For the first 18 years of my life — thanks to my parents — I lived the ultimate aviation lifestyle. Looking back, I don’t think I appreciated — enough — that fact.
I grew up on 3B8, also known as Shady Acres, a residential airpark in, when I was growing up, a fairly rural area of unincorporated Pierce County in Western Washington.
Today, the area surrounding 3B8 is far less rural.
So oblivious was I at a young age that I thought everyone had a hangar, with airplanes inside, attached to their homes. I recall spending the night at my friend Carey’s house (a mile or so from my home) and thinking it odd that I couldn’t find his family’s hangar and airplanes.
Anyway, back in the 1980s my Dad started gathering information about other residential airports around the nation. His intent was to create an association of airparks for the mutual benefit of all. That was the beginning of Living With Your Plane.
For many years, he produced a print directory of airparks and a quarterly newsletter for nearly 1,000 members. As time moved on, Mom and Dad moved off the airpark, other interests took hold, followed by retirement.
Living With Your Plane languished.
And yet, I’ve had numerous conversations with aspiring developers, current airpark homeowners, would be airpark homeowners, service providers, realtors, bankers, and more over the years. Interest in this ultimate aviation lifestyle remains high.
So, Living With Your Plane will languish no longer.
First things first. A residential airpark requires two or more residential homesites with legal access to a common runway. Those homesites must be adjoining the airport proper or be a short walk/taxi away. There are thousands of small “ranch strips” dotting the countryside. Those strips serve one resident (even if guests are allowed) but don’t count for our purposes.
Naturally, residential airparks come in all sizes and shapes and styles.
Over the last several weeks I have updated data on existing airparks, added previously unknown airparks, and removed airparks that no longer exist.
I mostly used the FAA’s Airport Data and Information Portal (ADIP) to update runway and airport specific information and Google Maps. Erik McCormack, a realtor and real estate developer from Arizona, created AirparkMap.com, which also proved helpful in adding to the Living With Your Plane dataset.
As of March 22, 2021, the Living With Your Plane airpark directory counts 674 airparks in the United States (airparks outside the U.S. will follow in the future). I am certain of three things about our database:
- There are airparks I don’t know about that should be on our list,
- There are airparks on our list that should not be, and
- Some of the data is inaccurate. Such is the nature of data. The moment you hit save it is out-of-date.
Among those 674 airparks:
- 3 don’t currently have FAA identifiers
- 11 have 3+ runways
- 14 have a field elevation at 10 feet MSL or lower
- 27 have a field elevation at 5,000 feet MSL or higher
- 55 airparks are located on, or next to, publicly owned airports
- 57 have some sort of instrument approach
- 77 have 2+ runways
- 146 airparks are privately owned, but are open to public use
- 147 have fuel on the field
Texas tops the list with 84 airparks, followed by Florida (79), Washington (60), California (35), and Georgia (35).
The cool thing about the newly designed (and still in development) Living With Your Plane directory is the ability to search. For example, if you are interested in an airpark in Texas with a turf runway, you have 18 to choose from. If you’d prefer an instrument approach rather than turf runway at your future Texas home, we list 12 that match that desire.
The database is pretty simple at this point. But more data and features will follow.
Ultimately, the best way to preserve airparks is to make sure future residents are aircraft owners. Too often I’ve heard sad stories of sellers who accepted the first/best offer that came long. Too often the buyers were non-pilots who were attracted to the acreage that often accompanies an airpark lot, the hangar becomes weather-proof storage for cars, boats, motorcycles, and more, and most importantly, the new neighbor becomes a voter in the airpark community that doesn’t value the runway and its associated infrastructure needs.
So, please take a look at our new directory of airparks at LivingWithYourPlane.com. More importantly, let me know what data is missing or is incorrect. Did I miss an airpark? Do I have bad data? Something else? Reach out to me directly at 800-426-8538 x2 or ben@generalaviationnews.com.
Airpark living, for an aviator, is the ultimate aviation lifestyle. Let’s work together to preserve and promote this lifestyle as a viable option for future generations.
Your observations about aircraft owner/non owners is spot on.
Also, it is very important to examine the covenants and if the covenants are observed/enforced.
Thank you very much for your efforts on behalf of general aviation. I live in a wonderful gated fly in community. The people here are very aviation supportive but we are all getting older and we have a few people who can no longer fly and for the most part no longer have an airplane in their hangar.
On the bright side in the past year or so we have been fortunate to have some younger people locate here and build hangar homes.
For all of the years after college until I was 58 I would get antsy to move after being in a residence for two or three years. We’ve lived Sageeyah Airfield, OK20, in Oklahoma almost 14 years and that feeling just doesn’t come anymore. Actually, I think the ideal airpark residence would have a runway on one side, lake with dock on another and a golf course next door for good measure.
Good luck Ben. I recall conversing with your dad many years about about residential airparks. inspected airports in Michigan for 33 years and now do several other states under contract.
Tracking airport data is tough, but you are on the right track using the ADIP web site because that’s where current data is put into the system, so you are getting the latest data. Pilots need to know that that data however, may not be correct.
The current situation in the U.S. is to inspect each PUBLIC use airport at least once every 3 years. If an airport is inspected in year one of a 3 years cycle, it may not be inspected until the last year of the subsequent 3 year cycle, so the data could be 6 or more years old. Some states don’t update their airport directories every year. Some are dropping their publications.
Also, my opinion as a life-long pilot and aircraft owner is that residential airparks sometimes aren’t as wonderful as they seem. I’m not trying to be “Negative Nelly,” it’s just that anyone considering moving onto a residential airpark needs to go in with their eyes very wide open. Feel free to contact me for a copy of my article, “Residential Airparks, Camelot or Chernobyl.” Rcscruffy@yahoo.com
Thank you for the herculean effort to put the directory together and maintain it. I would like to make one very small correction. Abel Island Airpark (IA23) in Iowa, does have runway lights. They are not pilot controlled, but come on at dusk and shut off at midnight due to association request for noise abatement.
Great job!
Thanks for the info Gary. Database has been updated.
My husband and I live in Buckingham Airpark–FL59– since 1992–near Fort Myers, Florida–Best place to live in the whole USA!!!! My last count was 71 homes.
Your comment about non-aircraft owners moving in and not supporting the air side of the operation is very accurate. Everyone must be committed to maintaining the reason for the “settlement.” Just like golf course communities and boating communities, the value of all the lots swings on the shared use of a particular asset that ALL must support even if they choose not to use it.
I’m in 😉
Ill be sending details about our 15 unit fly-in community which is in the pre-permitting stage now. We have a 3,500 foot grass runway, airport designator is 2FD6. Halfway between Daytona and KSC. I’ll update the listing in LWYP, which is an invaluable resource!
You missed one in San Antonio, Texas called “Twin Oaks”.
Thomas. Does Twin Oaks have a FAA identifier? If so, what is it? I don’t find a “Twin Oaks” in the FAA’s ADIP data… https://adip.faa.gov/agis/public/#/public
T94. Very close to KSAT, about 1 1/2 miles.
Hi
Does your data include in Canada if any which lm sure there are as l currently live in the province of Ontario so wondering after l read this article has caught my attention if any here in canada ?
thank you .
Arthur, I do have a dozen or so airparks in Canada (and elsewhere around the world) in my data. I have a bit more tweaking/verifying of the data before I add them to the public database. Thanks for commenting.
Thanks Ben. When I moved back to Washington State from the Washington DC area in 2014, I actually used Living With Your Plane to identify airparks on the Olympic Peninsula as potential choices for our retirement home. While living in the DC area, I had a 90 minute commute to my plane. The closest hangar for my fabric covered airplane was in West Virginia. I wanted to make sure my plane was much closer to home for my retirement flying plans. In the end, we found a waterfront lot just 4 minutes from the Port Townsend airport. One of the factors that made this a better option for us was the presence of an A&P on the field. Most residential airparks don’t have a mechanic or FBO onsite. If that information isn’t in your database, you might want to add it. Keep up the good work!
Good suggestion on the maintenance question Gary. Thanks.
Ben, using your criteria, the Hendersonville NC airport is privately owned for public use but it is not a residential Airpark. However, a parallel grass runway adjoining (8NC9) does qualify. It is described as the Western North Carolina Air Museum, but it is privately owned and provides deeded access to the runway to >5 homes.
Alex… I recall looking at that airport in Google Maps for more than a few minutes trying to figure out the physical set-up. Does Western North Carolina Air Museum have an FAA ID? If so, what is it? I certainly want to update the data to be as accurate as possible.
Very cool, Ben. Glad to hear you’re picking up where your Dad left off! Best of luck with it all. Tremendous resource!