessna collection of singles. The only twin that we have on the field right now is a Cessna 310. We have a brand new 206 that just came in and a new 182 coming at a later time. There is also a 172, as well as a couple of other 182s. We also have an A36 Bonanza, an RV that’s getting built, and a couple of other kit planes as well.

“Pretty much every house has an airplane, although we have had people that have bought in this neighborhood just for the marina.”

Not only can residents quickly reach other countries by air, but this is one of the few fly-in communities where boats are also a part of the equation.

“The association, or the airport, has its own marina with probably 50 boat slips in it,” he said. “So, all of the people that live here have a boat, or have the ability to, in the marina. The dues are extremely competitive at something around $1,250 a year per lot, funds which are used to maintain both the runway and the marina. It’s extremely reasonable for an aviation community. I lived at another one before where it was almost that much every month for their [homeowners association] dues.”

The post Tavernaero Airport Park Special Due to Its ‘Proximity to Paradise’ appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Eric was the first one of the pair to learn how to fly and similarly was the first who wanted to live at a residential airpark. He spent a considerable amount of effort trying to get into the airpark lifestyle, finally breaking the barrier in 2013. 

Their new home at Antiquers Aerodrome (FD08) in Delray Beach, Florida, has proved to be a great base of operations for the married couple’s various flying memories. 

“I grew up about two miles from the airport, but never knew it existed because I wasn’t a pilot. I really wasn’t looking for an airport community, but then I became a pilot. While I was looking at the sectional charts, I wondered what ‘PVT’ meant. After learning that it meant private, I drove over and checked out the airport,” Eric says.

“It’s a gated community, so I would go there to wait for someone to let me in. Once I was in, I would go and talk to random people—asking how I could get a house in there. I spent a lot of time at the airport, expressing my interest in moving there. That’s how it happens a lot at airparks, because there’s not often a lot of homes that go up for sale. I got through the gate and became acquainted with some board members and just about every day I would come in asking, ‘has anyone passed away…is anyone moving…is anything happening?’ I was clearly a nuisance.”

After about nine months of persistence, Eric finally caught a realtor that was putting a for sale sign in a front yard. Eager that something finally became available, he immediately jumped out of his car, started a conversation, and made a deal to buy the house within a day. 

According to the couple, the lifestyle of living at a fly-in community has been everything they thought it would be and more. They both claim that their lives would be markedly different if they lived in a “normal” neighborhood. 

“You want to be 100 percent immersed in aviation living here. You want to be a pilot living in a community like this, or an aviation enthusiast. If you didn’t like aviation, living at an airpark wouldn’t have the same energy. It wouldn’t have the same appeal. And it wouldn’t have the magic that it does. I say it a lot, but it really is magic,” Eric stated. 

A lot of this magic is the result of how easy it is for the two to enjoy one of their premier shared interests, flying. As Aviation Ambassadors for The Bahamas, it’s no surprise that the country is a frequent destination of the two. 

“We can fly for only 20, 25 minutes and we are in The Bahamas,” says Valerie. “It is really convenient to be able to fly right from our backyard directly there. We go to Freeport a lot. Grand Bahama—where Freeport is located—is one of the biggest islands, and that’s one of our main ‘home’ islands, we would call it. We know more people there than we do anywhere else in the country, as of now. Eric started going there years, years, and years ago, first by boat as a kid.”

A few years ago, they sought to replicate their positive experience at Antiquers Aerodrome by purchasing a second home at an airpark in northeast Georgia. Buying the hangar home was Valerie’s idea this time.  

“Eric actually didn’t want to purchase a home at Heaven’s Landing (GE99), at first,” she says. “Every single time I would stop at their booth at an airshow, I would be drawn by the beauty of the airpark, its homes, and the area where it’s located. I kept telling Eric that ‘we have to go there; we have to go there!’ In the meantime, I got my pilot license and told Eric that this would be a great place to escape from the heat and see beautiful mountain scenery. I just craved that vision.

“One day our instructor had a convention in Nashville, and I wanted to get some cross-country time in the Baron,” she continues. “It worked out to where I would be able to fly there with him and went to Heaven’s Landing as a detour. I told Eric that I had planned the flight and that I had booked a tour with Mike [Ciochetti], the airpark’s developer]. Well, Eric was blown away and thought it was just amazing there. We came back from our trip and Eric began researching the community even more. Maybe six months later, we narrowed it down to a piece of land that we made an offer on. It took me a while to finally convince him and he had to see it firsthand before I was able to.” 

Thinking about their shared fly-in community experiences, Eric and Valerie agree on three things that are irreplicable about living at an airpark. 

Convenience 

• When your aircraft is your hangared at your home, you’re only seconds from the runway. 
• The couple’s mechanic performs their Baron’s annuals and other maintenance at their home. 

Cost Savings

• An offsite hangar is an unnecessary expense when you have a hangar home. 
• 100LL is not marked up at Antiquers, so that saves the couple a considerable amount of money on fuel.

Camaraderie

• Being around like-minded pilots and aviation enthusiasts is the best part about living at an airpark, Eric and Valerie contend. 

Routinely rubbing elbows with other pilots often leads to impromptu hangar conversations. Eric notes that there are some really interesting aviators that they are fortunate to call their neighbors. 

“There are legends of aviation that live in both communities. I mean straight up legends,” he says. “Not to mention there are famous individuals and those who have done a lot for civilization and humankind. There are astronauts, mechanics, war heroes, explorers, military pilots, and other amazing humans. Almost every home is like an encyclopedia of aviation knowledge. We have brought dozens of other pilots to the communities to see them. We give them tours of the neighborhoods and they are blown away.” 

“Everyday living here it’s hearing different stories from neighbors,” he continues. “It’s anything from ‘my Cub isn’t running right,’ to ‘I was in Egypt or New York City yesterday.’ A lot of residents have jet-type aircraft, so you hear world stories daily from friends—which is really cool to have over a beer or iced tea. They will knock you on the floor with the stories that you tell. And it’s not a unicorn thing every once in a while, it’s every time!” 

Just how the couple has found that curating a YouTube channel has amplified their voice, living at an airpark also allows them to more readily share their flying experiences. 

“Everything we do, almost every day, involves aviation. And that’s because we live at an airport. You get to learn more about airplanes this way. I could talk about it for a week and it’s great to be able to share aviation with others. Even when a new neighbor comes in, it’s so cool learning about their journey and where they come from. There’s a lot of sharing between all of us,” Eric concludes.

Reach out to the flying couple if interested in visiting either airpark and they would be more than willing to assist: skylinebaronpilot@gmail.com

The post Finding a Home for a Beechcraft Baron appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

In the early stages of COVID-19, it was almost certain that I would lose my Boeing 737 captain seat and be downgraded to first officer with an attendant decrease of income. A furlough or my airline going bankrupt were possible too. As the situation evolved and my position appeared safe, the geographic and mental separation of being a continent away from our land combined with the restrictions of quarantine to ensure that our focus drifted and deadlines slipped. And then the Pacific Northwest real estate market went nuts, supply chains went FUBAR, the cost of lumber quadrupled, and available construction workers became rare as hen’s teeth. 

Initially we persisted, knowing we wouldn’t build until 2023 but otherwise hewing close to our original plan of building a three-bedroom, 2,300-square-foot timber-framed house and 50-foot-by-60-foot hangar in quick succession. We hired an old-school architect who expanded on my longtime vision to produce a beautiful, understated Northwoods design that we fell in love with. But as we pored over plans, financial reality set in. The cost of building the home would likely exceed $400 per square foot, putting the price of our humble forest cottage near $1 million. That rankled every fiber of my naturally cheap being, but if I could accept this as the cost of having a roof over our heads in Seattle, we could afford it. 

What we could not afford—and what probably wasn’t possible given all the supply-chain and labor shortages and construction delays—was to build the hangar simultaneously with or shortly after the house. When I ran the numbers, it would take several more years of saving to put us in a comfortable position to build a hangar and buy an airplane. So we had to decide: What did we want more, a house or an airplane? 

• READ MORE: Building the Dream Gets Off to a Rocky Start

Captains at my airline make a decent income and most have rather nice houses. There’s a certain cultural expectation, but I had long broken the airline pilot mold by selling everything and running off to sea. Post-boat, our lifestyle has remained mobile, minimalistic, and adventure-oriented. We lived in 200 square feet for nearly five years and had the time of our lives. We never really missed having a big house. We did, however, miss having our own airplane—Dawn even more so than me. Our choice was clear. The hangar came first. 

When we moved west in August last year, we had the idea that we would get a tiny home, and we even looked at a few. They aren’t quite legal in our county, though, and we had difficulty getting a septic system approved for a “seasonal cabin.” We considered building the hangar in 2022 and just wildcatting an apartment in the loft for a year, but the wily county planners were once again ahead of us: Given our zoning, it turned out that a hangar could not be permitted without an existing legal single-family residence. This revelation sent Dawn and I into a late night, wine-fueled brainstorming session, sketching out eight solutions and listing the pros and cons of each. 

By night’s end, our course was clear, and the next morning, I started drafting plans. Our new aim was to build the 50-by-60-foot pole-barn hangar with an attached 15-foot-by-60-foot side shed, finished out as a two-bedroom living area—a “barndominium,” if you will—all permitted as a single-family residence. We found a pole barn company able to engineer my plans and supply the kit, and engaged contractors to erect the shell, pour the slab, and install the septic system. 

Dawn and I will finish out the living quarters ourselves, with the assistance of my retired contractor father. We ordered a 44-foot-by-15-foot Higher Power hydraulic door and will incorporate PEX tubing for radiant heat into the slab, but the hangar portion will remain otherwise unfinished for the moment. We’ll add insulation, a boiler, a standby generator, and solar power as time and finances allow. We plan to live in the hangar for three to eight years and build the house when the time is right, at which point the annex will make for extra storage or a nice mother-in-law suite. 

We ordered the pole barn kit in March 2022, and I refined the annex plans and put together a building permit application package that we submitted on May 7. We’d already been doing a lot of site prep since last December, thinning trees and brush and expanding the clearing. In January, we cut in a driveway and bought a storage shed, and material deliveries started in June. We trenched in power and water just prior to heading east for Oshkosh, and after a few small changes, our building permits were issued on July 22. As it stands in late September, we have broken ground and erected the poles; the trusses go up soon and we hope to have a roof and a slab before autumn rains begin. We’ll start the living quarters in late October, planning to move in early in the new year. 

Throughout this process, two things have become very clear. Whether putting in a long hard day of work on our land or listening to bullfrogs by the campfire on a still summer evening, we absolutely love spending time at the airstrip. It’s a little slice of heaven, and we can’t wait to call it home. And secondly, our yearning for an airplane of our own has only intensified, even as we rent a local Piper Cherokee and fly my neighbor Ken’s generously lent Super Cub. It’s been more than six years since we sold our Piper Pacer, and we need to find another vintage adventure machine to explore far horizons. 

The draw of the airstrip and the promise of our own airplane have been hugely motivational as we’ve put in a ton of hard work and navigated all the twists and turns of the process these last six months, and I expect they will power us through all the really hard work ahead (and various additional wrinkles). In a way, this is a very analogous repeat of how we built our life together cruising aboard Windbird: hard work, persistence, flexibility, and living each day intentionally. If the result is anything like our last adventure, the reward will be supremely worthy of the struggle. 

The post Building the Dream While Rolling With Twists and Turns appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

“I was working in Virginia at the time, working for a company out of California. I came back home for a weekend and my wife said, ‘I don’t know if I should tell you this, because Stewart (my son) didn’t really want you to know.’ Well now you have to tell me, I said. ‘He’s taking pilots lessons,’ and I [said], now I can live vicariously through him,” Hoetger recalled. 

“I called him up. We were talking and I said, I wish that I would have done the same when younger. Then he asked why I don’t do it now, because I don’t act old, sound old, or move old. But since I wasn’t doing anything in the evenings out in Virginia, I decided to go to the local airport and take an introductory lesson.” 

Hoetger, however, found a way that general aviation could be used as a way to benefit his life in ways outside of recreation. 

“I did a ton of flying and came back to California for work. Two years after earning my pilot’s license, Catalina Airport (KAVX) made a mandate, since they were tearing up the runway, that you could only land on the taxiway if you had a commercial license or better. [Since I routinely traveled there for work], I went to my boss and told him that I think I’m retiring. I didn’t want to start the commute again—and I can’t land at the airport because I don’t have my commercial certificate.” 

Fortunately, though, his boss allowed him to pursue his commercial rating and he continued his aerial commute for several more years. The COVID-19 pandemic indicated when it was the right time for Hoetger to retire from his full-time profession. As a result, Hoetger and his wife decided to leave California. After some discussion, the next chapter in their life involved moving halfway across the country.  

“I retired June 1st of 2021, and moved to Arkansas [on] June 14. The way that we found this particular airpark is we have no relatives or friends out here, we just kind of did it cold turkey. We had started shopping for something that was south of the Mason-Dixon Line, that way we knew it would be nice during the summers and not bitter cold during the winters. I stumbled across the owner-seller of the particular house and property we bought at the airpark. We came out here in January of 2021 and spent a few days. My wife loved it and I did too because I don’t have to drive 40 minutes to get to the airport; the runways (asphalt and grass) are within a stone’s throw of my backyard.”

It wasn’t but a few weeks after moving to the northern Arkansas fly-in community that Hoetger thought that a different type of aircraft would better fit his new mission, which is entirely focused on leisure and backcountry flying.

“I had a Grumman Tiger and learned that’s not the airplane to have back here. So, in July of 2021, I talked my wife into letting me go find an inexpensive taildragger. I landed on a Champ and spent about 150 hours in it. I realized, though, that it got me into a lot of the backcountry strips here, but not all of the ones that I want. And for some reason, sandbars are the siren for me. I just hear them calling my name. I ended up shopping around and got the Rans S-20 [that could perform better off-airport].” 

Now, with the correct airplane for his post-retirement mission, he expects to enjoy more of the unique aviation atmosphere that Arkansas has to offer. And he is able to experience unique airstrips with friends from the airpark, who host fly-outs to airstrips in the immediate area. 

“A bunch of the guys have kind of organized here in The Valley. We take off a couple nights a week and hit all five of the strips right around here, which is a lot of fun. We have about six grass strips, all within about 10 minutes of my house here at the airpark. There is Roller Field (no FAA identifier), which is about a 3-mile flight from here and is private. Thunder Ridge (45AR) is close by and is a fun off-camber, sloped grass strip that’s private. There is also Pine Mountain (6AR9), which is also close by and private. So, those are some of our favorites. There are also a couple of shorter—900 feet long or so—strips that I haven’t yet gotten to the proficiency level yet in the Rans to fly into.” 

Another popular nearby destination for the group routinely hosts aviators from Arkansas and beyond. 

“We live right on the White River, which is a big trout fishing river here in the U.S. There are resorts all up and down the river and the airpark is right in the middle of all of them. Gaston’s White River Resort (3M0), has a grass strip and was established in the 1950s. That is about a 3-minute flight from here. So, either we come back after hitting those strips, or stop at Gaston’s for a glass of iced tea before we come home.”

As with this popular fly-in destination just a few miles north, The Valley Airport is also water-adjacent. Although he admits he isn’t much of a fisherman, Hoetger and some friends from California recently tested the surrounding trout-plentiful waters. 

“Most guys at the airpark not only have planes, they also have boats. My friends and I jumped into one of my neighbors’ boats and in about a two-hour span, we caught about 15 or 20 rainbow, spotted, and brown trout. We have a boat ramp at the airpark, so it’s conducive to flying, fishing, and hunting, which you can do right across the street. So, I feel like I’m in an adult summer camp all the time.”

The post Arkansas’ Valley Airport: Like a Summer Camp for Adults appeared first on FLYING Magazine.